.com Review In the 1970s and '80s, one name dominated the dark world of international terrorism as the world's most wanted criminal: Carlos, a.k.a. The Jackal. Branded as an evil mastermind, he was said to have plotted an incredible 20-year spree of assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings, and bombings, earning him a deadly reputation of near-mythic proportions. Could these heinous crimes really be the work of one man, or was Carlos a figment of some intelligence officer's imagination? The truth, as David Yallop found after a decade of research and a series of unprecedented interviews with the legendary killer, is a little of both. I do not intend to hide anything from you, but you must understand that you may ask me questions that I cannot answer for a number of reasons.... To place my story in your hands is not much. You are placing your life in mine. Weighing his own findings against the claims of Carlos himself, Yallop attempts to sort fact from fiction, information from misinformation, truth from lies. The knowledge that the Jackal has been captured since these interviews were held takes some of the bite out of the story. But Yallop's investigation into this shadowy world moves like a Hollywood thriller--only it's far more disturbing because the cast of players and the blood on their hands are real. --George Laney Read more From Publishers Weekly In this compelling report from the Middle East, British journalist Yallop ( In God's Name ) chronicles his seven-year search for Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, who was born into an upper-middle-class family in Caracas in 1949 and by the age of 26 had become "Carlos the Jackal," the world's most notorious terrorist. Based on extensive research and numerous interviews with such figures as Abu Nidal, Colonel Khadafy and Yasir Arafat, Yallop argues that much of the reason the jackal is so difficult to track is that he is more myth than reality. The author maintains that by attributing an astounding assortment of crimes to him, various governments were acting to make the Cold War colder and a tense Middle East tenser. Yallop has little sympathy for Carlos, whose crimes--such as arranging the 1972 murder of Israeli Olympic athletes at Munich and the 1975 kidnapping of OPEC oil ministers--are certainly those of a dangerous terrorist; yet when the two finally meet, Carlos seems less menacing than expected. Although too drawn out and repetitive at times, the book is nonetheless a dramatic and intriguing international thriller with relevance to recent events: witness an epilogue that takes into account the Israeli-PLO accord. Full of bravado and with surprisingly little strategic sense, Carlos, suggests Yallop, was used as a puppet by those whose bloody missions he carried out. Photos not seen by PW . Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. Read more See all Editorial Reviews
M**Z
DONT BE FOOLED. THIS IS THE SAME BOOK AS "HUNT FOR THE JACKAL".
This is the SAME book as "To the Ends of the Earth: Hunt for the Jackal.....just a different title. To reiterate, the informations was questionable and is very biased. Very pro Palestinian and anti Israeli
C**S
False Advertised
This book was not advertised as being used. yet is has dirty marks and stains on the pages. I will not buy books from here anymore.
V**V
Bruno Kreisky and the fifth horseman of the Apocalypse
This book reads like a thriller, but it is a major work of investigative reporting and geopolitics. Venturing into dangerous territories, British author David Yallop interviewed Yasser Arafat, Muammar Qaddafi, Abu Nidal, Bruno Kreisky, Abu Iyad, Bassam Abu Sharif, Peter Jürgen Boock, Douglas Bravo, Eduardo Machado, Inger Weille, and many others. Rachel Aliene Corrie may have read chapter 12? Stefano Delle Chiaie, a neo-fascist and member of Licio Gelli’s Italian Masonic Lodge P2, is mentioned in chapter 9. Epilogue: Salvatore Quasimodo, a Nobel Laureate and Italian Scottish Rite Freemason, was hated on by Gelli and Chiaie.
