Bloom, Mia 1968–

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Bloom, Mia 1968–

(Mia Mellissa Bloom)

PERSONAL: Born 1968. Education: McGill University, B.A. (cum laude); Georgetown University, M.A. (magna cum laude); Columbia University, Ph.D., 1999; also attended Tel Aviv University.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of Political Science, University of Cincinnati, P.O. Box 210375, Cincinnati, OH 45220-0375.

CAREER: Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, adjunct professor, 1996–99; Hunter College of the City University of New York, adjunct professor, 1996–97; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, research fellow, 2000; Stern College, Yeshiva University, New York, NY, adjunct professor, 1997–99; Baruch College of the City University of New York, adjunct professor, 1999; Cornell University, New York, NY, visiting assistant professor, 1999–2001; Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, research fellow, 2002; International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Kandy and Colombo, Sri Lanka, visiting researcher, 2002–03; State of New Jersey, Trenton, consultant to Attorney General's Office of Counter-Terrorism, 2003–04; McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, visiting assistant professor, 2004; University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, assistant professor of political science, 2005–. Member of Council on Foreign Relations and Institute for Current World Affairs. Commentator for Public Broadcasting Service, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and Fox News.

MEMBER: International Studies Association, American Political Science Association, Pi Sigma Alpha.

AWARDS, HONORS: Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar award, United States Institute of Peace, 1995; Morris Abrams Award in International Relations, 1997–98; Columbia University President's fellow, 1995–99; Princeton University post-doctoral fellow, 2001–02; International Studies Association grant, 2003; Global Security and Cooperation Award, SSRC MacArthur, 2001–03; Solicited Grants Book Project, United States Institute of Peace, 2003–04; Rhodes scholarship, 2004–05.

WRITINGS:

Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror, Columbia University Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East, Macmillan Press, New York, 1996; and Contemporary Genocide: Causes, Cases, Consequences, edited by Albert J. Jongman, Center for the Study of Social Conflicts, Leiden University, 1996. Has published articles and book reviews in Political Science Quarterly, Civil Wars, World Press Review, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Journal of International Affairs, and Journal of Conflict, Security, and Development. Coeditor of special issue of Global Security Quarterly, summer, 2002, and of Security Studies, fall, 2005.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Good Intentions and the Road to Hell (working title); dissertation manuscript under revision, for Cornell University Press; several journal articles.

SIDELIGHTS: Mia Bloom is an assistant professor of political science and the author of Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror. Her book explains the parameters and purposes of suicide terrorism and points to the kind of support these tactics require from the groups they represent and the similarly violent responses they often unleash. The first eight chapters are devoted to providing an historical perspective that ranges from first-century zealots to the kamikaze pilots of World War II. Other chapters discuss case studies in Israel, Palestine, Turkey, Iraq, Sri Lanka, and Chechnya. The role of female suicide bombers in Sri Lanka and Chechnya are reviewed, furthermore, as well as the relatively restrained and possibly successful response to Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party. The book ends with a discussion of the possibility of suicide attacks on the United States.

Several reviewers praised Bloom for providing a knowledgeable and careful inspection of suicide attacks. A critic for Publishers Weekly called the book "a major study" that is "lucid and comprehensive." The reviewer noted, "Bloom's historical range is formidable." In a comparison to another book published at about the same time, Washington Times critic Joshua Sinai considered Dying to Kill to be a "more nuanced and better informed analysis of suicide terrorism" and a source of "important insights."