In the 1990s, when I interviewed the Red Brigades for my PhD, I began to uncover new paradigm in terrorist networks. Behind the dramatic façade of politics and violence loomed the more mundane problems of funding an organization whose costs ran to several million dollars per year. As I got to know the leaders of Italy’s largest armed groups, I found that their primary skills were managerial, not military. It was thanks to their business acumen more than their martial prowess that they had risen to the top ranks of the operation.

Since then, I have been keen to investigate the financial side of armed groups, their links with each other and with legitimate and illegitimate businesses. In the late 1990s, I asked my agent to see if there was any interest in a book on the economics of terrorism, but she immediately discouraged me. In 2000 I approached a top New York agent with the same proposal, which she very politely turned down. Then came September 11, and since then my phone hasn’t stopped ringing.

With the help of the New York agent I wrote a long and detailed proposal for a book on the economics of terrorism, tracing the birth and development of an economy parallel to the Western one and plugged into it. This parallel economy is the lifeline of international terror. I sent it to my Italian agent, Roberta Oliva, who loved it. She asked me to let her sell it in Italy, but the New York agent would not hear of it, insisting that a sale in Italy should come after a sale in the US. Just before Thanksgiving, the proposal went to 24 commissioning editors of mainstream publishing houses in the US; 18 of them wanted to commission the book. Negotiations started; I spent a week talking to the various editors, discussing working relationships, publication dates, promotion, etc. Then, right before the auction for the rights, something unexpected happened. One by one, the enthusiastic editors dropped out. One after another they called my agent, apologizing profusely; some of them called me directly. As we watched our potential buyers disappear, we discovered the true reason for the exodus: the boards of directors of the 18 publishing houses had invariably rejected the decisions of the commissioning editors. Random House, Holt, Penguin; all vetoed a book which portrayed the ‘enemy’ as an intelligent, skilled and articulate foe.

The New York literary agency was shell-shocked, they had seen their commission for a six-figure advance evaporate within a few days. More critically, they had grossly miscalculated market sentiment about what was rapidly becoming the most important current affairs topic in the world. How could this have been possible? I suggested we gave the proposal to my Italian agent, but I was once again reminded that a sale in Italy would jeopardize a sale in the US. Instead, the proposal was sent to a sub-agent, one of the top literary agents in London. On my suggestion, it was given an exclusive viewing at a very well-known UK publishing house. After a week, I got a call from the commissioning editor, and a meeting was set up with the managing director and several other editors. I remember going to the office on a rainy Friday evening in early January, after business hours. We sat in the commissioning editor’s office and, one by one, everybody praised my proposal, commenting on the different chapters. I felt that not only had they understood what I was trying to say, they had embraced my book. A few hours later the London agent got a call: the publishing house wanted to commission the book. Once again a six-figure advance was discussed and agreed, all that remained was to get the documentation signed. Monday afternoon I got a call from a very embarrassed and apologetic commissioning editor. The deal was off; the president had vetoed the book.

Surprisingly, I was amused. For almost two months top US and UK agents and commissioning editors had been failing to get my book off the ground; for two months I had been told that a sale in the US and the UK was essential for the success of my book, almost implying that without it, the book was not worth writing. They had all made fools of themselves. What if the mainstream English speaking markets were not ready for it? Or even better, what if they were conditioned by censorship? What if on matters of terrorism, the small European markets were much more knowledgeable and sophisticated? I picked up the telephone and called my Italian agent, asking her to sell the book. In 24 hours she held the auction and sold the book to Il Saggiatore, Marco Tropea Editore. I got the largest advance for a non-fiction book in Italy in a decade. The Italian publisher even agreed to translate the book into Italian, my mother tongue, as I insisted I was going to write it in English. With the advance money I hired three research assistants from the London School of Economics and SOAS in London, a first class editor in London and Pakistani researcher/editor in Karachi.

My US and UK agents were stunned. When I told them to approach non-mainstream publishers in the US and UK they refused to do so, saying ‘we do not deal with them.’ I was told to wait for a few months and then to re-propose the book to the mainstream publishers. ‘Things will change’, they kept saying. I disagreed, and with the help of my Italian agent I approached several independent US and UK publishers. I knew that they were ‘controversial’ publishers and would welcome a book like mine. Not only did they all read the proposal, several made very good offers. In the end I went for Pluto Press, who bought the world English rights, providing me with excellent support and a first class marketing plan.

My disappointment with the US publishing world continued after the completion of the book. Kitty Kelly introduced me to a well known publicist from Washington DC, she was so enthusiastic about my book that she accepted to represent me for a reduced fee, as Pluto Press could not afford to pay her in full. When she read the book, she send me an e mail terminating our relationship because I had written in my book that The US had been involved in sponsoring terrorism, ” how do you dare saying such a thing?”, she wrote. I guess, somehow, she had missed the Iran-Contra scandal.

So far, Roberta Oliva has sold the rights of the book in several European countries and is negotiating with many others.

While researching and writing Modern Jihad, Tracing the Dollars of the Terror Networks, I was encouraged, supported and helped by many people around the world. Noam Chomsky; Alex Schmid, head of the Crime and Terror Prevention Unit at the UN; George Magnus, chief economist at UBS Warburg; Greg Palast, who introduced me to my US publicist; Jason Burke of the Observer, with whom I exchanged ideas and many, many others. Last but not least, this book was made possible by my sources within international armed groups; people who have inspired my research.