"The danger raised by the terrorist threat is real, existential, and vital to the United States. But the attacks on 9/11 have been broadly misunderstood. In assessing the meaning and significance of "the war on terror." Dan Tschirgi raises many issues related to the Middle East and American policy toward that area. For example, he debunks the entire "exceptionalist" approach to the Arab world (the presumption that Arab societies fail to be fathomed...