A Just Response: The Nation on Terrorism, Democracy, and September 11, 2001 (Nation Books) - Softcover

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9781560254003: A Just Response: The Nation on Terrorism, Democracy, and September 11, 2001 (Nation Books)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1560254009 ISBN 13: 9781560254003

Publisher: Nation Books, 2002

On Tuesday morning, a piece was torn out of our world. A patch of blue sky that should not have been there opened up in the New York skyline.... Our city was changed forever. Our country was changed forever. Our world was changed forever. So wrote Jonathan Schell in the first issue of The Nation magazine following September 11, 2001. In A Just Response, some of the most respected figures on the progressive left analyze the causes and consequences of this new American wound in a series of thoughtful, informed, and provocative essays. Selected from The Nation and other sources, these articles counter the bombast and jingoism of so much of the media coverage since September 11—while providing informed analysis, provocative commentary, and reasoned debates. The writers in these pages speak out against "Fascism with an Islamic face," jingoism, and the undermining of civil rights, address the confusion between dissent and treason, and articulate a vision of a just response to terrorism. Others reflect on an interview with Osama bin Laden, the concept of "Blowback"—modern technological society turned unwittingly against itself—and the American right wing's exploitation of a national emergency to further its political agenda. Also included are dispatches from other countries around the world, brief background histories of bin Laden's origins, the roots of fundamentalism, asymmetrical warfare, and a heated exchange between Noam Chomsky and Christopher Hitchens.

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About the Author:

Katrina vanden Heuvel is editor and publisher of The Nation. She lives in New York City.

From Publishers Weekly:

The writers and editors of the Nation pull no punches in assailing both the Bush administration and the media for what they deem to be a dangerous and unnecessary overreaction to the September 11 terrorist attacks. From columnist Katha Pollitt's diatribe against the American flag (according to her, "The flag stands for jingoism and vengeance") to author Chalmers Johnson's evocation of the 1950s CIA term "blowback" to try to illustrate how what Johnson sees as America's corrupt foreign policies brought about September 11, this is not the kind of talk one finds within the pages of Time or Newsweek. Although the Nation's targets range from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Bayer, the manufacturer of Cipro, the harshest criticism is reserved for the mainstream media. According to Michael Massing, author of the 30-page section titled "Press Watch," members of the media by not asking pertinent questions or aggressively pursuing concrete answers from Bush administration officials have directly aided the administration's goal of ultimate secrecy. While Massing may be on point, other contributors are definitely not. Some writers predicted a prolonged conflict in Afghanistan with major U.S. casualties. Others suggested that millions of Afghan civilians would starve because of America's military operations. Neither of the aforementioned has happened. Still, those who found the early coverage of America's "War on Terror" to be monotonous will appreciate the Nation's radical point of view.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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