As always, I am deeply indebted to many people who helped me along the way to this book. Most of the concepts discussed herein were developed with support and guidance from Alastair Reed, head of the Counter-Terrorism Strategic Communications Project. I am grateful for his friendship and support.
The work of Haroro J. Ingram, published through the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism—The Hague and the CTSC Project, was deeply influential on my own. I benefited greatly from our conversations and his feedback in general and on this manuscript. The direction of this work also was shaped by his critical contributions regarding messaging broadly and his development of crucial elements of theory regarding crisis and solution constructs. His publications, cited in the bibliography, are highly recommended as a companion to this book. The work of Michael Hogg on uncertainty and extremism, and the work of others building on his concepts, also influenced on this work in very important ways.
This book came about after I gave a lecture at a conference at the Paris Institute for Advanced Study (Paris IAS), where I met MIT Press editor Matthew Browne. Thanks are due to Itzhak Fried, who organized that fascinating event, and Jessica Stern, my friend and past collaborator, who brokered my invitation and whose support in general has opened many doors for me. Thanks also to Anne-Marie Bono of the MIT Press, for guiding the process of publication and to my agent, Martha Kaplan. Thanks also to Maura Conway and Lisa McInerney of VOX-Pol for their support of this book and other generosities.
Finally, and most of all, this book and all my work in this field, and pretty much all of the good things in my life in general, would not be possible without the love and support I have received from my wife, Janet.