DEARBORN — As the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks approaches, many media outlets are descending upon the metro Detroit area for reactions from local Arab Americans about their experiences in the years following the event.

But those looking for a more in-depth source on the effects of the incident and subsequent policy and  attitude changes in America on Arab Americans can find it in the new book “Arab Detroit 9/11: Life in the Terror Decade,” from editors Nabeel Abraham, Sally Howell, and Andrew Shryock, which was recently released through Wayne State University Press and is available at amazon.com or wsupress.wayne.edu. 

A collection of essays ranging from scholarly to artistic are featured in the book from voices including Palestinian, Iraqi, Yemeni and Lebanese; Muslim and Christian; American born and immigrant. 

“This is a book that really scans the whole period, which was defined by the war on terror…and is not just a reaction to 9/11, it’s how the Arab and Muslim communities fared in reaction to 9/11 and how that reaction has affected life for the people here,” Howell said. 

“It was terrifying for a lot of people here and overseas as well.” 

The authors also released their 2000 book “Arab Detroit: From Margin to Mainstream,” in 2000. Abraham is a professor of anthropology and director of the honors program at Henry Ford Community College; Howell is an assistant professor of history and Arab American studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, and Shryock is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. 

Abraham said the goal of the new book was to take stock of changes in the community. 

“Following the tragic events of Sept. 11, the idea occurred that this watershed moment would probably lead to significant changes in the community,” he said. “As the “Terror Decade” unfolded this thought deepened with every new development.  With the approach of the tenth anniversary of 9/11 we thought that would be an opportune time to take stock of developments in this decade, hence this volume.

“(The book) is a serious attempt to take measure of how Arab Detroit coped and grew in this decade, and what it meant for a variety of current and former Arab Detroiters.” 

Howell said that while the decade was one of great challenges for the Arab and American Muslim communities, it also was a time for empowerment of Arab American and American Muslim institutions and a time of becoming more organized to help protect civil rights and liberties. 

Abraham also noted that point as well as the diversity of the community. 

“Outsiders (who read the book) can see a community which is enormously varied and heterogenous in many respects and experienced negative fall out from the attacks, but surprisingly the fallout was mitigated by the developed institutional and organizational structures already existing in Arab Detroit,” he said.

“Mosques and social institutions expanded thanks to increased financial support from within and without.  Major philanthropic, corporate and government donors supported the growth of secular institutions, while religious congregations redirected their donations to local institutions.  Arabs and Muslims saw the need to reach out to the wider society and did so, building bridges never imagined before 2001.”