Every American remembers exactly how it unfolded and where they were and what they were doing on that terrible morning of September 11. And like any other unprecedented historic jolt, September 11 continues to roil our collective mind. We still ponder the questions it raised: What changed that day? What remains of the old? What is truly new? The essays in this collection examine these and other questions, taking a sometimes sobering, sometimes uplifting look at a historic turning point in our lives. The contributors examine the challenges and dangers of our new foreign policy and the sense that we have only seen the opening stage of a long-term realignment. They also examine our domestic politics, revealing that, with the exception of national security matters, partisan considerations remain as strong as before. A look at the Islamic world after 9/11 shows how, as never before, it is understood that American assertiveness is the main deterrent against Islamist terror and a stabilizing force in an unsteady cultural sphere.

Hours after the collapse of the Twin Towers, the idea that the September 11 attacks had “changed everything” permeated American popular and political discussion. In the period since then, the events of September 11 have been used to justify profound changes in U.S. public policy and foreign relations. Bringing together leading scholars of history, law, literature, and Islam, September 11 in History asks whether the attacks and their aftermath truly marked a transition in U.S. and world history or whether they are best understood in the context of pre-existing historical trajectories. From a variety of perspectives, the contributors to this collection scrutinize claims about September 11, in terms of both their historical validity and their consequences. Essays range from an analysis of terms like “ground zero,” “homeland,” and “the axis of evil” to an argument that the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay has become a site for acting out a repressed imperial history. Examining the effect of the attacks on Islamic self-identity, one contributor argues that Osama bin Laden enacted an interpretation of Islam on September 11 and asserts that progressive Muslims must respond to it. Other essays focus on the deployment of Orientalist tropes in categorizations of those who “look Middle Eastern,” the blurring of domestic and international law evident in a number of legal developments including the use of military tribunals to prosecute suspected terrorists, and the justifications for and consequences of American unilateralism. This collection ultimately reveals that everything did not change on September 11, 2001, but that some foundations of democratic legitimacy have been significantly eroded by claims that it did. Contributors Khaled Abou el Fadl Mary L. Dudziak Christopher L. Eisgruber Laurence R. Helfer Sherman A. Jackson Amy B. Kaplan Elaine Tyler May Lawrence G. Sager Ruti G. Teitel Leti Volpp Marilyn B. Young

Radical Planes? 9/11 and Patterns of Continuity, edited by Dunja M. Mohr and Birgit Däwes, explores the intersections between narrative disruption and continuity in post-9/11 narratives from an interdisciplinary transnational perspective, foregrounding the transatlantic cultural memory of 9/11. Contesting the earlier notion of a cataclysm that has changed ‘everything,’ and critically reflecting on American exceptionalism, the collection offers an inquiry into what has gone unchanged in terms of pre-9/11, post-9/11, and post-post-9/11 issues and what silences persist. How do literature and performative and visual arts negotiate this precarious balance of a pervasive discourse of change and emerging patterns of political, ideological, and cultural continuity?

Political Thought in America is based on the idea that there are three major languages or traditions of discourse that Americans have employed to interpret the national experience: biblical thought, republicanism, and liberalism, interpreted through the lens of two other languagesconservatism and radicalism. The authors engaging style brings the American political experience to life with clarity and vision, immersing readers into the politics surrounding eleven great crises in our nations history. Through the eyes of philosophers, writers, and orators of each period and the voices of commentators both historical and current, political theories are outlined in the context of the debates and conversations of the men and women who have struggled to extricate the nation from crisis. New to the fourth edition are an analysis of the impact of Barack Obama on contemporary American political discourse, recent developments in the war on terror, and a section on gay and lesbian protest. A new chapter has been added that discusses the phenomenon of globalization and its challenge to American exceptionalism. As in previous editions, each chapter ends with an insightful author commentary and contains an up-to-date and comprehensive bibliographical essay, along with a list of major works for each period.

Aspects of American History examines major themes, personalities and issues across American history, using topic focused essays. Each chapter focuses on key events and time periods within a broad framework looking at liberty and equality, the role of government and national identity. The volume engages with its central themes through a broad ranging examination of aspects of the American past, including discussions of political history, foreign policy, presidential leadership and the construction of national memory. In each essay, Simon Henderson: introduces fresh angles to traditional topics consolidates recent research in themed essays analyzes views of different historians offers an interpretive rather than narrative approach gives concise treatment to complex issues. Including an introduction which places key themes in context, this book enables readers to make comparisons and trace major thematic developments across American history.