Jonathan Raban writes in the New York Review of Books:
If you live, as I do, in an American city designated as a likely target by the Department of Homeland Security, the sheer proliferation of security apparatus in the streets assures you that there is a war on. Yet the nature and conduct of that war, and the character—and very existence—of our enemy, remain infuriatingly obscure: not because there’s any shortage of information, or apparent information, but because so much of it has turned out to be creative guesswork or empty propaganda.
Books discussed in this article:
America the Vulnerable: How Our Government Is Failing to Protect Us from Terrorism by Stephen Flynn
Fortress America: On the Front Lines of Homeland Security—An Inside Look at the Coming Surveillance State by Matthew Brzezinski
The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States by The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks
Imperial Hubris: Why the West Is Losing the War on Terror by “Anonymous” (Michael Scheuer)
Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror by Richard A. Clarke
The Power of Nightmares by Adam Curtis –a three-part television series BBC Two, October 20 and 27 and November 3, 2004
Al-Qaeda: Casting a Shadow of Terror by Jason Burke