Does terrorism work? Alumnus to discuss new book
The Connecticut College Department of Government and International Relations will bring Bruce Hoffman ’76 back to campus for a talk based on his latest book, Wednesday, April 22, at 4:30 p.m. in the 1941 Room of the College Center at Crozier-Williams.
Hoffman is a widely published scholar on terrorism and counterterrorism. His book, “Anonymous Soldiers: The Struggle for Israel, 1917-1947,” is a history of the battles between Jews, Arabs and the British that led to the creation of Israel. Hoffman based the work on newly available documents from the British, Israeli and U.S. archives.
“Anonymous Soldiers” recounts the British Mandate for Palestine (1922-1948), a League of Nations decree which gave Britain authority over the area that now includes Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In the book, Hoffman reveals how Britain struggled — and ultimately failed — to reconcile competing Arab and Jewish demands, thanks in part to a terrorist campaign led by the "anonymous soldiers" of Jewish militant groups Irgun and Lehi. The book is a detailed account of one of the 20th century’s major terrorist and counterterrorist campaigns, as well as a thorough account of the establishment of Israel.
At Georgetown University, Hoffman is the director of the Center for Security Studies, director of the Security Studies Program and a professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. He was recently appointed by the U.S. Congress to serve as a commissioner on the Independent Commission to Review the FBI’s Post-9/11 Response to Terrorism and Radicalization and is a member of the National Security Preparedness Group, the successor to the 9/11 Commission. He has been a Scholar-in-Residence for Counterterrorism at the Central Intelligence Agency and an adviser on counterterrorism to the Office of National Security Affairs, Coalition Provisional Authority, Baghdad, Iraq.
The talk, which will be followed by a Q&A session, is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Department of Government and International Relations at 860-439-2037.
April 16, 2015