The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s

by Jason Burke

In the 1970s, a network of radical extremists terrorised the West with plane hijackings and hostage-takings. Among them were the beautiful young Leila Khaled with her jewellery made from grenade rings, the hard-drinking philanderer Carlos the Jackal sporting shades and open-neck shirts, and the radical leftists of the Baader-Meinhof Gang. They sought to liberate the Palestinians and overthrow western imperialism, orchestrating spectacularly violent attacks that held governments to ransom and the world gripped to their television screens.

Drawing on decades of research, declassified archive material and original interviews with witnesses and participants, Jason Burke provides a masterful account of their exploits over the course of this dark decade. From Dawson's Field and the Munich Olympics to the Iranian Embassy Siege in London and the Beirut bombings of the early 1980s, he takes us into the lives and minds of the perpetrators of these attacks, as well as the government agents who sought to thwart and assassinate them. In the process, he shows how the extreme fringe of a secular, leftist, revolutionary movement ultimately birthed something altogether different and far more lethal: the violent expression of a fanatically conservative religious zealotry.

Gripping, globe-spanning and pulsing with drama, The Revolutionaries is the definitive account of the decade when terrorism took to the skies and transformed the world.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Biography, American History, Contemporary History, Audiobook

768 pages, Hardcover

First published October 2, 2025

About the author

Jason Burke (born 1970) is a British journalist and the author of several non-fiction books. A correspondent covering Africa for The Guardian, he is currently based in Johannesburg, having previously been based in New Delhi as the same paper's South Asia correspondent.

Reviews

[Bethan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly focuses on the far leftist and Palestinian terrorists in the 1970s and early 1980s (e.g. hijacking planes, the Munich Olympics massacre but also wars between Israel and Palestine like Black September). It appears that a lot of far leftists focused on terrorism and joined the Palestine cause to bring about a Marxist revolution - a strange marriage to me.

I'm fascinated at how many of them were German 'anti-Nazis' (the Baader-Meinhof group, Wilfried Böse and so on) who out of all the possible causes in the world - and there are many of them - chose the anti-Israel cause. Something I see all the time even long before this new Israel-Gaza war - an obsession amongst the left with the Palestinian cause when saying nothing about so many other causes e.g. what China is doing to Uyghur Muslims. What makes me laugh even more - which this book does talk some about - is how the cause they are doing this for is often very socially conservative and religious while they themselves are liberal types with women frequently involved and all the rest of that. But somehow that incongruence misses these revolutionaries. It's why I think that there's a deep, deep and horrible strain of antisemitism driving this very specific obsession.

And the type of people? Psychopathic adventurers - 'Carlos the Jackal' who is extensively covered in the book is an example of that, contracting out his terrorism to the highest bidder to live the high life - and if not, stupid enough to think that some bombs and killings of civilians will somehow get the general population to sympathise with their cause, uprise and bring about a revolution. I think that Burke gives them far too much respect. He admires Gudrun Ensslin's effectiveness and 'intellect' for example but fails to quote their own words much. I looked up some of Ensslin's words, instantly recoiled and realised why: the opposite of sophisticated and intellectual thought e.g. "Violence is the only response to violence". (Yes, sometimes, but several times there are better solutions that avoids a never-ending cycle of constant violence against each other.)

It's not mentioned that Ensslin had given birth to a son just two or three months before meeting her partner Baader when many other abandoned children of these revolutionaries are mentioned in passing. Burke could have written more about the human cost of the activities of these revolutionaries - Ensslin's son Felix has written about the hurt and anger he has experienced because of this. To me Ensslin comes across as a sort of Ghislaine Maxwell or Myra Hindley type: abjectly amoral, crude and serves as an effective assistant to a horrible male partner she is enamoured of. I've only used her as one example of how awful a lot of these people are if you properly look at them as people. It would take too long to talk about all of them.

Later on in the book there are chapters about how far leftist revolutionaries failed in Iran and, therefore, the shift to radical and conservative Islam as instead the cleric Khomeini took over in 1979 after the Shah fell. That Islamism drives most terrorism we've been experiencing in recent decades, of course. And there's a chapter on Osama bin Laden's early history.

