Good Reads 2020
By
December 11, 2020
It’s that time of year again—when Political Violence @ A Glance publishes a list of the year’s best books, especially those that draw attention to the ways in which research on political violence and its alternatives relates to contemporary policy problems. Here are our contributors’ and editors’ top reads from 2020. What are yours?
How Insurgency Begins: Rebel Group Formation in Uganda and Beyond, by Janet Lewis. This is the book we have all been waiting for. Lewis’ extraordinary research reveals the origins of rebel groups long before they emerge as viable, visible forces. Using data from Uganda, Lewis analyzes where and when even the smallest groups form, why only a few of them survive, and how local intelligence determines whether they grow or perish. This is one of the few books that reveals exactly how civil wars emerge.