This slim volume is not Davis's best, but ably retells the history of the car bomb from makeshift device to wanton tool of indiscriminate terror. I'd be interested to read an updated version, given the proliferation of the ad hoc, lone wolf car bomber since 2007. I'd also welcome Davis's take on ISIS and the shift in tactics, from the vehicle as explosives transport to a tool of kinetic destruction itself. But reading this, you realize a) the car bomb has been around longer than one might realize, and b) it portends increasing lethality ahead. ( )

A very interesting book--tracking the history of the car bomb from the time of the Sacco-Vanzetti trial until pretty much today.
Davis as well keeps tracks of milestones--where the ante is always inevitably ratcheted up. The fact as well that it has not just become a weapon of the weak (or as he calls it 'the poor man's air force) against the strong but increasingly as well a tactic of the strong (in particular their secret services--CIA, MI5 for instance) against the weak. In particular the CIA under the leadership of William Casey during the Reagan administration schooling thousands of anti-Soviet Afghans and outside Moslems fighting against the Soviets on the tactical uses of such have since come back to haunt us--the planes crashing into the twin towers on 9-11 being seen as 'car bombs with wings'. Interesting as well to read about the Stern gang targeting British soldiers and Arabs in Palestine as the first use of the car bomb as a weapon in the Middle East. Whatever entity starts the ball rolling seems to eventually have it boomerang back upon itself whether it's freedom fighter, terrorist or nation state. In the case of Islamic fundamentalism today seeming to taken on an uncontrollable life of its own amongst numerous loosely aligned groups. We find ourselves these days just about in a whack a mole state with no clear exit strategy.

As much as a world leader--such as GWB 2 use to be--might choose to ignore an inconvenient fact and go on ahead with policies that ignore and exacerbate existing problems or create new ones to blithely ignore--spinning versions of events for p.r. while going full bore ahead with an agenda set on enriching himself and his friends while ordinary citizens are left to bear the brunt of the blowback. Well as just another ordinary citizen that's where ignorance gets you--though as I see it it's practically impossible to keep up with everything going on--blissfully and willfully going on like everything is on the up and up does not make you innocent. We live in a chaotic world and it's best to bone up on chaos theory and leave God to the fundamentalists of all stripes for all their simplistic metaphysical theories to explain why this has got to be like this and that has got to be like that. In the meantime the rest of us could start by getting real and demanding more of our government to act in accordance to what it's supposed to stand for--supporting the freedom of people around the world to live in a way that they freely choose (and not necessarily to become clones of us)--either that or choose to stay out of the way and do no harm.

In any case--Davis's books is very much worth reading. Not altogether unlike Chomsky (at his best) in terms of content and structure. Anyway I'd definitely recommend it. ( )

Good But Not His Greatest

I will say first off that if this is your first Mike Davis book, then you will probably find "Buda's Wagon" a real gem. But in comparative terms with Davis's other works such as "City of Quartz" or "Planet of Slums," this book doesn't quite measure up intellectually.

Having said that, this short volume is as described, a brief history of the car bomb. Using newspaper sources and other secondary material, Davis pieces together a disturbing portrait of terror at its most debased level. I do have to say that Davis does have all of his facts straight, which is impressive considering the breadth of conflicts that he covers.

Overall, this is a highly readable, if depressing, look at the evolution of terrorism over the last 100 years. Not Davis's best work, but definitely worth the read for sure. ( )