The Mason Spirit

Claudia Verhoeven, Assistant Professor, History and Art History

In The Odd Man Karakozov (Cornell University Press, March 2009), Verhoeven argues that Karakozov’s failed assassination attempt on Alexander II sheds light on the origins of terrorism. By looking at the history that produced Karakozov and, in turn, the history that Karakozov produced, Verhoeven shows terrorism as a phenomenon inextricably linked to the foundations of the modern world: capitalism, enlightened law and scientific reason, ideology, technology, new media, and, above all, people’s participation in politics and in the making of history.