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mattleesharp's review against another edition
4.0
This was a fascinating read. Car bombing is one of those things I have vivid mental images associated with, but that I had never really challenged myself to think deeply about. Verso does a great job of seeking out that kind of subject matter. So much of this book was interesting because it was a history I wasn't familiar with and much of Davis' argument is a well reasoned critique of our approach to handling the war on terror. We are still in many ways attacking the wrong problem 8 years after the publication of this book.
But what most stood out to me was first his description of car bombing as the "poor man's air force" (which struck me as embarrassingly self evident once I wrapped my head around it) and second a point he made within that same chapter about how important it is for a car bomb to be "loud." In almost all of the examples listed throughout this history, that stood out as a common theme. The car bomb is the ultimate instrument of terror because of its innocuousness (in one chapter planted exclusively in a middle style of Italian car) and the chaos it creates in the "loud" explosion after detonation. But also in many ways car bombs were loud because they were giving a voice to a marginalized group. They act ass both bomb and megaphone. Car bombing has been a way to undermine the narrative we were fed over the last fifty years about how the US has had impossibly complicated conflicts under control.
Davis' contempt for the practice of car bombing obviously shone through, but no less so than his horror at the incompetence or nefariousness of the institutions and governments those bombings representatively attacked. In that way I found this book to be an incredible read. The only drawback for me was that a couple of chapters felt like they were just sort of lazily pulled straight from other books I've already read (specifically Killing Pablo and The Looming Tower) with little added or divergent commentary.
But what most stood out to me was first his description of car bombing as the "poor man's air force" (which struck me as embarrassingly self evident once I wrapped my head around it) and second a point he made within that same chapter about how important it is for a car bomb to be "loud." In almost all of the examples listed throughout this history, that stood out as a common theme. The car bomb is the ultimate instrument of terror because of its innocuousness (in one chapter planted exclusively in a middle style of Italian car) and the chaos it creates in the "loud" explosion after detonation. But also in many ways car bombs were loud because they were giving a voice to a marginalized group. They act ass both bomb and megaphone. Car bombing has been a way to undermine the narrative we were fed over the last fifty years about how the US has had impossibly complicated conflicts under control.
Davis' contempt for the practice of car bombing obviously shone through, but no less so than his horror at the incompetence or nefariousness of the institutions and governments those bombings representatively attacked. In that way I found this book to be an incredible read. The only drawback for me was that a couple of chapters felt like they were just sort of lazily pulled straight from other books I've already read (specifically Killing Pablo and The Looming Tower) with little added or divergent commentary.
ptune's review against another edition
4.0
a challenging book, which complicates my own understanding of the most pervasive weapon of my own lifetime. despite its supposedly noble beginnings as a weapon waged against worthy targets (fascists, royalty), the car bomb has, according to Davis, devolved into something far more sinister, far more fascistic, far more reactionary. it’s no coincidence that the greatest disseminators of car bomb tech and logistics are governments (CIA, Pakistani ISI, Saudi intelligence) rather than the terrorist cells themselves. no number of worthy anti-market, anti-imperial, anti-fascist bombs can make up for the incredible, incalculable losses these same bombs have produced at the hands of any number of capitalist nation states, fascistic militias, or imperial campaigns. it’s tricky, I’m not sure I have a complete grasp.
jpowerj's review against another edition
5.0
An absolutely essential book for understanding (an integral part of) the evolution of urban guerrilla warfare over the course of the last ~100 years. Basically it gives a whirlwind tour of resistance movements, many of which I had no idea about despite pretentiously thinking I knew a lot (Corsican guerrilla resistance?!?)
anti_formalist12's review against another edition
4.0
A really fascinating survey the car bomb, both its development and use in the 20th century. It’s also a useful primer for a number of terrorist groups, both left and right.
jonvarner's review
3.0
This is certainly a comprehensive catalog of car bombings, and therefore a brief overview of 20th century insurgencies all across the globe. I wish more space had been devoted to analysis of the responses to the ongoing threat (civil, technological, architectural, and political).
sonicdonutflour's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
A really fascinating read which highlights, among many things, just how wholly ineffective both US police and military power is at subduing populations. All the money and expensive weaponry in the world won’t change minds of the oppressed.
ratthew86's review against another edition
dark
informative
fast-paced
4.5
A fascinating, though at times overwhelming way to explore history. I appreciated the short chapters as it made it a much faster read.
mburnamfink's review against another edition
4.0
The car bomb, or VBIED (Vehicle Born Improved Explosive Device), if you have an MSAF (Milspec Acronym Fetish) is the guerrilla smart bomb. In its more basic form, it marries the mundane infrastructure of urban life like trucks and driveways, to easily available explosives like ANFO and diesel fuel, to a deadly weapon. Whether abandoned in a parking garage or brazenly crashed through the front gates of an embassy by a suicide bomber, the car bomb is a way for poor organizations to hit sensitive targets with precision.
