For a generation, Muslim extremists have targeted Americans in an escalation of terror that culminated in the September 11 attacks. Our shared confusion — Who are the attackers? Why are we targets? — is cleared away in a book as dramatic as it is authoritative.

Updated with new chapters on Afghanistan and the the broader Islamic movement, Sacred Rage combines Robin Wright's extraordinary reportage on the Islamic world with an historian's grasp of context to explain the roots, the motives, and the goals of the Islamic resurgence. Wright talked to terrorists, militant religious leaders, and fighters from Beirut to Islamabad and Kabul. Their voices of rage reverberate here — right up to the attacks in New York and Washington.

Across continents extends a challenge we fail to understand at our peril. Sacred Rage now casts light on the war being fought in the shadows.