America's leading observer of the international scene on the minute-by-minute events of September 11th, before, during and after As the Foreign Affairs columnist for the The New York Times, the author is in a unique position to interpret the world for American readers. Twice a week, his celebrated commentary provides the most trenchant, pithy, and illuminating perspective in journalism. This book contains the columns he has published about the most momentous news story of our time, as well as a diary of his experiences and reactions during this period of crisis. As the author writes, the book is "not meant to be a comprehensive study of September 11 and all the factors that went into it. Rather, my hope is that it will constitute a word album that captures and preserves the raw, unpolished, emotional and analytical responses that illustrate how I, and others, felt as we tried to grapple with September and its aftermath, as they were unfolding." Readers have repeatedly said that the author has expressed the essence of their own feelings, helping them not only by explaining who "they" are, but also by reassuring us about who "we" are. More than any other journalist writing, he gives voice to America's awakening sense of its role in a changed world.