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EXCLUSVE EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK
To be emblematic of our age is to bear an evil burden. The twentieth century, scarcely finished, will be remembered as much for its succession of wars and genocides as it will for anything else; and sadly the dawn of the new millennium has brought no end to this horrifying tradition. The first year of the twenty-first century produced images that will likely identify the decade, if not the generation, to come: commercial aircraft, hijacked by agents of extremism, slamming into crowded, unprotected office buildings, bringing about the collapse of those structures and the deaths of thousands of people.
How can we have come to this? How can we have reached a moment in history when men professing to be soldiers serving a cause are capable not only of committing such atrocities but of calling them acts of war?
TIME.com INTERVIEW WITH CALEB CARR
TIME.com: Your book is a welcome change from much of the discussion about terrorism because it actually offers a universal definition — terrorism is any form of warfare that deliberately targets a civilian population. Has the fact that your definition can apply to actions taken by regular armies as well made people uncomfortable?
Caleb Carr: Very little of the discussion about terrorism is based on a clear definition. Most people are hard-pressed to argue with the one I'm offering. The problem it raises for many people is what I consider the virtue of the definition: that it doesn't just apply extremist organizations, but includes the actions of governments as well. States can engage in terrorism just as much as extremist organizations can.
READ CARR'S "KILLING TIME" NOVELLA
In 1999, as part of TIME.com's Visions of the 21st Century Series, Carr wrote a multi-series novella, which was eventually pulished under the title of "Killing Time."
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Photo by
William von Hartz
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