Davis rolls through the long history of the car bomb, from its invention by Italian anarchist Mario Buda, to its perfection by the Zionist terrorist group Irgun, to its proliferation across the world in the hands of the Tamil Tigers, the IRA, and Al Qaeda in Iraq. There's an odd tonal disconnect between coldly clinical history and near-conspiratorial glee at CIA blowback, as car bombs disrupt French, British, and American imperialism, but in a short and breezy book the style mostly works.
Davis is by training a Marxist urbanist, and he's best in noting that car bombs are more than cheap precision weapons used to hit hard targets like embassies and barracks. The generalized threat of car bombs is paralyzing, demanding a 'Ring of Steel' to protect downtowns and upper class districts. Indiscriminate in their death, car bombs can be used against soft targets like schools and markets to foster ethnic violence and sidetrack peace negotiations. Finally, given the ease by which vehicles circulate through cities, there's no way to ensure security. Buda's wagon is the hotrod of the apocalypse.
There's not much original research in this book, and in some ways the threat of car bombs has been supplemented by the pure kinetic energy of ISIS vehicular attacks. Still, afun little military history worth a read.
Davis rolls through the long history of the car bomb, from its invention by Italian anarchist Mario Buda, to its perfection by the Zionist terrorist group Irgun, to its proliferation across the world in the hands of the Tamil Tigers, the IRA, and Al Qaeda in Iraq. There's an odd tonal disconnect between coldly clinical history and near-conspiratorial glee at CIA blowback, as car bombs disrupt French, British, and American imperialism, but in a short and breezy book the style mostly works.
Davis is by training a Marxist urbanist, and he's best in noting that car bombs are more than cheap precision weapons used to hit hard targets like embassies and barracks. The generalized threat of car bombs is paralyzing, demanding a 'Ring of Steel' to protect downtowns and upper class districts. Indiscriminate in their death, car bombs can be used against soft targets like schools and markets to foster ethnic violence and sidetrack peace negotiations. Finally, given the ease by which vehicles circulate through cities, there's no way to ensure security. Buda's wagon is the hotrod of the apocalypse.
There's not much original research in this book, and in some ways the threat of car bombs has been supplemented by the pure kinetic energy of ISIS vehicular attacks. Still, afun little military history worth a read.
apermal2's review
3.0
Buda���s Wagon details the sordid history of the car bomb from its first incarnation as a wagon bomb parked on Wall Street to the current horror that is US occupied Iraq. It also sheds light on a subject I had no knowledge of, which is the terrorist campaign fought by the Israelis against the British. The Stern Gang introduced the car bomb to the troubled area while fighting their colonial masters but they soon turned their sadistic weapon on the Arab populace, who of course retaliated in kind. We all know how that story never ends, so I���ll not bore you with further details, and neither does Davis, though he does bore us with further details of other conflicts. Normally I love his books but this one fell flat for me; it takes too much time to discuss the details of individual bombings and the thousands of people who are killed by them, and not enough time discussing the broader significance. Essentially, it could have been shorter though it is already quite short. I just didn���t find myself being particularly interested in the details of bombing campaigns and found the brief descriptions of the overall political atmosphere and the conditions leading up to the terrorist attacks to be too light and sometimes confusing. Chapters are generally under twenty pages and the vast majority of those pages are dedicated to the describing the impact of the bombs in a literal and physical way. I found myself not following the non-bomb related events but wanting to know more about the individual struggles. Too often Davis also assumes the reader has more knowledge about the struggles than I think most people have, at least that was the case with me. I do enjoy reading his prose though so I struggled through the sometimes tedious parts and found the book to be on the whole enjoyable, but not nearly as packed with intriguing information as his other efforts. Many of the pages devoted to details of a given bomb, how it was made, how it was set, how much damage it did, snuck by with me zoning out thinking of other books by Mike Davis, all of which are great and should be read by everybody.