Good But Not His Greatest

I will say first off that if this is your first Mike Davis book, then you will probably find "Buda's Wagon" a real gem. But in comparative terms with Davis's other works such as "City of Quartz" or "Planet of Slums," this book doesn't quite measure up intellectually.

Having said that, this short volume is as described, a brief history of the car bomb. Using newspaper sources and other secondary material, Davis pieces together a disturbing portrait of terror at its most debased level. I do have to say that Davis does have all of his facts straight, which is impressive considering the breadth of conflicts that he covers.

Overall, this is a highly readable, if depressing, look at the evolution of terrorism over the last 100 years. Not Davis's best work, but definitely worth the read for sure. ( )