N**7
President Reagan turned around a terrible economy with very high interest rates
Tracking the JackalDo not buy this book. It is filled with too many absurd and obviously false assertions. This book is merely a propaganda piece of the radical left. For example the author outright dismisses any SOVIET control of Carlos by the KGB, who had more agents in Moscow alone in the 1980s than the entire FBI and CIA did in the whole US, while somehow believing the CIA controlled President Reagan with a disinformation campaign to attack Libya.The author travels from the Middle East to Venezuela to interview acquaintances, lovers, and family members, terrorists, of Carlos, as well as other terrorists, intelligence officials, and even Carlos himself. The author uses first person narrative to allow the reader to tag along with Yallop as he encounters frustrations and rewards in his attempt to weave his way through myth toward fact in countries under attack by radical Marxists and outright revolutionaries. Incredibly, the author identifies with the radicals over the governments, even the democratic ones at times.The author is unarguably a radical leftist who tells only on side—the Muslim/Muslim terrorist’s view—while remaining silent on Israel’s view. This could be overlooked or even informative in understanding the radical left and the Marxist marriage to Muslim terrorism in the 70-80’s under the “Palestinian liberation” cause if not for the wild assertions. President Reagan turned around a terrible economy with very high interest rates, sky rocketing inflation, and unemployment that reached 10.2%. President Reagan brought pride in a nation after Vietnam and the hostages home from Iran and is polled as the most popular president since WWII. President Reagan alone clearly stated his intention to defeat the mighty USSR and their communist satellite nations (“We win. They lose.”) instead of the détente of both Republicans and Democrat presidents. Yet the author does not refute but seems to agree with Qaddafi’s belief that President Reagan was obsessed with Qaddafi.The author sees what he wants to see. This cloud of delusion can be overlooked in his political rants, yet when he goes to Libya and is shown buildings bombed by Qaddafi’s underlings, he does not question this but immediately believes what he wants to believe. He even makes a case that President Reagan’s response of attempting to bomb the leader of Libya after he had shot down US planes is somehow an assassination of Qaddafi. Shooting down planes of a nation in international air space could be considered an act of war, yet this idea is ignored since it might contradict the author’s opinion.Most unbelievable is the author’s insinuation that there was a conspiracy by Israel to prevent the author from his third interview with Carlos. Why would Israel make the declaration that Carlos was dead, when Carlos would obviously not stop his killing—which he didn’t—and just remain hidden until he died? Secondly, does the author really believe that his book is so important to Israel that they would bother with making a statement that would only embarrass them? And to what end?Because of so many ridiculous premises by the author, I do not believe that he could be trusted on the only thing he could provide: conversations with Carlos and Qaddafi. I simply do not trust him. Had he merely stated his radical left beliefs and his one-sided Muslim approach to Palestine, his wild assertions could have been overlooked.Do not waste your money on this book. There are better ones—more accurate, objective, and cheaper too—than this one. I had to put it down halfway through. Many will not make it that far I suspect. The author has writing skills, but they are apparently better suited for fiction or propaganda than nonfiction.
B**L
Sometimes Myth & Reality Are Equal Parts
Author David Yallop chronicles what initially must have seemed to be an impossibility; locating & interviewing Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the international terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal.From the 1970s to the 1980s, Sanchez conducted an international terrorist spree that included assassinations, kidnappings and hijackings. He helped facilitate the 1972 Munich Olympics plot that ultimately killed Israeli Olympic athletes & coaches and the 1975 kidnappings of OPEC oil ministers.But it seemed as if every high-profile terrorist plot during this time had the fingerprints of Sanchez all over them. Through interviews with Abu Nidal, Yasir Arafat and others, travels that had false starts, dead ends and twists that have to be read to be believed - including an "interview" with a Sanchez double - Yallop is finally able to meet Carlos the Jackal in the most public of places. And the conclusions Yallop draws again shows how myth & realty can blur the truth in the political arena.Soon after the book was published in the U.S., Sanchez was captured by French agents during medical treatment in the Sudan and found guilty in a 1997 trial for the murder of two French policemen and an Israeli agent - a crime dating back to the 1970s - and sentenced to life in prison.Yallop does a masterful job making the reader part of his pursuit and it is not until the closing pages where Sanchez - in real life - appears. But the wealth of material compiled by Yallop almost makes that meeting anti-climatic.
J**D
Not all that Great Now Was He
This book covers the career and capture of one of the best known terrorist from the 70's and 80's. The book does a nice job of tells the reader who "The Jackal" was and what he did to get the reputation that he has. It was a nice PR job by him. We have a run down of the terrorist operations that can actually be credited to the Jackal although the book describes that there are a larger number that were claimed to be the Jackal that were not.We also get an inside view of what the real man was like. He is represented in the book to be more of an egomaniac that was really just looking for fame and money then leading a deep felt political cause. The author describes the police operations to hunt him down and the operation that place to actually capture the man. We also get a good overview of what life is like in a French prison. Overall this is an interesting book and one that may be the definitive account of he The Jackal outside of the hype. If you are interested in this topic this is a good book.
Trustpilot
3 weeks ago
5 days ago
