The Jihad Next Door: The Lackawanna Six and Rough Justice in an Age of Terror

Additional The Jihad Next Door: The Lackawanna Six and Rough Justice in an Age of Terror Information

They called themselves the Arabian Knights. They were six Yemeni-American friends, a gang of high-school soccer stars, a band of brothers on the grim side streets of Lackawanna's First Ward, just a stone's throw from Buffalo.

Later, people would argue about why they left western New York in the spring of 2001 to attend an al-Qaeda camp. Some said they traveled to Afghanistan to become America's first sleeper cell--terrorists slumbering while they awaited orders from on high. Others said that their ill-fated trip was a lark, an adventurous extension of their youthful wrestling with what it meant to be Muslim in America.

Dina Temple-Raston returns to Lackawanna to tell the story of a group of young men--born and brought up in small town America--who left otherwise unremarkable lives to attend an al-Qaeda camp. Though they sought to quietly slip back into their roles as middle class Americans, the 9/11 attacks made that impossible.

The Jihad Next Door is the story of pre-emptive justice in the age of terror. It follows a handful of ordinary men through an extraordinary time when Muslims in America are often instantly suspect, their actions often viewed through the most sinister lens.

What Customers Say About The Jihad Next Door: The Lackawanna Six and Rough Justice in an Age of Terror:

I was dismayed to read - again - how our privacy has been reduced since 9/11. This book held my interest, but overall I was lukewarm about it. It was informational, and I have no previous knowledge about this case, and now feel I know more.

I am pleased :) The book arrived in a timely fashion. It was just what I expected and wanted.

The other, more importantly, is that given Temple-Raston's background and experience, she could have done more.One main thing lacking. But, if T-R couldn't interview them, she could have talked more with the families.Or, what about Needham.

Or a retired agent from that office.If you're going to write about the "detonators," anyway, you should, I would think, do more analysis of effective or ineffective FBI tactics are.Part of me feels like reviewer B. Or somebody off the record out of the Buffalo FBI office.

I was on the 3-4 star borderline with this, and ultimately went down a star for two reasons. T-R never even names the lawyer for Faysal Galab, the first of the Six to plead, despite the Six's lawyers' pledge not to cut separate deals.Second, the "ideological detonators" chapter was only loosely connected with the rest of the book; and, it was too short to go into enough depth on this issue.Above all (and there may be government restrictions on this), interviews with the Six themselves are skimpy.

Colson, too; continuity was sometimes hard to come by in the book.The book does do a decent background setting of Lackawanna itself, as well as with Yemen.In short, this is probably a good starter book about the anomie of second- or third-generation immigrant Muslim-Americans, but only a starter book. One is that enough people will 4- or 5-star it anyway.

More conversation with the group's lawyers.

People who aren't versed in the history of the case but are interested in learning something, this is not the book for you. I bought this book excited to learn something new about the war on terrorism, particularly through a case involving US citizens. I'd recommend "The Looming Tower: Al-Queda and the Road to 9/11" for true insight into the motivations behind terrorists intent of destroying America. To me, it seems like it's more about the injustices that are happening in the post-9/11 days but the author just hints at it, rather that focusing on it. Living in a city where homegrown terrorist Timothy McVeigh blew up a federal building to prove a point, it hits home with me. Though this book reads quickly, I agree with another reviewer that it does jump around a bit and never really focuses on one thing.

It is difficult to feel sympathy for them, and the book correctly did not overtly try to extract it. They now have plenty of time to ponder thier treasonous neglect. Arabs must learn to become Americans first, and Muslims second. Being from Lackawanna, I felt the book was largely on the mark for describing the community and the Arabian populations assimilation, or lack thereof. I am still struck with wonder how the Arab brethren now jailed, 6, could not have realized the import of their adventure in Afghanistan in the months before 9/11.