PSI Guides to Terrorists, Insurgents and Armed Groups

 

I: The Basic Facts

Author: James J.F. Forest, Director of Terrorism Studies, Combating Terrorism Center, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, NY 10996. E-mail: james.forest@usma.edu. Phone: 845-938-5055

Working Title: Hizbollah: The "A Team" of the Terrorist World?

Projected Length: 85,000-90,000 words.

Delivery: The manuscript can be delivered no later than April 1, 2011. Roughly 25% of the manuscript has already been written.

 

II: About the Book

Executive Summary:

This book will provide a concise, authoritative overview of this group's early leaders, foundation, support and recruiting strategies, and the most significant attacks that Hizbollah operatives have conducted over the past two decades . . . .

It is intended for a general audience, though it will be of most interest to security policymakers, undergraduate and graduate students in security studies courses, and Middle East specialists.

Keynote

This is a concise positioning statement that summarizes your book (30 words or so). This will help the potential buyer understand the scope, level, and content of your project, and help differentiate your book from other titles being published on this topic.

Description/Abstract

What is the author's main thesis or abstract? How would you describe the book to the buying librarian or end reader in terms of breadth, depth, and scope? Why is this book needed - what makes this book important? Five or six lines or so, around 100 to 150 words. This will eventually serve as the back cover copy for the book.

Features

Write up four or so bullet points listing the key features of the book and their benefits. After the core argument, what are the main things you would point to that make this book distinct and useful?

Target Audience

Who is going to want to use this book? What is their situation that would bring them to the work? Does this volume represent an existing gap in the literature? What does the book bring to the table that is not currently being addresses by existing volumes?

Back story

Essentially, this is the story behind the book's conceptualization. What brought you to the idea for the book? How did it take shape from there? Authoring a book is a major undertaking - what made you want to write it?

Market Overview/Timeliness

In terms of timeliness, what is happening in the world that makes this work important? How does the book contribute to the scholarly discourse on the topic? Or advance it?

Selling Points

Will there be any pedagogical features such as a bibliography, maps, tables, glossary, etc? This can also be a bullet-point list noting the importance of the topic, current happenings related to the book's subject, the author's platform for promoting/selling the book.

For example: Competing publications on Hizballah include . . . This book will differ from others by . . . (please state your thesis and whether it may challenge conventional wisdom, the status quo, or previous research)

Competition

List the following for each: author, title, publisher, copyright date, pg. count, hc or pb, and price. What kinds of books dominate the market? Where does this book fit into that spectrum of titles? Are any dated, or overly detailed, or that gloss the subject? Get as close as you can here to titles already available that would be most similar to yours.

Table of Contents and Chapter Summaries

Draft your chapter titles, and write a few lines under each explaining what that chapter does. You can make this a separate document, or place it at the end of the proposal. This piece is to provide sense of scale of the book, both topically and in terms of length.

• NOTE: Chapter 1 should provide basic facts about the group, and address key questions the reader will need to know: When was the group founded, by whom, and where are their primary bases of support and operations? How are they organized, led, etc.? What are the primary sources of their weapons, finances, other kinds of logistics support? What are the main pillars of their ideology, and have these changed over time? Where are their primary recruitment bases? Do they control territory? Providing these and other basic facts about the group will be necessary before leading the reader through your narrative in subsequent chapters.

 

III: About the Author

Four or five lines or so outlining the author's experience and career as relevant to the book. NOTE: Multiple authored works are welcome.

The author has developed significant expertise on this topic, as evidenced by . . .

CV is attached.

Author's citizenship: U.S.

 

IV: Additional book and author information to consider when evaluating this proposal . . .

 

Please send your proposal, as well as any requests for information or clarification, to Dr. James Forest, Director of Terrorism Studies, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, 10996. Attachments (MS Word, PDF, Wordperfect, etc.) and e-mail submissions are strongly encouraged, and can be sent to PSI@teachingterror.net