Gérôme Truc is a sociologist, tenured research fellow at the CNRS and member of the Institut des Sciences sociales du Politique. He teaches at the École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay.

"Truc's hermeneutic powers are extraordinary. He reveals the post-hoc framing process that transformed 9/11 from an event into a structure in the American and European collective consciousness. For example, he relates the immediate attribution of the 'war' frame to deep collective memories in the U.S. about Pearl Harbor, and he relativizes European understandings of subsequent terrorist events in the same way, demonstrating that they are interpretations based on analogical reasoning rather than explanations based on real experience. This book deserves to be read and discussed widely."—Jeffrey C. Alexander, Yale University"Sociology has an important contribution to make in helping us understand the impact of and social responses to terrorism in contemporary societies. Shell Shocked provides just such a contribution."—Dr Anne Eyre, The Sociological Review"Truc has provided a fascinating examination of a previously neglected area in which his penetrating intellectual insight and scholarly commentary will no doubt be much in demand following any future research he initiates."—The Muslim World Book Review

• Preface.Acknowledgments.Introduction: Terrorist attacks as a test.Part I: What is happening to us.Chapter 1: Under attack.9/11 live: accident, terrorist attack, or act of war?The view from Europe: from Western solidarity to a cosmopolitan perspective.Chapter 2: Experiencing your 'own' 9/11.11 March attacks like a 'new 9/11'.7 July 2005, a 'British 9/11?.Chapter 3: To show, or not to show, violence.The place of the dead.The ethics of iconographic decisions.Chapter 4: Demonstrating solidarity.The attacks as a 'time to demonstrate'.Why demonstrate after an attack?Chapter 5: Observing silence.A ritual of collective mourning.A problem of moral equivalence.Part II: What touches us.Chapter 6: Terrorist attacks and their publics.From written reactions to the concerned publics.In what capacity an attack concerns us.Chapter 7: The meanings of 'we'.Above and below the level of the nation.World cities and the test of terrorism.Chapter 8: The values at stake.Reactions to terrorist attacks as value judgments.The banal pacifism of the Europeans.Chapter 9: The attacks in persons.The singularization of the victims.Reacting as a singular person.Chapter 10: Solidarity in the singular.The attachment to place.The coincidence of dates.The homology of experiences.Conclusion: 'There's something of Charlie in all of us'.Selective bibliography.Notes.Index.

Gérôme Truc is a sociologist, tenured research fellow at the CNRS and member of the Institut des Sciences sociales du Politique. He teaches at the École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay.

"Truc's hermeneutic powers are extraordinary. He reveals the post-hoc framing process that transformed 9/11 from an event into a structure in the American and European collective consciousness. For example, he relates the immediate attribution of the 'war' frame to deep collective memories in the U.S. about Pearl Harbor, and he relativizes European understandings of subsequent terrorist events in the same way, demonstrating that they are interpretations based on analogical reasoning rather than explanations based on real experience. This book deserves to be read and discussed widely."—Jeffrey C. Alexander, Yale University"Sociology has an important contribution to make in helping us understand the impact of and social responses to terrorism in contemporary societies. Shell Shocked provides just such a contribution."—Dr Anne Eyre, The Sociological Review"Truc has provided a fascinating examination of a previously neglected area in which his penetrating intellectual insight and scholarly commentary will no doubt be much in demand following any future research he initiates."—The Muslim World Book Review

• Preface.Acknowledgments.Introduction: Terrorist attacks as a test.Part I: What is happening to us.Chapter 1: Under attack.9/11 live: accident, terrorist attack, or act of war?The view from Europe: from Western solidarity to a cosmopolitan perspective.Chapter 2: Experiencing your 'own' 9/11.11 March attacks like a 'new 9/11'.7 July 2005, a 'British 9/11?.Chapter 3: To show, or not to show, violence.The place of the dead.The ethics of iconographic decisions.Chapter 4: Demonstrating solidarity.The attacks as a 'time to demonstrate'.Why demonstrate after an attack?Chapter 5: Observing silence.A ritual of collective mourning.A problem of moral equivalence.Part II: What touches us.Chapter 6: Terrorist attacks and their publics.From written reactions to the concerned publics.In what capacity an attack concerns us.Chapter 7: The meanings of 'we'.Above and below the level of the nation.World cities and the test of terrorism.Chapter 8: The values at stake.Reactions to terrorist attacks as value judgments.The banal pacifism of the Europeans.Chapter 9: The attacks in persons.The singularization of the victims.Reacting as a singular person.Chapter 10: Solidarity in the singular.The attachment to place.The coincidence of dates.The homology of experiences.Conclusion: 'There's something of Charlie in all of us'.Selective bibliography.Notes.Index.