Publisher's Synopsis
Through the riveting stories of mothers whose sons had become Islamic terrorists, Carla Power discovers the unprecedented methods used to win back the hearts and minds of vulnerable young people. Power has reported on the Islamic world for nearly two decades. Now she explores an emerging global deradicalization movement, examining the essential question for our turbulent times: How does one replace hatred with humanity? Nicola, Christianne, and Marie are mothers who discovered too late that their sons had been radicalized online and had flown from the West to join the tens of thousands of foreign ISIS fighters in Syria. Too often extremists are portrayed as having sprung from the earth as irredeemable killing machines, but these women underscore the deeper truth that no one is born a terrorist, and they have themselves become activists in preventing violent radicalism. Home, Land, Security explores innovative new counter-extremism programs around the world, including in the United States, Europe, Pakistan, and Indonesia. We meet an American judge who has staked his career on finding new ways to handle terror suspects, a Pakistani woman running a game-changing school for former child soldiers, a radicalized Somali American who learns through literature to see beyond his hate-filled beliefs, and a former neo-Nazi who now helps disarm jihadis. An eye-opening, page-turning investigation, Home, Land, Security speaks to the rise of division and radicalization in all forms, both at home and abroad. In this richly reported and deeply human account of the deradicalization field and its pioneers--including counsellors, researchers, government workers, the military, educators, and families--Carla Power offers new ways to overcome the rising tides of extremism, one mother's child at a time.
