When confronted with trying to understand why terrorists do what they do, most people assume that they must be insane. However, as Post shows, the psychological make-up of a terrorist does not distinguish him or her from the average person on the street. To understand this revelation, he explores the different types of terrorists, from national-separatists like the Irish Republican Army to social revolutionary terrorists like Shining Path and the Weather Underground, as well as religious extremists like al Qaeda and Aum Shinrikyo, to discover the real motivations behind what drives these "normal" people to kill. These psychological components are often waved away in favor of focusing on political, social, and economic concerns terrorists profess, damaging our ability to truly understand these criminals. In Mind of the Terrorist, Jerrold Post uses his expertise to explain how the terrorist mind works and how this information can help us to combat terrorism more effectively.