On September 11, 2001, the perception that the disappearance of the Soviet Union had inaugurated a pacified international order came to an end. Al-Qaeda, a transnational extremist organization directed by Osama bin Laden, hijacked four planes and used them to attack the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, while the fourth crashed in Pennsylvania after the passengers attempted to regain control. Nearly 3,000 people died.
Islamic terrorism was not new in the West, but that attack demonstrated a capability and scale unknown until then on American soil. For a generation it was also a collective experience, because millions of people followed live the impact of the second plane, the collapse of the towers, and the uncertainty of the first hours, images that left a strong sense of vulnerability for years to come.
