Memoirs of an Italian Terrorist

by Giorgio

Book Overview

When government consultant Professor Marco Biagi was assassinated in Italy by the New Red Brigades in the aftermath of September 11, the country was transported back 30 years to the violent "Years of Lead." In the 1970s Neo-Fascists planted bombs, Marxist-Leninists kneecapped and assassinated, and ordinary Italians were afraid to go to their offices in the morning. There were over 500 killed by terrorists in those years, thousands wounded, burned, scarred; there are hundreds in jail or who have done time, and thousands still out there, like "Giorgio," having lived decades as clandestine soldiers. The most shocking document of that unstable era and one of the primary source documents in the history of terrorism is this anonymous firsthand narrative of a life devoted to the bloody cause of The Red Brigades. In candid and grim detail, "Giorgio" tells of his "transition to living underground." He coldly narrates his mundane routine that prefigures the methods of al-Quaeda: the long patient shadowing of potential targets (never victim, always "target"), the clinical monitoring of the news for opportunities for destruction, and the relentless study of target companies to identify the strategic personnel to kneecap or assassinate. He describes the succession of events that took him from simple troublemaking to full-fledged terrorism, from a gleeful "proletarian expropriation" of Levis from a Milanese "jeanseria" to shooting at the police in a famous demonstration in which one policeman was killed, and on to outright political assassinations. Fascinating and horrifying to the end, Giorgio's story resonates with the current situation in the United States as much as it did with Italy's when it was first published. A best-seller in Europe and a classic in Italy, this is the first U.S. publication of these uncensored memoirs of an unrepentant terrorist.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786711345
• ISBN13: 9780786711345
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.6" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Riveting

This is a riveting and chilling true-life account of the Red Brigades and one of its members. I couldn't put it down. I also recommend The Cyclops Hammer. It is also about the Red Brigades, but is fiction. However, it blends fiction with historic fact. It's a must-read for anyone interested in this group.

The psychological mindset of a terrorist

With all the chatter about terrorism, this little book fills a gap with its unique insight into the mind of a terrorist. Written by an unnamed young man who joins a terrorist cell in Italy, this book neither glamorizes the life of a terrorist, nor does it condemn it. For anyone who wants to try to understand what might motivate someone to become a terrorist, this book is approachable. Since the author is a European, readers might find it easier to identify with him.

Meandering Memoirs of an Italian Hero

This book takes on a lot of issues, some of them with sensitivty that would surprise certain readers more accustomed to looking at 'terrorists' as something other than people. And this is the books main draw. As some sort of scathing indictment of the oppression of life under capitalism, as a revolutionary call to arms for today's generation...this book fails. But not that Giorgio even tries. This is also not a detailed analysis of the 'years of lead' in Italy or any time thereafter; This is not a critique of society. No, it's somthing much more personal, something deeper. It's a look into the mind of a young man driven by moral decency to take up arms, a stirring account of one giving up everything dear to fight for what is just and right. So if you're looking for the latter rather than the former, this is your book.A must read for anyone who would blindly brush social revolutionaries off as 'misguided youngsters' or anything of that nature.