I'm a bit surprised that Burke quotes Ryszard Kapuściński who has been exposed as a fraud - I thought that kind of thing gets you cancelled by journalists. But of course, Kapuściński writes compellingly and beautifully, which Burke does not. Which leads to that this was a big downside of this book for me - I found it dry and boring; serviceably written. If you have an especial interest in the subject - which I don't have - you may find it gripping though.

[Francis Pellow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detailed and deep study of the evolution of international terrorism. Not a book i could read quickly but very rewarding.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Revolutionists by Jason Burke untangles the spectacularly tangled web that is International terrorism and how it spun wildly in the 1970's. Deeply researched, it's a very accessible read. Burke does a solid job of connecting the dots among the varied terrorist factions. His writing is erudite but not arch. It lays clear too the path that Osama bin Laden took. He also does this without demonizing Islam. This is a compelling read. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Knopf for the opportunity to preview this book.

[Osama · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب تأريخي مكتوب باسلوب صحفي مشوق يغطي فترة السبعينات وما بعدها.

[David Steele]

I make a point of not leaving star numbers for any book I haven’t finished.
The trouble with buying kindle books is that you don’t always appreciate how stupidly long they’re going to be. At 768 pages, this book is twice the work I wanted to put in. So here’s the thing about the cost of books: the cover price (about £17) is only part of the story. There’s also the cost of time to read. I’m half way through at this point and my Kindle app tells me I’ve still got more than 24 hours to go.
That would be fine if I was swept away by a compelling narrative, but reading through these chapters just feels more like work. It’s not an easy thing to give up on a book that costs money to buy, but at this point I’d gladly pay the cover price to get 24 hours of my life back.
Thing is, I’m genuinely interested in communist revolutionary history (see my ‘reds’ shelf), perspectives on Islamism (see my ‘mauve’ shelf) and twentieth century history (see my ‘twenty’ shelf). If this book isn’t for me, who is it for?
As to the subject matter, this is a good book if you want to become an expert in the lives and times of the various subhuman psychopaths which make up the subject matter.
The book does a comprehensive job of demonstrating how Palestinian activists have been busy shitting in the well of the civilised world for the last fifty years. It also documents the unholy alliance between radical leftists and Wahhabist killers, in which the Marxists gravitate to their supposed allies for strategic gain, and the Islamists take their cash while holding their beliefs and behaviours in contempt.
This is a book that laboriously demonstrates the danger of a little learning being a bad thing. Midwit activists, believing they’re destined to lead the masses into Communist utopia, waving copies of books for which they’ve barely made it through the introduction.
It’s a story of psychopaths, incompetents, callous and sadistic killers, idealists, fantasists and narcissists. If you like your activists with a healthy dose of misogyny thrown in, there’s more than enough to go round.
Effectively, by page 360, I’ve had enough. This is a collection of people I’d gladly seal in concrete, and I really can’t be bothered to spend any more energy on their stories.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. I felt the author’s contempt for many of the people he writes about really came through — I’m not sure whether that was intentional. The topic is very broad, and at times the links drawn between far-left terrorism, the Iranian Revolution, Osama bin Laden, and the mujahideen felt a bit weak.

The left-wing groups of the 1970s are covered very well, but the later sections dealing with Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan feel comparatively thin. The ending also comes across as quite abrupt. Overall, it felt like this could have been expanded into three separate books, given the author’s depth of knowledge and research on each subject.

[Donaldinho14 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book concentrating on the development of terrorism throughout the seventies - from leftist revolutionaries who want to change to world, to nihiilistic martyrs. Burke's research reveals countless details unknown to this me and creates a convincing narrative arc.

From this reader's point of view, I'd have liked to learn more about ETA and Brigate Rosse, but I appreciate that Burke's expertise is mainly in the Middle East.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for an advance copy of this history about a time of violence, confusion, politics, hope and dread, a time where people thought taking to the streets in violence would change the world, which it did but not in ways that hoped or expected.

