I Am the Famous Carlos

The Story of the Jackal, the World's First Celebrity Terrorist

Published Copy

Genres

History, Political Biography, True Crime, Modern History, and Political Nonfiction

Trigger Warnings

Violence

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Publication Date

May 14, 2026

Page Length

251 pages

Available Formats

ePub and PDF

I Am the Famous Carlos

The Story of the Jackal, the World's First Celebrity Terrorist

Published Copy

Blurb

He was the most wanted man in the world for decades.

Carlos the Jackal, the Venezuelan-born terrorist, carried out a wave of attacks across Europe in the 1970s and 1980s. A ruthless self-proclaimed revolutionary, he claimed to fight for the Palestinian cause and communist ideology, but also worked as a mercenary for rogue regimes and organizations. After bursting onto the world stage with the 1975 OPEC siege in Vienna, where he took 60 hostages and killed three people, he managed to evade capture for two decades. Finally arrested in a daring raid in Sudan in 1994, he was brought to justice in France where he is serving three life sentences for his reign of terror. This is the riveting story of how a pudgy schoolboy became the world’s first celebrity terrorist.

What people are saying...

"A colorful and gripping portrait of a notorious terrorist."

- Kirkus Reviews

Details

Genres

History, Political Biography, True Crime, Modern History, and Political Nonfiction

Trigger Warnings

Violence

Series

Not part of a series

Author Prefers A Review On

Amazon

Reader Spots Remaining

Number of days to read

Publication Date

May 14, 2026

Page Length

251 pages

Available Formats

ePub and PDF

Author

Christina Hoag is an author and journalist. A former staff writer for The Miami Herald and The Associated Press in Los Angeles, she was based in Caracas, Venezuela, for seven years where she first started covering Carlos the Jackal. She has reported from fourteen countries in Latin America and the Caribbean for Time, Business Week, The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Sunday Times of London, Houston Chronicle and other news outlets.