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JOANNE MEYEROWITZ, ED., History and September 11th. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2003. Pp. 2731. $61.50/$19.95).
The title of this book is the same as that of a special issue (September 2002) of the Journal of American History. This volume reprints all the papers in that issue and adds an introduction, an afterword, and twelve primary source documents. A strong interest in pedagogy and in reaching an audience beyond professional historians distinguishes the publisher of the JAH, the Organization of American Historians, from the American Historical Association. Accordingly History and September 11h is aimed at teachers and students. That we need history to make sense of the present and that policymakers pay less attention to history than they ought are truisms cited in the introduction as the reason for this book. Contributors were asked to provide essays "with deeper research and greater intellectual engagement than typically found in newspapers and magazines" (1). This collection succeeds to some extent in addressing the fundamental question posed by Fareed Zakaria better than he could within the confines of a magazine feature article ("The Politics of Rage: Why Do They Hate Us?" Newsweek, 15 October 2001). However, loose organization, unfortunate timing and a rather tendentious tone in the introduction and afterword limit this book's value as a source of background and interpretation.
Four of the chapters undertake to show the roots of opposition to...