Reign of Terror

How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump

By: Spencer Ackerman

Narrated by: Spencer Ackerman

A New York Times Critics’ Top Book of 2021

"An impressive combination of diligence and verve, deploying Ackerman’s deep stores of knowledge as a national security journalist to full effect. The result is a narrative of the last 20 years that is upsetting, discerning and brilliantly argued." (The New York Times)

"One of the most illuminating books to come out of the Trump era." (New York Magazine)

An examination of the profound impact that the War on Terror had in pushing American politics and society in an authoritarian direction

For an entire generation, at home and abroad, the United States has waged an endless conflict known as the War on Terror. In addition to multiple ground wars, the era pioneered drone strikes and industrial-scale digital surveillance, weakened the rule of law through indefinite detentions, sanctioned torture, and manipulated the truth about it all. These conflicts have yielded neither peace nor victory, but they have transformed America. What began as the persecution of Muslims and immigrants has become a normalized feature of American politics and national security, expanding the possibilities for applying similar or worse measures against other targets at home, as the summer of 2020 showed. A politically divided and economically destabilized country turned the War on Terror into a cultural - and then a tribal - struggle. It began on the ideological frontiers of the Republican Party before expanding to conquer the GOP, often with the acquiescence of the Democratic Party. Today’s nativist resurgence walked through a door opened by the 9/11 era. And that door remains open.

Reign of Terror shows how these developments created an opportunity for American authoritarianism and gave rise to Donald Trump. It shows that Barack Obama squandered an opportunity to dismantle the War on Terror after killing Osama bin Laden. By the end of his tenure, the war had metastasized into a bitter, broader cultural struggle in search of a demagogue like Trump to lead it.

Reign of Terror is a pathbreaking and definitive union of journalism and intellectual history with the power to transform how America understands its national security policies and their catastrophic impact on civic life.

©2021 Spencer Ackerman (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"A bracing chronicle of the war on terror and its corrosive effect on American democracy." (Jamelle Bouie, The New York Times)

Named a best nonfiction book of 2021 by The Washington Post and Foreign Policy

"In the genre of books that seek to explain why we are in the mess we are in, Reign of Terror is a formidable entry. To those who want to portray Trump as wholly exceptional, and discontinuous with the recent past, the book is an essential corrective." (The New Republic)

"An impressive combination of diligence and verve, deploying Ackerman’s deep stores of knowledge as a national security journalist to full effect. The result is a narrative of the last 20 years that is upsetting, discerning and brilliantly argued." (The New York Times)

"Reign of Terror is at its strongest when Ackerman recalls some of the outrages-of-the-week of the past 20 years, which may have faded from memory but feel portentous in retrospect.... The book compellingly argues that, the protestations of neoconservative Never Trumpers notwithstanding, Trump’s 'America First' doctrine was not a break from Bush’s 'freedom agenda'; it was its inevitable conclusion." (Slate)

Highly recommend

Read this book for a deep dive into the war on terror. I don’t think Ackerman should have narrated his own book, however. The tone was hectoring.

an exceptional history and analysis

Thorough in its history of 9/11 and deep analysis about how it shaped our politics

An eye opener

Spencer Ackerman peels away the multiple layers of the American response to the 9-11 attacks. It reveals the essence of the United States endearment towards American Exceptionalism. This is a story that delves into the issues that boil beneath politics in the United States and the breakdown of our democracy.

Stunning retrospective

Reign of Terror’s thesis is evocative and effectively argued as a thorough line connecting the past twenty years of American Politics. It’s a stunning retrospective that underscores the insanity of the era in a way that sounds hyperbolic and dated were it not correct.

Terrific.

Just a really well thought out, well argued book that traces a path from 9/11 to the horrors of 2021.

A terrific read.

A powerful history

As a Muslim American, I keenly understand how 9/11 changed everything for our community. As Ackerman meticulously demonstrates though, 9/11 changed everything about America as well remaking our values, our role in the world, and unleashing the violent carnage that displaces millions to this day.

The book is a helpful primer on the history of how we’ve gone in the wrong direction since 9/11. Ackerman’s critique is multi partisan and blistering. The audio version is read by Ackerman and his narration is excellent.

This book poses the difficult questions that too many Americans have ignored or chosen to look away. If you are unfamiliar with the subject matter, it’s a must read.

A Skeleton Key to Modern America

To understand the national psychosis that enveloped America post-9/11, There is no better book.

Vital analysis for policymakers and the public

Ackerman vividly illustrates the ruinous consequences of post-9/11 policy. Every American should learn about the continuity between the initiation of the global war on terror and present conditions. If we do not internalize the lessons from this book, either Trump himself or someone worse will return and take the domestic security state to its logical conclusion.

Decent analysis of our current issues

Overall, I would say that Spencer makes excellent points. I largely concur with his assessment. My only criticism is that it's focus on outcomes understates how incomprehensible 9/11 was to Americans and how our response was far more focused on accelerating the process to protect ourselves.

I'm not justifying the stupidity but understanding how we got there is just as important as to the why. Not everything is agenda driven, often the pragmatic solutions, such as drone strikes, are far more preferable to boots on the ground which given our lack of focus on human intelligence would be just as problematic.

I'll concur the outcomes have taken us to a dark place and I'm genuinely concerned about potential civil unrest becoming something far worse.

Good history but flawed

Good history but the author lost the thread of the thesis in the final few chapters of the book.