9-11 (book)
| Company type | Book compilation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Founded | November 2001 |
| Products | Book: 9-11 (2001), 9-11: Was There an Alternative? (2011) |
9-11 is a compilation of interviews with Noam Chomsky initially released in November 2001, shortly after the September 11 attacks. The updated 2011 version, titled 9-11: Was There an Alternative?, includes the original interviews along with a newly added essay by Chomsky called "Was There an Alternative?".
This publication was honored with the 2002 Firecracker Alternative Book Award.
9-11: First edition (2001)
In its initial November 2001 release, Chomsky places the September 11 attacks within the broader framework of historical American intervention in the Middle East, as well as U.S. relations with Latin America, Indonesia, Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan. He advises caution against intensifying military retaliation, emphasizing that such actions could incite even more severe assaults on American civilians worldwide.
Structured as a series of interviews in a question-and-answer style, 9-11 is divided into seven parts featuring conversations conducted by journalists from various international media outlets. Contributors include Italian Il Manifesto, Kevin Canfield of the Hartford Courant, David Barsamian, Belgrade's Radio B92, Elise Fried, Peter Kreysler, Paola Leoni from Giornale del Popolo (Switzerland), Marili Margomenou of Alpha TV (Greece), Miguel Mora of El País (Spain), Natalie Levisalles from Libération (France), and Michael Albert.
The first edition was distributed across more than twenty countries and featured on bestseller lists such as those of The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times. A piece in The New Yorker highlighted that 9-11 presented one of the few dissenting perspectives during a period when patriotic consensus dominated public discourse.
9-11: Was There an Alternative?: Expanded edition (2011)
The extended September 2011 edition incorporates a fresh essay by Chomsky that examines the consequences of US foreign policy up to the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. This version explores different possible approaches to responding to the 9/11 attacks, proposing that they might have been handled as criminal acts through international cooperation to capture those responsible.
External links
- Democracy Now! "Noam Chomsky on the 9/11 Decade and the Assassination of Osama bin Laden: Was There an Alternative?", September 13, 2011
- "Tomgram: Noam Chomsky, The Imperial Mentality and 9/11", TomDispatch.com, September 6, 2011
- Truthout.com, "Not Since the War of 1812", September 13, 2011