J.M. Berger, left, with the protagonist, I guess(?), of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, at a book fair in Lisbon.
Dr. J.M. Berger is an internationally recognized and widely cited expert on extremism. He is the author of Extremism (MIT Press 2018), the definitive text on the subject, now available in six languages. He holds a PhD in criminology from Swansea University School of Law.
Berger's research encompasses extremist and terrorist ideologies and propaganda, including novel methods for analyzing extremist narratives and use of language, as well as their use of social media and other emerging technologies.
He is the author of four books, including Optimal (2020), Extremism (2018), ISIS: The State of Terror with Jessica Stern (2015) and Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam (2011). His 2024 doctoral dissertation, The Social Construction of Extremism, is an ambitious exploration of the root causes of extremism that pushes back on the conventional wisdom of the field in surprising and original ways, offering a new theory of extremism's origins. His newest novel, The Pope's Hitman, will be published in October 2026.
