Dangerous Liaisons is a book about intersections. It is a product of two year s worth of discussion among a group of ethnographers from four different countries studying war, violence, the military, and the state. Throughout the first decade of the twenty-first century, anthropologists have watched with both interest and concern as government agencies particularly those with military and intelligence functions have sought their professional assistance in understanding terrorists motivations, stabilizing nascent wartime governments, and countering insurgencies."