Up Coming Book-New Al-Qaeda Goes to College

James Ottavio Castagnera, a well known lawyer and professor just wrote an exciting new book entitled "Al-Qaeda Goes To College."  It will be available on or about April 30, 2009 and I cannot wait to read it. I know Jim and respect Jim and have previously read much of his excellent work. The Press release about the book provides:

James Ottavio Castagnera, a Philadelphia attorney and author, is publishing his 17th book in April. This volume, published by Praeger, is the first book-length treatment of how the 9/11 attacks and the American political scene afterward have affected higher education in this country. It covers topics such as: universities' roles in training counter-terrorism experts, particularly anthropologists working in Iraq and Afghanistan; bio-terrorism research on campuses; inflammatory critiques by the likes of Ward Churchill; the conspiracy theories advocated by some academics regarding 9/11; lawsuits against universities by terror victims trying to get settlements from countries like Iran by seizing archaeological artifacts in American universities; accused Islamists teaching at American colleges, like Sami al-Arian at USF.
         Castagnera holds the B.A. from Franklin & Marshall College, the M.A. in Journalism from Kent State University, and the J.D. and Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University.  He has spent more than 25 years practicing, writing about, and teaching law. He has been a labor lawyer and litigator with a major Philadelphia firm, Saul Ewing, and the general counsel/corporate secretary for the then-largest convenience store chain in New Jersey and for the nation's number one econometric forecasting organization. He previously has published 16 books, as well as some 50 professional/scholarly articles and book chapters. He is a frequent commentator in newsletters, newspapers, magazines, and broadcast media.  His teaching has taken him to the University of Texas-Austin, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Widener University School of Law. He currently is legal counsel to a New Jersey university and president of a freelance research and writing company.

         In May-June 2007, he was one of 45 Academic Fellows on Terrorism who, together with his editor on this book, Dr. Timothy Furnish, studied counter-terrorism techniques in Israel under the auspices of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.  It was this experience, more than any other, that inspired the new book.

         Castagnera resides in the Philadelphia suburb of Havertown.  Advance orders for his new book are being accepted at the Greenwood Publishing Group’s Praeger website, http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/C36428.aspx

I hope to shortly get a copy of the book so I can review it.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein