September 11 attacks: References & Edit History
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Additional Reading
The authoritative account of the planning, execution, and aftermath of the September 11 attacks is The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (2004). Any history of the attacks must examine how the 19 hijackers became motivated. A comprehensive study of this process of radicalization is the focus of Marc Sageman, Understanding Terror Networks (2004). Terry McDermott, Perfect Soldiers: The Hijackers: Who They Were, Why They Did It (2005), provides a narrative picture of the hijackers. A discussion of the religious motivations of the hijackers forms the basis for Kanan Makiya and Hassan Mneimneh, âManual for a âRaidâ,â The New York Review of Books (January 17, 2002).
Background information on al-Qaedaâs history, ideology, and internal discussions can be found in Peter L. Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al-Qaedaâs Leader (2006), and Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden (2001); and Michael Scheuer, Through Our Enemiesâ Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam and the Future of America, rev. ed., 2nd ed. (2006).
A broad explanation of how al-Qaeda evolved from other jihadist strands is Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (2006). The definitive history of the CIAâs role during the Soviet war in Afghanistan and al-Qaedaâs presence in Afghanistan up until the September 11 attacks is Steve Coll, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion Until September 10, 2001 (2004). A discussion of the ideologies that fueled and continue to fuel al-Qaedaâs recruitment and appeal appears in Fawaz A. Gerges, The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global, 2nd ed. (2009). Another discussion of the factors leading to the September 11 attacks forms the basis of Peter Bergen, âWhat were the causes of 9/11?â Prospect, issue 126 (September 2006).
Perspectives on al-Qaeda from personal interviews with bin Laden and his key lieutenants can be found in Abdel Bari Atwan, The Secret History of al-Qaeda (2006); and Yosri Fouda and Nick Fielding, Masterminds of Terror: The Truth Behind the Most Devastating Attack the World Has Ever Seen (2003). An analysis based on on-the-ground reporting from the places in which al-Qaeda operated prior to and after 9/11 is Jason Burke, Al-Qaeda: Casting a Shadow of Terror (2003).
Researcher's Note
Because the September 11 attacks caused such massive destruction and intensely hot fires, the remains of many victims were never recovered, and others remained unidentifiable. Consequently, the precise number of victimsâparticularly the number of those killed at the World Trade Centerâhas remained unclear. Flight manifests provided information on the number of passengers and crew on each of the ill-fated airliners, and tight security procedures at the Pentagon gave investigators a clear picture of who was in the building at the time of the attacks. Access to the World Trade Center, however, was not thoroughly documented or tightly monitored, and there was no clear way to determine who exactly was in either of the towers at the time of their collapse. That issue was compounded by the fact that hundreds of those who worked in the towers were foreign nationalsâincluding perhaps some who were undocumented workersâwhich made exact identification difficult if not impossible. In addition, the generous financial remuneration that the U.S. government offered the families of the deceased motivated some unscrupulous individuals to make fictitious claims that loved ones or family members had been among those killed. On the first anniversary of the attacks, the official toll of those killed in New York (including the passengers and crew of the two aircraft that struck the towers) rested at 2,801, but that number was soon amended when several names were determined to have been erroneous or listed twice. The new death toll of 2,792 remained unchanged until late 2003, when it was lowered to 2,752 after 40 more names were deemed to be either inaccurate or fraudulent. Given the 184 victims killed at the Pentagon and the 40 killed in Pennsylvania, the overall death toll of the September 11 attacks was reckoned at that time to be 2,976 persons. That number was later revised to 2,977. Most estimates of the September 11 death toll, whether official or unofficial, do not include the 19 hijackers in their calculations.
Article Contributors
Primary Contributors
- Peter L. Bergen
-
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Article History
| Type | Description | Contributor | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modified link of Web site: University of Virginia - Miller Center - Timeline: The September 11 terrorist attacks. | Oct 24, 2026 | ||
| Media added. | Sep 15, 2026 | ||
| Anniversary information added. | Sep 04, 2026 | ||
| Media added. | Aug 31, 2026 | ||
| Corrected factual error in section on health issues associated with the September 11 attacks. | Aug 14, 2026 | ||
| Added cross-reference. | Aug 13, 2026 | ||
| Top questions revised. | Sep 16, 2025 | ||
| Top question updated. | Sep 15, 2025 | ||
| Questions and answers revised. | Sep 10, 2025 | ||
| Added cross-references. | Aug 22, 2025 | ||
| Added cross-reference to classified documents. | Aug 01, 2025 | ||
| Added cross-references; deleted expired media. | Jul 30, 2025 | ||
| Questions and answers added. | Feb 12, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: NPR - 'The Banality Of Evil': Following The Steps To Sept. 11. | Feb 06, 2025 | ||
| Media added. | Aug 02, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: ABC News - Three ways terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 changed our world. | May 04, 2024 | ||
| Updated to detail some of the long-term health issues associated with the September 11 attacks. | Sep 08, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: Brookings - How technology and the world have changed since 9/11. | Jul 02, 2023 | ||
| Corrected display issue. | Mar 17, 2023 | ||
| Links added. | Feb 23, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: Digital History - September 11, 2001. | Nov 30, 2022 | ||
| Infographic added. | Sep 07, 2022 | ||
| Corrected display issue. | Sep 07, 2022 | ||
| Add new Web site: University of Virginia - Miller Center - Timeline: The September 11 terrorist attacks. | Aug 23, 2022 | ||
| Add new Web site: United States History for Kids - 9/11 Terror Attacks. | Apr 01, 2022 | ||
| Removed media. | Sep 24, 2021 | ||
| Media added. | Sep 03, 2021 | ||
| Corrected display issue. | Sep 10, 2020 | ||
| Rearranged media. | Nov 26, 2019 | ||
| Add new Web site: National Geographic - Remembering 9/11 in Pictures. | Oct 24, 2019 | ||
| Add new Web site: Library of Congress - Today in History - September 11. | Sep 10, 2019 | ||
| Add new Web site: Digital History - September 11, 2001. | Sep 10, 2019 | ||
| Add new Web site: Library of Congress - Today in History - September 11. | Sep 10, 2019 | ||
| Add new Web site: Digital History - September 11, 2001. | Sep 10, 2019 | ||
| Add new Web site: Official Site of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. | Sep 10, 2019 | ||
| Add new Web site: Official Site of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. | Sep 10, 2019 | ||
| Add new Web site: National Park Service - Timeline - Flight 93 - September 11, 2011. | Aug 10, 2018 | ||
| Added a new section on One World Trade Center and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. | Aug 01, 2018 | ||
| Corrected display issue. | May 23, 2018 | ||
| Corrected display issue. | Sep 15, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: 9/11 Memorial - 9/11 Interactive Timelines. | Dec 09, 2016 | ||
| Media added. | May 17, 2016 | ||
| Add new Web site: GlobalSecurity.org - World Trade Center - New York City 9-11 Terrorist Attacks. | Apr 28, 2016 | ||
| Add new Web site: Federal Bureau of Investigation - 9/11 Investigation. | Apr 28, 2016 | ||
| Add new Web site: U.S. Department of State - September 11. | Apr 08, 2016 | ||
| Add new Web site: Digital History - September 11, 2001. | Apr 08, 2016 | ||
| Media added. | Jun 08, 2015 | ||
| Media added. | Mar 05, 2015 | ||
| Changed "al-Jazeera" to "Al Jazeera." | Sep 09, 2013 | ||
| Added video addressing the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. | Sep 08, 2011 | ||
| New bibliography added. | Aug 23, 2011 | ||
| Article thoroughly revised, expanded, and updated. | Aug 23, 2011 | ||
| Media added. | Aug 26, 2010 | ||
| Media added. | Apr 26, 2010 | ||
| Added new Web site: Famous Trials - Trial of Zacarias Moussaoui. | Sep 01, 2006 | ||
| Added new Web site: Famous Trials - Trial of Zacarias Moussaoui. | Sep 01, 2006 | ||
| Article revised. | Mar 17, 2005 | ||
| Article revised. | Dec 24, 2003 | ||
| Article revised. | Sep 12, 2003 | ||
| New article added. | Mar 13, 2003 |