Bell, J. Bowyer 1931–2003

(J. Barton Bowyer)

PERSONAL: Born November 15, 1931, in New York, NY; died August 23, 2003; married; children: four. Education: Washington and Lee University, A.B., 1953; Duke University, A.M., 1954, Ph.D., 1958; University of Rome, graduate study, 1956–57. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Episcopalian.

CAREER: New York Institute of Technology, New York, NY, associate professor of history, 1963–67; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, research associate at Center for International Affairs, 1968–72; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, research associate at Center for International Studies, 1972–73; Columbia University, New York, NY, research associate of Institute of War and Peace Studies and adjunct professor of international and public affairs, beginning 1973. International Analysis Center (consulting firm), president; past member of Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society and Harvard-MIT Arms Control Seminar. Artist and art critic. Exhibitions: Art work exhibited in Dublin, Ireland.

MEMBER: International Institute for Strategic Studies, American Historical Association, American Political Science Association, American Committee for Irish Studies, Middle East Institute, Council on Foreign Relations.

AWARDS, HONORS: Earhart fellowship, 1972; Guggenheim fellowship, 1972–73; Ford Foundation grant, 1973–75.

WRITINGS:

Besieged: Seven Cities under Attack, Chilton (Radnor, PA), 1966.

The Long War: Israel and the Arabs since 1946, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1969.

The Secret Army: The IRA, 1916–1970, Anthony Blond (London, England), 1970, John Day (New York, NY), 1971, revised edition published as The Secret Army: The IRA, 1916–1974, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 1974, revised 3rd edition published as The Secret Army: The IRA, Transaction Books (New Brunswick, NJ), 1997, revised edition published as The IRA, 1968–2000: Analysis of a Secret Army, Frank Cass (Portland, OR), 2000.

The Myth of the Guerrilla: Revolutionary Theory and Malpractice, Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 1971.

The Horn of Africa: Strategic Magnet in the Seventies, Crane, Russak (New York, NY), 1973.

South Arabia: Violence and Revolt, Institute for the Study of Conflict (London, England), 1973.

Cyprus: A Greek Tragedy, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1974.

Transnational Terror, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (Washington, DC), 1975.

On Revolt: Strategies of National Liberation, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1976.

Terror Out of Zion: Irgun Zvai Leumi, LEHI, and the Palestine Underground, 1929–1949, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1977, published as Terror Out of Zion: The Fight for Israeli Independence, with new introduction by author and foreword by Moshe Arens, Transaction Books (New Brunswick, NJ), 1996.

A Time of Terror: How Democratic Societies Respond to Revolutionary Violence, Basic Books (New York, NY), 1978.

Assassin!, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1979.

(Under name J. Barton Bowyer) Cheating: Deception in War and Magic, Games and Sports, Sex and Religion, Business and Con Games, Politics and Espionage, Art and Science, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1982.

The Gun in Politics: An Analysis of Irish Political Conflict, 1916–1986, Transaction Books (New Brunswick, NJ), 1987.

To Play the Game: An Analysis of Sports, Transaction Books (New Brunswick, NJ), 1987.

IRA Tactics and Targets, Poolbeg (Dublin, Ireland), 1990.

(With Barton Whaley) Cheating and Deception, Transaction Books (New Brunswick, NJ), 1991.

The Irish Troubles: A Generation of Violence, 1967–1992, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1993.

In Dubious Battle: The Dublin Bombings, 1972–1974, Poolbeg (Dublin, Ireland), 1996.

Back to the Future: The Protestants and a United Ireland, Poolbeg (Dublin, Ireland), 1996.

The Dynamics of the Armed Struggle, Frank Cass (Portland, OR), 1998.

Dragonwars: Armed Struggle and the Conventions of Modern War, Transaction Books (New Brunswick, NJ), 1999.

Murders on the Nile: The World Trade Center and Global Terror, Encounter Books (San Francisco, CA), 2003.

Author of monographs. Contributor to books, including Power, Public Opinion and Democracy, edited by L.P. Wallace and W.C. Askew, Duke University Press (Durham, NC), 1959; Transnational Relations and World Politics, edited by R.O. Keohane and S.J. Nye, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1972; Civil War in the Twentieth Century, edited by R.D.S. Higham, University Press of Kentucky, 1972; International Terrorism, Praeger Publishers (Westport, CT), 1975; and New Dimensions in Military History, Presidio Press, 1975. Contributor to periodicals, including International Studies Quarterly, World Today, Middle East Journal, Military Affairs, Review of Politics, and United Irishman.

SIDELIGHTS: J. Bowyer Bell was known as an expert on wars and terrorism in Ireland, Israel, and Italy, but he was also recognized as an artist and art critic. While attending Duke University as a graduate student, Bell traveled to Italy on a Fulbright fellowship to study art. There he met the artist Cy Twombly, who would prove to be a major influence on him. But although he gained praise for his art from Twombly and exhibited at the Allan Stone Gallery during his college years, Bell opted for a practical career as an academician. During the mid-1960s he was an associate professor of history at the New York Institute of Technology, and during this time he became fascinated with Ireland and the Irish Republican Army (IRA). He became a student of the IRA's struggles and interviewed many of its early leaders, work that resulted in The Secret Army: The IRA, 1916–1970, which he continued to update, most recently as The IRA, 1968–2000: Analysis of a Secret Army. Bell also became an expert on struggles in other countries, including Italy, Israel, and Cyprus.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, March, 1988, James H. Frey, review of To Play the Game: An Analysis of Sports, p. 177.

Atlantic, March, 1993, Jack Beatty, review of The Irish Troubles: A Generation of Violence, 1967–1992, p. 126.

Booklist, February 15, 1993, Gilbert Taylor, review of The Irish Troubles, p. 1029; December 15, 2002, Ray Olson, review of Murder on the Nile: The World Trade Center and Global Terror, p. 710.

Choice, May, 1999, V.T. Le Vine, review of The Dynamics of the Armed Struggle, p. 1684; May, 2000, A.L. Ross, review of Dragonwars: Armed Struggle and Conventions of Modern War, p. 1718; May, 2001, J.W. Auld, review of The IRA, 1968–2000: Analysis of a Secret Army, p. 1683.

Crime and Delinquency, January, 1980, Abraham H. Miller, review of A Time of Terror: How Democratic Societies Respond to Violence, pp. 109-112.

English Historical Review, September, 1999, Alan O'Day, review of The Dynamics of the Armed Struggle, p. 1032.

Foreign Affairs, spring, 1988, Fritz Stern, review of The Gun in Politics: An Analysis of Irish Political Conflict, 1916–1986, p. 881.

History: Journal of the Historical Association, February, 1994, Michael Hopkinson, review of The Irish Troubles, p. 193.

Journal of Politics, August, 2001, review of Dragon-wars, p. 952.

Library Journal, February 15, 1993, Richard B. Finnegan, review of The Irish Troubles, p. 177.

New Statesman and Society, May 21, 1993, Austen Morgan, review of The Irish Troubles, p. 33.

Political Quarterly, April-June, 2001, Paul Arthur, review of The IRA, 1968–2000, p. 263.

Reference and Research Book News, February, 2001, review of The IRA, 1968–2000, p. 26.

Social Forces, March, 1988, review of To Play the Game, p. 878.

Times Literary Supplement, October 1, 1993, Eunan O'Halpin, review of The Irish Troubles, p. 10.

OBITUARIES:

PERIODICALS

Independent (London, England), September 26, 2003, p. 20.

Washington Post, September 6, 2003, p. B7.

ONLINE

RTE Interactive News, http://www.rte.ie/news/ (August 24, 2003).