Domestic violence and terrorism link explored by Smith

Journalist and human rights campaigner Joan Smith is publishing a book exploring the link between domestic violence and acts of terrorism with Quercus imprint riverrun.

Rose Tomaszewska, editor at riverrun, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) from Caroline Michel at PFD in the non-fiction book. Entitled Home-Grown: How Domestic Violence Turns Men into Terrorists, it publishes in May 2019.

Smith is a journalist for the Guardian, Telegraph and Times, author of feminist classic Misogynies, (Faber, 1989) and co-chair of the Mayor of London's board for Violence Against Women and Girls. Arguing a history of domestic violence is "a striking common factor" in terrorists, Smith's book builds on her work in the co-chair role that has involved working with police, presecutors and women’s organisations to reduce sexual and domestic abuse and led her to write it.

She commented: "In the anguished debate about what turns people into terrorists, everyone is talking about the influence of radical preachers and Islamic State, and a striking common factor has been missed - a history of domestic violence. Like mass shooters in the US, where most perpetrators have been involved in family abuse, terrorists are dangerous, angry men who treat wives, mothers and sisters with contempt, sometimes escalating to physical injuries. Behind the slogans and hatred lies a seething stew of misogyny, self-hatred and toxic masculinity.

"Since 2013 I've been the co-chair of the Mayor of London's Violence Against Women and Girls Board and I drew on my earlier work on misogyny to argue that terrorists, like most mass murderers, emerge from families where male violence is endemic. This book will demonstrate the startling link between growing up with violent fathers and adult offending, to argue that terrorism truly is homegrown."

Tomaszewska said Home-Grown "isn’t just a book" but "a manifesto".

"While criminal authorities have failed to spot the link between domestic abuse and terrorism, Joan has ingeniously researched and honed-in on an idea that could transform the way we can counteract both," she continued. "The team at riverrun and Quercus immediately recognised how urgent and vital it was and we’ll be launching it with an unmissable publicity campaign. Joan’s a formidable expert on this subject, and her sharp writing and sense of humour will light fires under everyone."

Smith also wrote the Loretta Lawson crime series (Vintage) and the thriller What Will Survive (Bloomsbury) as well as non-fiction on food, secular morality and the monarchy. She is also a former chair of the English PEN Writers in Prison Committee and has advised the FCO on freedom of expression. Currently she is on the board of the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society, is a patron of Humanists UK and an honorary associate of the National Secular Society.