On the 26th of March 1995, sarin gas was released in a Tokyo subway station crammed with morning rush hour commuters and all hell broke loose. In the aftermath of anguish, death, painful injuries and broken lives, the deadly action was traced back to a cult called Aum Shinrikyo. What lay behind this ferocious lashing the cult had given to the orderly, uncluttered society Japan was so proud of? What dark sinister secrets lay behind the walls of the Aum Shinrikyo compound in Kamikuishiki at the peaceful foothills of Mount Fuji? Tsutsumi Sakamoto, a Yokohama lawyer took up the challenge of finding answers to these questions and one cold, gray November morning in 1995, the young attorney, his wife and ten month old son disappeared without a trace. This is the chilling story of how a young lawyer sacrificed his life and that of his poignantly young family to stem the reign of terror of the cult's guru, Shoko Asahara. The investigation into the cult that followed uncovered a chilling trail of murders, disappearances and evil plans to destroy mankind with nerve gas and other weapons of mass destruction. For six long years, Tsutsumi Sakamoto called out from his lonely hillside grave and on September the 6th, 1995 he was heard at last. His body was discovered and the crab shells strewn all around told a chilling tale of how his killers had coldly feasted on crabs as they threw his body into that lonely unmarked grave he did not deserve. Sakamoto and his family had died to right a social wrong and to expose the evil plans of deadly terrorists crouching dangerously behind the cloak of religion, the rest was up to the living.

This study examines the functional relationship between millenarian-inspired terrorism and the process of political change. Through an exhaustive investigation of late Twentieth-century movements, Aum Shinrikyo, Sendero Luminoso and Hezbollah, it concludes that in each case, apocalyptic expectations performed a significant group mobilization, leadership and therapeutic function.

Can a Japanese samurai of impeccable lineage in Edo period Japan get away with being gay? Can he break all the rules of society and get away with it? It all started when an aging samurai took an eccentric interest in a teenage peasant boy who had the unusual gift of writing. One day he brought his son, Lord Okimoto to the peasant’s house. Immediately when their gazes met, the samurai’s son and the teenage peasant, a forbidden love affair formed, an affair which broke all the rules of Japan’s Edo period society and a feudal class so sharply defined that it could cut like a knife. Four centuries later, an ancestor of Lord Okimoto finds a diary written by his peasant lover unfolding the anguished tale of a forbidden life went wrong, leaving behind a trail of broken hearts, shattered dreams and destroyed lives. The tale of the gay samurai who put duty and obligations above his poignant love travels one whole circle to arrive to the 21st century in a final twist to this intriguing story of how two young men dared to break all the rules in conservative unforgiving 18th century Japan.

This book explores the innovations and advances in terrorist tactics and technologies to help fill the gap in the contemporary terrorism literature by developing an empirical theory of terrorist innovation. The key question concerns the global historical trends in terrorist innovation, as well as the critical factors responsible for the differences in practices among terrorist organizations. The first part of the book provides an overview of the tactics and technology used by terrorists in the last century and identifies the key trends for the future. The second part compares four differing terrorist organizations with the aim of identifying key factors in producing innovative tactics and weaponry. The volume provides a historical explanation of the trends in terrorist innovation and also has policy relevance, as the ability to identify signature characteristics of innovation-prone terrorist organizations is a critical element in predictive threat assessment. Understanding Terrorist Innovation will be of great interest to students of terrorism studies, security studies and political science in general.

Handbook of Toxicology of Chemical Warfare Agents, Third Edition, covers every aspect of deadly toxic chemicals used in conflicts, warfare and terrorism. Including findings from experimental as well as clinical studies, this essential reference offers in-depth coverage of individual toxicants, target organ toxicity, major incidents, toxic effects in humans, animals and wildlife, biosensors and biomarkers, on-site and laboratory analytical methods, decontamination and detoxification procedures, and countermeasures. Expanding on the second edition, Handbook of Toxicology of Chemical Warfare Agents has been completely updated, presenting the most recent advances in field. Brand new chapters include a new chapter on emergency preparedness, coverage of the chemical warfare agents used in Syria, the use of the Novichok agent in the UK, and more. Unites world-leading experts to bring you cutting-edge, agent-specific information on Chemical Warfare Agents (CWA) and their adverse effects on human and animal health, and the environment Provides you with all the information you need on CWA modes of action, detection, prevention, therapeutic treatment and countermeasures New to this edition: a full update to reflect the most recent advances in the field and new chapters on emergency preparedness, the chemical warfare agents used in Syria, and the use of the Novichok agent in the UK

Meeting the Challenges of Global Terrorism brings together an international array of criminologists, policymakers, and police professionals to assess the main contemporary trends in terrorism.

Presents approximately 150 primary source documents, such as speeches, legislation, memoirs, newspaper articles, and interviews, related to terrorism between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries.