The CIA has been heavily criticized in recent years — for its treatment of terrorism suspects and for failures of intelligence gathering before the invasion of Iraq. Should it be reformed? Merged with other agencies? Or even abolished? Articles by amongst others Condoleeza Rice. Editor: Julia Bauder. (144 pages)
Level: Mainly Second and Third year Gymnasium

There is September 11 and then there are the days after, and finally the years. Falling Man is a magnificent novel about the event that defines turn-of-the-century America. It begins in the smoke and ash of the burning towers and tracks the aftermath of this global tremor in the lives of a few people. First there is Keith, walking out of the rubble into a life that he'd always imagined belonged to everyone but him. Then Lianne, his estranged wife, memory-haunted, trying to reconcile two versions of the same shadowy man. And their small son Justin, standing at the window, scanning the sky for more planes. These are lives shaped by loss, grief and the enormous force of history. Falling Man traces the way the events of September 11 have reconfigured our emotional landscape, our memory and our perception of the world. Author: Don DeLillo. (246 pages)
Level: Second and third years of the Gymnasium/A-B/Linjefag/Reading groups

Contents: What is genocide? — Genocide before the Nazis — The holocaust — Recent holocausts — Seeking explanations — Traumatic times — Accusing others — Nationalism — Serb nationalism — Colonialism — Imperialism and genocide — The power of the state — The trouble with facts — What counts as genocide? — Who is to blame? — Willing executioners? — Is human nature to blame? — Genocide and the law — Genocide on trial — Racism — Ethics — Global ethics. 
Author: Sean Sheehan
Level: 1.g/C-D

Weapons of mass destruction are the greatest threat to national security in the twenty-first century. Frank Barnaby, nuclear weapons and terrorism expert, describes in straightforward, non-sensational terms what is involved when a state or a terrorist group sets out to make a weapon of mass destruction — biological, chemical, radiological, or nuclear. But How to Build a Nuclear Bomb is not a collection of scare stories — Barnaby explains what a weapon of mass destruction is, what it is capable of doing, and what is needed to produce one and argues that counter-terrorist measures urgently need to be stepped up to meet the challenges of a new era of international terror. His aim is to promote informed debate about the risks and measures needed to protect vulnerable democratic societies against the use of WMDs by international terrorists. Author: Frank Barnaby (former Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute — currently works for the Oxford Research Group). (184 pages)
Level: Good interdiscplinary possibilities in the gymnasium — with both scientific subjects and the social sciences

A novel about love, prejudice, and the war on terror:
At a cafe table in Lahore, a bearded Pakistani man converses with a suspicious, and possibly armed, American stranger. As dusk deepens, he begins the tale that has brought them to this fateful meeting. Changez is living out an immigrant's dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by an elite firm that specializes in the “valuation” of companies ripe for acquisition. He thrives on the energy of New York and the intensity of his work, and his infatuation with regal Erica promises entree into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. For a time, it seems as though nothing will stand in the way of Changez’s meteoric rise to personal and professional success. But in the wake of September 11, he finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity shifts as well — allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and perhaps even love, reappear. This novel is an exploration of a divided and yet ultimately indivisible world. The author Mohsin Hamid grew up in Lahore, studied and worked the USA for several years and now lives in London. (184 pages)
Level: B/(partnership with Religion/Samfundsfag)

This book looks at the terrorist threats we are facing today and what is being done to deal with them:
Level: 8.-10. kl./AVUII-III/C-F etc.

Classifying terrorism; Security and terrorism in the UK; History of terrorism; Facts and figures; Head of MI5: terror threat is growing; Terrorists and the Internet; Fear of terrorism; Islam, terrorism and 9/11; The truth about ‘animal rights terrorism’; Activities.

Terrorism looks at how acts of terror have been used in the past and discusses the methods and motives of activists today.  It considers the main areas of debate about terrorism, such as religious extremism and separatism. It asks whether terrorism is ever justified and explores the arguments made by both sides in the terrorism debate and what is being done about the issue. Finally, students can find out how terrorism affects them and what they can do to learn more about the issues involved. Author: Richard Bingley
Level: 1.g/C-D

(Replaces Terrorism)

This book looks at what kinds of terrorism exist and why, at the impact of terrorism, current trends in political violence and at the media focus on terrorism:

Chapter One: Terrorism
Classifying terrorism; Security and terrorism in the UK; History of terrorism; Timeline: terrorism threats to the UK; Facts and figures; Head of MI5: terror threat is growing; Terrorists and the Internet; We are offering the terrorist a megaphone; Fear of terrorism; New UK terror threat from foreign students; Islam, terrorism and September 11; Young, British Muslims ‘getting more radical’; The hijacking of British Islam; Race relations 2006; Public turns on animal terrorists; Animal rights terrorism is on the increase; The truth about ‘animal rights terrorism’.

