Few could be in a better position than Glenn Schweitzer to write a book on terrorism. A career diplomat and celebrated writer, Schweitzer is currently director at the National Academy of Sciences for Central Europe and Eurasia. Written with co- author Carole Dorsch, Superterrorism is a persuasive and highly readable account of the imminence of "superterrorism", the latest threat to U.S. national security. Drawing both on documented sources and his own unique experiences from within the intelligence community, Schweitzer sheds new light on the connection between organised crime and terrorism. He predicts that very soon on U.S. soil superterrorists could cause mass destruction and great loss of life as they take advantage of the nuclear, biological and chemical "shopping mall" that has opened up since the demise of the Soviet Union. Schweitzer examines whether U.S. security agencies, law enforcement bodies and emergency response teams are ready to respond to this threat, and reaches frightening conclusions. Considering possible and often contentious measures to combat the threat of superterrorism, Schweitzer examines the threat to civil liberties that those measures themselves cause. Superterrorism is a broad and readable work which examines, alongside traditional forms of terrorism, "chemoterrorism", "bioterrorism" and "cyberterrorism". Dealing primarily with the threat to U.S. security, Schweitzer claims to be providing an easy read for the general reader. However, Superterrorism also contains a wealth of material for a more specialist audience. Since Europe ignores threats to U.S. national security at its peril, Superterrorism should be of interest to anyone seeking a credible and realistic assessment of national security issues in the post-cold-war world. --Emily Haslam