I was always an odd child. I liked the news, read newspapers early, and kept my ears open to adults. That is why I have no sense of nostalgia for the past. Many talk about how great things were when they were kids. I remember my Mom being worried about my Dad going out at night when the Son of Sam was on his shooting spree. I remember hearing about Carlos the Jackal, the terrorist boogeyman shooting up Europe maybe coming to America and filling our streets with blood. The bombing of the Marines in Lebanon. Police blowing up a neighborhood in Philadelphia to stop a terrorist group, or supposed-terrorist group. A president talking to People magazine about this being the generation that sees the Armageddon. So I have little nostalgia for the past. Yes the world has become worse, mainly because of the actions of many in this book. Not just freedom fighters, or terrorists, but politicians and thinkers who thought, they could control this rising violence, or wanted to use it for their own means. We are still living with these consequences. The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s by Jason Burke is a history violence starting in the turbulent time of change in the early 70's up to the 2000's and the world changing events that destroyed so many lives, and led to the surveillance state we live in now.

The book begins with people thinking they are doing the right thing. Palestinians who were made stateless and sympathizers, thinkers who thought the world could be better, rich people who wanted change and some excitement. And a lot of psychopaths, who to quote a movie wanted to watch the world burn, but have Cartier watches, and people paying for 5 star hotels. Burke starts with hijackings, something that was almost common in the 60's, where the hijackers were looking for hostages to trade, but wanted to more make a message out of buring the million dollar planes to get their message out. Burke looks at the shadow world, where agents of governments would work with, sometimes trading information, letting people pass through borders, for various reasons. To discredit another government, to get information, or just to make sure nothing happened in their own countries. Slowly the violence starts to increase. Burning departments stores to protest capitalism move up to shooting up airports. As do the motivations. Left wing ideas of good for all change to right wing ideas of theology and control. Governments get involved, and soon areas become war zones, and people being dying in record numbers. Burke looks at many of the famous names, from the aforementioned Carlos the Jackal, to the PLO and even to the state sponsors of terrorism.

I knew a bit about a lot of this, but have never read a real examination of the whole era. Burke does a really good job of covering most of what was happening in the Middle East and Europe, with America showing up in both good and mostly bad ways. The book is filled with lots of information, and lots of things I thought I understood, but well, in many ways I believed the messenger and not the truth. Burke does a good job of letting the people talk, and yet many of them are either unapologetic or can't understand why they are considered the bad guy. Their are a lot of broken bodies in this book, but there are also a lot of broken families, children just passed off while their parents did revolution, parents ignored for years, yet approached for money.

A book that left me far more maudlin than I would have thought. One can see where things start to go wrong. Governments allowing this groups to go free, hoping that if we let them go, well we won't have problems here. Governments supplying this groups with arms and access, to destabilize others. Many of these groups had great PR people, Carlos especially. There is a lot to think about, a lot to get angry at, and a lot that explains why we are at the place we are as a world. Nostalgic for a time that never was, heading into a future that seems to be only getting darker. A really interesting book, and one I learned much from, and one that I highly recommend one read the notes at the end for.

[Bint Laden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing a book review can be a little like doing a staff performance review, when even if the individual has performed very strongly, you nevertheless devote 90% of the time to highlighting how they could do better and areas for development.
So, with this book, which is strong in many areas and which is an informative and entertaining read but which is skewed in so many obvious ways that these are impossible to ignore.
The first and most obvious is that, despite its considerable length, it does not come close to being a comprehensive account of the terrorists of the 1970’s, as its subtitle might suggest it represents. Many of the most active organisations or movements are merely mentioned in passing but largely ignored – the IRA, ETA, the Red Brigades – and others such as the Italian fascists and neo-Nazis (who killed dozens of people) are ignored altogether.
Instead, the book focuses on Palestinian resistance groups, in particular and disproportionality, the PFLP, the German far left (Red Army Faction), and, later, the rise of Islamic militants and Bid Laden. In addition, a very large part of the book is devoted to Ilich Ramírez Sánchez or Carlos the Jackel. This may be understandable, as he was not only the most colourful individual engaged in terrorist violence at this time but also the one who attracted the greatest media coverage, so there are very extensive sources to draw upon but the level of detail Burke provides, down to what he wore and ate on a particular day, is wholly out of proportion to his importance.
Burke’s almost obsessive interest in Carlos the Jackel is all the more strange when set against the cursory references to Sabri al-Banna or Abu Nidal who killed considerably more people than Sánchez. Burke doesn’t even mention the notion, which has existed for many years and for which there is some evidence, that Abu Nidal might have worked for or been controlled by the Israelis, at least at times, although he does note that he killed many senior PLO members, which you might think would at least raise the question. Whether it is true or not, it is surely worth exploring in a work devoted to this subject and time period.
There is also no mention of the fact that Israel provided financial, military and logistical support to the organisation which later became known as Hamas, in order to undermine the PLO and split the Palestinians. Given recent events in Gaza, this is an important point and one which illustrates some of the complexity in analysing these groups.
As I said at the start, the risk here is that I am making ‘The Revolutionists’ sound like a bad book, which it certainly is not. Rather, it is a good book but one in which the text is slanted one way or another, leaving some rather obvious gaps and omissions.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of eBook

