How the War on Terror Was Fought at Home

Rozina Ali on America’s overlooked history of anti-Muslim sentiment

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks, the United States is still mired in the Middle East. But the story of how the war on terror was fought at home is far less told, and America’s history of anti-Muslim sentiment is one we have yet to fully contend with. 

In this episode, the Institute for Global Affairs’ Jonathan Guyer is joined by journalist Rozina Ali, a New York Times Magazine contributor and author of the new book Seasons of Fury: Four Families and the Rise of Islamophobia in America. They discuss the mass surveillance of Muslims and immigrant communities after 9/11, how media narratives warped Americans’ perception of their Muslim neighbors, and what accountability looks like when the war on terror never really ended.

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Rozina Ali is an award-winning journalist, contributing writer to New York Times Magazine, and a fellow at Type Media Center. She was previously a 2023-24 fellow at New America and a senior editor at The Cairo Review of Global Affairs. She writes primarily about the War on Terror, Islamophobia, the Middle East, and South Asia, and her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, Foreign Affairs, and more. She is the author of Seasons of Fury: Four Families and the Rise of Islamophobia in America (Crown, 2026).

Find Rozina on X: https://x.com/rozina_ali