The 9/11 Backlash: A Decade of U.S. Hate Crimes Targeting the Innocent by Nicoletta Karam

Many journalists and news commentators deny the existence, length, and intensity of the wave of intolerance that began immediately after 9/11 and continued for years afterward. This book is an attempt to document that this backlash did occur, and was much worse and much longer in duration than many Americans realize. In the years following 9/11, many ethnic Americans and immigrant residents were affected by a surge of hate crimes triggered by the terrorist strikes and the concomitant 'War on Terror.' This book argues that the 9/11 backlash was fueled by 20th-century Islamophobia and Hinduphobia, coupled with local and federal authorities' long-standing unwillingness to acknowledge the reality of hate crimes or handle them with the gravity they deserved. These factors created a "perfect storm" of xenophobia that swept through the U.S. after the terrorist attacks and continued to affect diverse minority communities for more than a decade.