The Age of Terror: America and the World After September 11

This is basically a bunch of essays by academics (mostly from Yale) that consists of describing certain elements as related to terrorism and US policy. The academics who composed these essays range from professors of history, law, political science, and there's one molecular biologist. I found most of these essays relevant and interesting from the point of view of examining globalism and also the political roots of fundamentalist Islam. Some of these commentators take the viewpoint that America needs to protect its dominant position and assume an imperalist attitude to do so. I found a little fault with that. I believe cooperation and tolerance is the key. Other commentators illustrate the point that we must be aggressive in combating terrorism and also learn productive measures to combat a potential bioterrorist attack. Most of this is common sense but each writer puts their own spin on it relating to the field they teach about. A little bit of the book was rough because it seemed to be put together rather hastily without proper editing. Also, there were two essays that got pretty dry and read more like reading some kind of intelligence memo. I found myself having to fight boredom a couple of times. Lastly, there were many comparisons drawn in the book between 9-11 and Pearl Harbor or even Britain's position as the dominant power 100 yrs earlier. This was somewhat tedious because we've heard these comparisons over and over. They are true to an extent but there has never been anything quite like 9-11 happen before. I don't know that we'll find any fool-proof answers to the problems of terror that we all face in a changing world in this book. However, it's good that books like this one open up the discussion so that we may dare to think about such matters before we are caught off guard. If you want something to pass the time that concerns political matters and is relatively accessible you should read this book. It's not spectacular but it's okay.

This collection of essays--written, compiled, and published within just a few weeks of 9/11-- easily could have fallen into the trap of being just another slap-dash, knee-jerk, sloppily-put-together "instant book." And, as with any collection of essays by different authors, The Age of Terror: America and the World After September 11 could have ended up being wildly uneven in terms of quality, theme, and style. Fortunately, none of this happened. Instead, the book's two editors - former Clinton Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and Nayan Chanda-have assembled a fine collection of essays by leading experts in various fields (history, law, political science, molecular biology, diplomacy) into a top-notch, thought provoking, fascinating look at the world after 9/11. As explained on the book's jacket, the premise here is that "the unforgivable is not necessarily incomprehensible or inexplicable." After reading this book, the events of 9/11 should be both more comprehensible and more explicable to just about any reader.Among the more provocative essays in The Age of Terror" is the one by Charles Hill, a former aide to Secretaries of State Kissinger, Haig, and Shultz. Hill's chapter, entitled "A Herculean Task: The Myth and Reality of Arab Terrorism," demolishes what Hill considers to be a series of "deceptive and dangerous myths" that have sprung up following 9/11: that "America faces an entirely new kind of challenge;" that "we brought this on ourselves;" that there are "legitimate grievances about poverty and oppression" that "leave those afflicted with no choice but to take up terrorism;" and that "nothing we do can be effective against such a threat." Even more provocatively, Hill blasts "the miserable state of politics and governance" in the Arab world, plus the tendency of Arabs to blame all their problems on warped conspiracy theories (i.e, the Mossad was behind 9/11) and bluntly states: "Every regime of the Arab-Islamic world has proved a failure. Not one has proved able to provide its people with realistic hope for a free and prosperous future." On the contrary, Hill argues that Arab regimes have intentionally served up a "combination of internal oppression and propaganda to generate rage against external enemies." In this soil, according to Hill, " religiously inflamed terrorists take root" and thrive. Hill then concludes his fascinating, thought-provoking essay with a classic literary analogy, comparing the current fight against terrorism to the "twelve labors of Hercules." And just as Hercules required "intelligence," "patience," "fortitude" "the willingness and ability to undertake diverse and difficult tasks," "methods other than direct, main force" at times; the assistance of allies, and continued respect for "properly constituted laws and procedures of justice" to successfully complete his labors, so shall we in our current struggle. Hill leaves us with fighting words fit for Hercules: "those who commit acts of war

This is in some ways an instant book--produced within a month or so of September 11. But the people who contributed have long been thinking about the issues raised by those horrifying events. The contributions are uneven, as one would expect from a proejct like this, but the whole is much better than one might expect. It helps the reader put the events in the context of Middle Eastern and world history and provides some ideas to chew on. I always find John Lewis Gaddis and Paul Kennedy stimulating. The essays by Niall Ferguson (provocatively advocating imperialism!) and Maxine Singer (on the role science might be given) were particularly thought provoking.

The Age of Terror compiles the thoughts of various academics about the roots of terrorism and possible directions for national security. The majority of the all-star cast of authors is currently teaching at Yale. Most are historians, while a law professor, a management professor and a scientist round out the crew. Many of the authors also have some political experience, whether within the beltway or overseas. Their thoughts and ideas are well articulated and diverse. My one criticism of the book lies in the lack of any attempt to synthesize some of the ideas into a coherent set of policy choices. Given the political experience of Strobe Talbott and Charles Hill, among others, this team could have taken the time to combine some of their thoughts into policy options that our current leaders could consider. Instead, the editors succumbed to the publisher's pressure to rush to market before the window of opportunity created by 9/11 passed. Other than the above criticism, I found the majority of the essays insightful and informative, even though I have stayed very current on these issues since my profession requires a firm understanding of the national security environment. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in surveying the opinions of many of the foremost historians and other professionals in our society today.