Joel D. Hirst: Reviewing Jon Perdue's The War of All the People

People use many terms to talk about the current threats facing the United States. Some call it terrorism, others asymmetric warfare, while others use the term "fourth generation warfare." In his book The War of All the People , academic and Latin America-expert Jon Perdue carefully presents the case for why the United States should be worried about terrorism south of the border.

First, Perdue outlines the historical antecedents of terrorism in the hemisphere, linking Iran, the former USSR and some of the most nefarious actors in the region, clearly making the case that, while generally overlooked, there has in point of fact been a long history of subversion and fourth generation warfare close to our shores. Having made his point, Perdue then outlines the steps taken by the proponents of what he calls "The war of all the people" to consolidate power at home and export revolutionary ideas to other countries in the region in their attempts to weaken the United States.

Naturally, a great many of the current concerns in the hemisphere emanate from the deeply destabilizing behavior of Venezuela and its polemic president Hugo Chavez. However, as Perdue carefully demonstrates, the illegal behavior extends beyond this into countries as far apart as El Salvador to Argentina.

Policy analysts, academics, Latin America observers and security experts would do well to read Jon Perdue's The War of All the People.