Chapter Two: Tackling Terrorism
How do we counter terrorism?; Terrorism Act 2006; Counter-terrorism strategy; FAQ about the terrorist threat; Major increase in work to tackle violent extremism; Racial profiling and anti-terror stop and search; A humane way to fight terrorism.

Key Facts;  Glossary;  Index;  Additional Resources;  Index.

In this novel John Updike tackles the issue of the threat of Islamist terror from within. Set in contemporary New Jersey, it traces the journey of one young man from radicalism to fundamentalism to terrorism, against the backdrop of a decaying urban landscape and an increasingly fragmented community. It tells of eighteen-year-old Ahmad Ashmawy Mulloy and his devotion to Allah and the words of the Holy Quran, as expounded to him by a local mosque's imam. The son of a bohemian Irish-American mother and an Egyptian father who disappeared when he was three, Ahmad turned to Islam at the age of eleven. He feels his faith threatened by the materialistic, hedonistic society he sees around him in the New Prospect. Neither his world-weary, depressed guidance counselor at Central High School, Jack Levy, nor his mischievously seductive black classmate, Joryleen Grant, succeeds in diverting the boy from what his religion calls the Straight Path. When he finds employment in a furniture store owned by a family of recently immigrated Lebanese, the threads of a plot gather around him, with reverberations that rouse the Department of Homeland Security. Updike succeeds more than any other novelist has done in dramatizing the logic of the fundamentalist terrorist — but also suggests ways in which we can counter it, in our words and our actions. (310 pages)
Level: A+/Kan læses i uddrag/Reading groups

Revelations about U.S. torture and prisoner abuse in blatant violation of the long-established and universally recognized Geneva Conventions have horrified most Americans. Nevertheless, it has been argued that the high stakes of the “War on Terror” have made the protections offered by the Conventions obsolete — or that the abuses are the work of a few rogue soldiers and officers. This book reaches past the headlines into the historical record to document POW torture and also domestic prisoner abuse dating well back in American history as well as government and military knowledge of and collusion in such. Is torture and prisoner abuse justified in the name of some greater good? America has to decide. This book can provide the basis for an informed discussion. Author: Laura L. Finley. Hardback (187 pages).

Level: A/Interdisciplinary projects/Library-Depot

Table of Contents: Chapter 1: Introduction: Describing the Problem; Chapter 2: Torture and Its Origins; Chapter 3: Prison Abuse in the U.S. Pre-Civil Rights Era; Chapter 4: The Central Intelligence Agency and Torture; Chapter 5: Domestic Prison Abuse Today; Chapter 6: Abuse at Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, and Iraq; Chapter 7: Summing It Up; Appendix: Timeline of Significant Events in the History of Torture and Prisoner Abuse; Further Readings; Bibliography

“United 93” meticulously recreates — in real time — the story of a single flight, from just before take off to its doomed descent. It follows, minute-by-minute the passengers and crew, but also the flight controllers — many played by themselves — who watched with disbelief as United Airlines 93 became the fourth hijacked plane on 11 September 2001. Filmed by Paul Greengrass this dramatic reconstruction drew on tapes of flight control intercoms, as well as hours of interviews with the families of the passengers and crew. The largely unknown actors then used improvisation grounded in these facts. As Greengrass says: “One of the reasons why ‘United 93’ exerts such a powerful hold on our imaginations is precisely because we don't know exactly what happened. Who among us doesn't think about that day and wonder how we might have reacted?” Published in the aftermath of the film, this volume contains the complete Shooting Script plus a range of reviews, essays, notes and credits. (163 pages)
Author: Paul Greengrass (who also directed the film). Paul Greengrass used similar re-constructional techniques with great success in ‘Bloody Sunday’.
Contents: The Initial Treatment — The Final Shooting Script — Q & A with Paul Greengrass — Production Notes — “9/11 Live: The NORAD Tapes” — Film Reviews by Martin Amis, Stephen King etc.  — Film and Production Stills — List of Flight 93's crew and passengers — Cast and Crew Credits
Level: B/Interdisciplinary possibilities with Samfundsfag etc.