History and September 11: An Introduction

Abstract

On September 12, 2001, a New York Times editorial described the horrific attacks of the previous day as “one of those moments in which history splits, and we define the world as ‘before’ and ‘after.’”1 Yet as all of us know, history never rips in two. “Before” and “after” are never entirely severed, even in the moments of greatest historical rupture. The discontinuities of the past always remain within the whole cloth of the longue durée. As historians, we devote our careers to placing the seemingly new in historical contexts. In the aftermath of September 11, the editors of the Journal of American History heard from colleagues and friends who longed for such historical perspective. Some wanted to teach about September 11 in their history classrooms; others hoped that historians would have a voice in shaping the public discourse on war, terrorism, and national ideals. In response, we decided to invite a handful of scholars to write short essays for the Journal. At first, we proposed a round table on the concept of terrorism and its history. But as we discussed the possibilities with our editorial board and other colleagues, we discovered demand for a broader range of investigation. In the end, we chose scholars with noted expertise on issues pertaining to terrorism, anti-Americanism, the Middle East, fundamentalist religious movements, and foreign relations, and we asked them for deliberative essays, scholarly pieces with deeper research and greater intellectual engagement than typically found in newspapers and magazines.2 The results are presented here in this special issue, “History and September 11.”