On Tuesday morning, a piece was torn out of our world. A patch of blue sky that should not have been there opened up in the New York skyline…. Our city was changed forever. Our country was changed forever. Our world was changed forever. So wrote Jonathan Schell in the first issue of The Nation magazine following September 11, 2001. In A Just Response, some of the most respected figures on the progressive left analyze the causes and consequences of this new American wound in a series of thoughtful, informed, and provocative essays. Selected from The Nation and other sources, these articles counter the bombast and jingoism of so much of the media coverage since September 11—while providing informed analysis, provocative commentary, and reasoned debates. The writers in these pages speak out against "Fascism with an Islamic face," jingoism, and the undermining of civil rights, address the confusion between dissent and treason, and articulate a vision of a just response to terrorism. Others reflect on an interview with Osama bin Laden, the concept of "Blowback"—modern technological society turned unwittingly against itself—and the American right wing's exploitation of a national emergency to further its political agenda. Also included are dispatches from other countries around the world, brief background histories of bin Laden's origins, the roots of fundamentalism, asymmetrical warfare, and a heated exchange between Noam Chomsky and Christopher Hitchens.

Katrina vanden Heuvel is editor and publisher of The Nation. She lives in New York City.