About:
The Jackal: The Rise and Fall of Carlos, the World's First Super-Terrorist by Joby Warrick is an excellent biography, following Carlos through the ages. Mr. Warrick is a national security report, and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author.
- 384 pages
- Publisher : Scribner
- Language : English
- ISBN-10 : 1668070553
My rating for The Jackal - 5
Buy The Jackal from Amazon.com*
More books by Joby Warrick*
Thoughts:
This is the type of narrative nonfiction that I really enjoy. A well-researched, well-written, exciting biography that reads like an espionage thriller.
The Jackal by Joby Warrick combines excellent reporting and a narrative that made me want to turn the pages as quick as I can. This tale of international state-sponsored terrorism by a delusional ideologist is one that would sound absurd it it wasn't a biography.
I have to admit I didn't know much about Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, the Venezuelan who called himself Carlos the Jackal, a great PR name based on a best-selling book. In fact, I thought the book was about Carlos, but I learned it's the other way around.
Man of la Book's Margin Notes: The Double-Edged Sword of the Alias
When it comes to espionage, crime, or even a whole career in a legitimate industry, an alios is a matter of survival. Whether it's a forged passport, credit cards, or even real-estate holdings (such as safehouses), the nom de guerre is often an integral part of operation security. False identity can allow operators to cross borders with impunity, buys time when it's necessary to run, or even some privacy when needed.
Nevertheless, a moniker for a criminal or those that become too successful too quickly, can be a trap
Using an alias can create a psychological paradox by giving a person a feeling of safety through anonymity, But when the person's vanity comes into play, reality starts to bend. For a criminal like Carlos, his notoriety and sudden global reputation gave him the urge to live up to the stories, true or not. The smart thing to do would have been to keep a low profile, but he, and others like him, started gambling with their lives to feed the legends.
The alias was no longer a disguise, but a brand that must be maintained.
Carlos operated across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East during the Cold War. He relied on generous state sponsors, and an available network of forgers for his aliases, safehouses, and protection. But once a journalist saw a copy of Frederick Forsyth's novel The Day of the Jackal in a safehouse, and dubbed him as "The Jackal", Illich Ramirez Sánchez could help it but to embrace his sudden celebrity status and cultivated an image as a suave revolutionary ready made for TV.
When the Cold War ended, Carlos' notoriety and celebrity tumed him into a liability for his sponsors. The very fame he nurtured made him a dangerous person to shelter and fund. His legend made him famous, but also difficult to hide which enabled the CIA and French intelligence to track him down.
Ramirez acted as a modern mythmaker. Transforming himself into a character, and boring police reports into dramatic page-turners structured like spy thriliens. Ironically, the alias, which was designed to make him invisible, ensured his eventual capture
The author uses recently declassified documents, secret police file and even interviewed Carlos himself in a French prison. The story mainly takes place over three decades and offers an interesting, informative perspective with hindsight and depth.
The book portrays not just as a criminal, narcist, dapper and charismatic guy, but a pioneer of borderless terrorism which is aimed at a global audience who can follow the drama in real-time. While Carlos wasn't a genius strategist, he had the gumption and cruelty to stage these operations opening a new era of modern terrorism.
Along with the biographical aspects, the book also looks at how performative terrorism began. Carlos' legacy of cold-blooded assassinations, violence and a complete lack of empathy for human lives, is told through the lens of geopolitics and international relations.
Buy The Jackal from Amazon.com*
More books by Joby Warrick*
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer: I got this book for free
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