19 Varieties of Gazelle: Chosen Passage to Introduction

"September 11, 2001, was not the first hideous day ever in the world, but it was the worst one many Americans had ever lived. May we never see another one like it. For people who love the Middle East and have an ongoing devotion to cross-cultural understanding, the day felt sickeningly tragic in more ways than one. A huge shadow had been cast across the lives of so many innocent people and an ancient culture's pride." -Naomi Shihab Nye (Introduction, page xv)