Equal parts informative and terrifying, “The Revolutionists” is a look back to the 1970s and the all-too-common . . . and horrifying . . . airplane hijackings and taking of hostages. In an age often most-remembered for international terrorism and the ruthless revolutionists responsible for such despicable acts as the massacre of athletes at the Munich Olympics.

In a time when extremists seemingly lived only to create fear and chaos, various factions, espousing their own extreme views, held the world hostage as their violence against the innocent played out in horrific event after horrific event. Here, in this extensively-researched book, readers explore the history of political violence and ideological extremism as the author examines files, documents, and interviews with hijackers, victims, and others.

For readers interested in history, the Middle East, and in these politically-charged events, this disturbing look into terrorism provides decisive insights and captivating accounts of these horrific events.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor / Knopf and NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving this review.
#TheRevolutionists #NetGalley

[Perrin Larton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a teen in the early 1970's and remember talking about some of these incidents in Civics and History class. Then I was a young parent towards the end of the decade and it all seemed so far removed from my daily life. In the 80's I was parenting and some of the events, for me, were just background noise as I watched the news in the evening. Reading this book now, with the current climate in the US, I realize we haven't learned anything. We're still fighting pretty much the same issues. Will it ever end?

Well researched and well written...but it was so LONG! I finished it, but it wasn't a pleasure read. I did learn things that I'd either forgotten or never knew.

I had at first given this book 3 stars. I upped the star rating to 4 because I learned something and we need to remember what happened in order to not repeat it...or at least try not to repeat it! There is much information at the end of the book, after the epilogue. This kind of rounds out the stories that were discussed earlier.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Revolutionists takes you inside the terrifying and chaotic world of 1970s international terrorism, when hijacking planes became a weapon of choice and the world suddenly felt much smaller and more dangerous. What makes this book exceptional is the access to newly declassified documents and interviews with actual hijackers, agents, and survivors. The research is staggering, but Burke never lets the facts bog down the pace. The real strength is showing how this wasn't just random violence. it was a coordinated, international movement that governments were completely unprepared for. Burke traces the evolution from secular leftist revolutionaries to the religious extremism that would define terrorism in later decades, making clear connections to today's threats. This is gripping, authoritative, and surprisingly accessible despite its scope.

[Bradley Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A super detailed book about Middle East terrorism. The language and rhetoric hasn't changed. Nothing has changed at all. Watching the news about Gaza, and reading about the marches in capital cities is like any other chapter from the book.
Each chapter could be a book in their own right - a full story of each terrorist incident or war. The author's detail is amazing.
I suspect there will be a sequel to take us from the early 80s to now.

[Andy Moss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obviously very well researched and written. I'll have to admit it was probably a bit too in-depth for me as someone with just a general interest, and especially in the later chapters got a bit over whelming trying to keep tabs on who everyone was. Not the fault of the book though.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reads like a spy novel. Puts a lot of stuff into context.

[Andrew Wesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite being alive at the time, much of this passed me by! The days pre airport security!! 😂😂 V informative and traces the line to where we are now…