The Revolutionists

The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s

Jason Burke

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Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Alfred A. Knopf
13 January 2026

History; General & world history; 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000; Military history; Terrorism, armed struggle

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE • An epic, authoritative, gripping account of the years when a new wave of revolutionaries seized the skies and the streets to hold the world for ransom

In the 1970s, an unprecedented wave of international terrorism broke out around the world. More ambitious, networked and far-reaching than ever before, new armed groups terrorized the West with intricately planned plane hijackings and hostage missions, leaving governments scrambling to cope. Their motives were as diverse as their methods. Some sought to champion Palestinian liberation, others to topple Western imperialism or battle capitalism; a few simply sought adventure or power. Among them were the unflappable young Leila Khaled, sporting jewelry made from AK-47 ammunition; the maverick Carlos the Jackal with his taste for cigars, fine dining, and designer suits; and the radical leftists of the Baader-Meinhof Gang or the Japanese Red Army. Their attacks forged a lawless new battlefield thirty thousand feet in the air, evading the reach of security agencies, policymakers, and spies alike. Their operations rallied activist and networks in places where few had suspected their existence, leaving a trail of chaos from Bangkok to Paris to London to Washington, D.C.

Veteran foreign correspondent Jason Burke provides a thrilling account of this era of spectacular violence. Drawing on decades of research, recently declassified government files, still secret documents, and original interviews with hijackers, double agents, and victims still grieving their loved ones, The Revolutionists provides an unprecedented account of a period which definitively shaped today’s world and probes the complex relationship between violence, terrorism, and revolution. From the deserts of Jordan and the Munich Olympics to the Iranian Embassy Siege in London and the Beirut bombings of the early 1980s, Burke invites us into the lives and minds of the perpetrators of these attacks, as well as the government agents and top officials who sought to foil them. Charting, too, such shattering events as the Iranian Revolution and the Lebanese civil war, he shows how, by the early 1980s, a campaign for radical change led by secular, leftist revolutionaries had given way to a far more lethal movement of conservative religious fanaticism that would dominate the decades to come.

Driven by an indelible cast of characters moving at a breakneck pace, full of detail and drama, The Revolutionists is the definitive account of a dark and seismic decade.

By: Jason Burke
Imprint: Alfred A. Knopf
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 243mm, Width: 164mm, Spine: 35mm
Weight: 1.055kg
ISBN: 9780525659433
ISBN 10: 0525659439
Pages: 768
Publication Date: 13 January 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

JASON BURKE, the international security correspondent for The Guardian, has been a foreign correspondent for almost thirty years, reporting from the Middle East, South Asia, Europe, and Africa. He is one of the foremost writers on Islamic militancy and the author of four critically acclaimed books: The New Threat: The Past, Present, and Future of Islamic Militancy; The 9/11 Wars; Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam; and On the Road to Kandahar: Travels Through Conflict in the Islamic World. He lives near London.

Reviews for The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s

“The Revolutionists is an incisive account of the rise of modern terrorism following the founding of the State of Israel. It manages to be both scholarly and engaging. A wonderful book for any reader interested in the Middle East and the curse of terror that has haunted the region—and the world—for too many years.” —Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower “For this moment of political wildness and ideological extremism, Jason Burke, a distinguished foreign correspondent, has written a chillingly cautionary global history of political terrorism in the late Cold War. Deeply researched and engagingly written, this is a vivid, engrossing, and disturbing study of violent transnational attacks against innocent civilians in the name of leftist revolution, Palestinian nationalism, and Islamist radicalism.” —Gary J. Bass, author of Judgment at Tokyo ""A captivating account of the origins of modern international terrorism with fascinating insights into the terrorists and their opponents. A must read to understand the contemporary Middle East and more."" —Bruce Riedel, author of Beirut 1958 “This is Jason Burke’s magnum opus, a hugely ambitious book that greatly benefits from his three decades of reporting on revolutionary violence. Burke seems to have read everything that is relevant about terrorism in multiple languages and talked to anybody who mattered on all sides of the conflicts he writes about. The book is propulsively written and is not only an account of the rise of leftist and Islamist terrorism in the 1960s and the decades that followed, but also a wonderfully evocative history of an era that reverberates today.” —Peter Bergen, author of The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden “Burke masterfully connects the dots, capturing the precise moment the world shifted—subtly, profoundly and in ways we are only beginning to grasp. His book doesn’t just illuminate the past, it brings clarity to the present.” —Peter R. Neumann, author of The New World Disorder