A Kidnapping in Milan: The CIA on Trial

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science
Cover of the book A Kidnapping in Milan: The CIA on Trial by Steve Hendricks, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Steve Hendricks ISBN: 9780393080681
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: October 11, 2010
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: Steve Hendricks
ISBN: 9780393080681
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: October 11, 2010
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

A book so compelling it deserves to become one of the nonfiction classics of our time.

As propulsively readable as the best “true crime,” A Kidnapping in Milan is a potent reckoning with the realities of counterterrorism. In a mesmerizing page-turner, Steve Hendricks gives us a ground-level view of the birth and growth of international Islamist terrorist networks and of counterterrorism in action in Europe. He also provides an eloquent, eagle’s-eye perspective on the big questions of justice and the rule of law.

“In Milan a known fact is always explained by competing stories,” Hendricks writes, but the stories that swirled around the February 2003 disappearance of the radical imam Abu Omar would soon point in one direction—to a covert action by the CIA. The police of Milan had been exploiting their wiretaps of Abu Omar for useful information before the taps went silent. The Americans were their allies in counterterrorism—would they have disrupted a fruitful investigation?

In an extraordinary tale of detective versus spy, Italian investigators under the leadership of prosecutor Armando Spataro unraveled in embarrassing detail the “covert” action in which Abu Omar had been kidnapped and sent to be tortured in Egypt. Spataro—seasoned in prosecutions of the Mafia and the Red Brigades and a passionate believer in the rule of law—sought to try the kidnappers in absentia: the first-ever trial of CIA officers by a U.S. ally. An exemplary achievement in narrative nonfiction writing, A Kidnapping in Milan is at once a detective story, a history of the terrorist menace, and an indictment of the belief that man’s savagery against man can be stilled with more savagery yet.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A book so compelling it deserves to become one of the nonfiction classics of our time.

As propulsively readable as the best “true crime,” A Kidnapping in Milan is a potent reckoning with the realities of counterterrorism. In a mesmerizing page-turner, Steve Hendricks gives us a ground-level view of the birth and growth of international Islamist terrorist networks and of counterterrorism in action in Europe. He also provides an eloquent, eagle’s-eye perspective on the big questions of justice and the rule of law.

“In Milan a known fact is always explained by competing stories,” Hendricks writes, but the stories that swirled around the February 2003 disappearance of the radical imam Abu Omar would soon point in one direction—to a covert action by the CIA. The police of Milan had been exploiting their wiretaps of Abu Omar for useful information before the taps went silent. The Americans were their allies in counterterrorism—would they have disrupted a fruitful investigation?

In an extraordinary tale of detective versus spy, Italian investigators under the leadership of prosecutor Armando Spataro unraveled in embarrassing detail the “covert” action in which Abu Omar had been kidnapped and sent to be tortured in Egypt. Spataro—seasoned in prosecutions of the Mafia and the Red Brigades and a passionate believer in the rule of law—sought to try the kidnappers in absentia: the first-ever trial of CIA officers by a U.S. ally. An exemplary achievement in narrative nonfiction writing, A Kidnapping in Milan is at once a detective story, a history of the terrorist menace, and an indictment of the belief that man’s savagery against man can be stilled with more savagery yet.

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book Trauma and the Avoidant Client: Attachment-Based Strategies for Healing by Steve Hendricks
Cover of the book Thorn in the Starfish: The Immune System and How It Works by Steve Hendricks
Cover of the book Requiem, Mass.: A Novel by Steve Hendricks
Cover of the book Agents of Innocence: A Novel by Steve Hendricks
Cover of the book Quixote: The Novel and the World by Steve Hendricks
Cover of the book Anthill: A Novel by Steve Hendricks
Cover of the book A Death in Belmont by Steve Hendricks
Cover of the book Faking It: The Quest for Authenticity in Popular Music by Steve Hendricks
Cover of the book Huck Out West: A Novel by Steve Hendricks
Cover of the book The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations by Steve Hendricks
Cover of the book An Origin Like Water: Collected Poems 1957­-1987 by Steve Hendricks
Cover of the book The Interpersonal Neurobiology of Play: Brain-Building Interventions for Emotional Well-Being by Steve Hendricks
Cover of the book Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) by Steve Hendricks
Cover of the book The Oath and the Office: A Guide to the Constitution for Future Presidents by Steve Hendricks
Cover of the book How to See: Looking, Talking, and Thinking about Art by Steve Hendricks
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy