As recent terrorist attacks on the United States, such as the Oklahoma City (Oklahoma) bombing, and the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East have shown, terrorism is an unfortunate reality that can have potentially devastating effects on governments, businesses, and individuals. This encyclopedia provides students, researchers, journalists, and policy makers with a complete survey of this rapidly growing problem. The encyclopedia contains 300+ entries, organized in an accessible A-to-Z format, and offers thorough treatment of the events, people, organizations, and places prominent in international terrorism. Each entry is placed within its historical context to help readers understand the wide-ranging motivations behind terrorist actions. Also included in this comprehensive encyclopedia is a chronology of terrorist events that have occurred from 1945 to the present. Entries in the encyclopedia discuss topics, such as: aerial hijacking; anthrax; Osama bin Laden; Carlos the Jackal; cyberterrorism; Montana Freeman; nuclear terrorism; Oklahoma City bombing; September 11th attacks on New York and Washington DC; Tokyo (Japan) gas attacks; and the Unabomber. Contains an extensive selected bibliography. (BT)