A scholar and advisor to the Pentagon explains the religious motivations of terrorists, and tells why suicide missions may be rational and pleasurable for them.

Religious self-destructiveness and nuclear deterrence -- The mysteries of pleasure -- The varieties of religious pleasure -- The school for happiness -- Disgust and desire : why we sacrifice for the group -- God's love and the Prozac effect -- Spiritual love and the seeds of annihilation -- The paradise paradox : the misery of heaven-addicts -- The martyr's theater.