Author and Social Critic Susan Faludi on “The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post 9/11 America”

Six years later, neither objective has been realized. 40,000 U.S. and NATO forces remain in Afghanistan and the United Nations recently revealed violence has reached a new high. Another stated objective of the war was the liberation of Afghani women. Shortly after the war began Laura Bush became the only first lady in history to record a full presidential radio address. She addressed the plight of women in Afghanistan.

The Bush administration's use of feminists to help make the case for the war in Afghanistan is one of many topics examined in a new book titled “The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post 9/11 Amer. ica.” It is written by one of the country's leading social critics, Susan Faludi.

Faludi examines the cultural impact of the 9/11 attacks and concludes that the United States has been living in a myth since 9/11 and she explores how the attacks led to the denigration of women here in the United States, the magnification of manly men and the call for greater domesticity.

Susan Faludi is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. Her previous books include “Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women” and “Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man.” She us joins us in the Firehouse studio.

• Susan Faludi. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author of the new book “The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post 9/11 America.” She is also the author of “Backlash” and “Stiffed.”