Sept. 11 Leads to Bookstore Sales

Nearly two months after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, books on topics related to the tragedy—including Islam, terrorism and the history of the conflict in the Middle East—have been flying off the shelves at area bookstores.

“Our Islamic Studies section was almost wiped out the week after the attacks,” said Carole Horne, the head buyer for the Harvard Bookstore.

Since Sept. 11, managers at local stores—such as the Harvard Bookstore, Wordsworth and the Coop—have been hard-pressed to keep popular titles such as Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America by Yossef Bodansky and Taliban by Ahmed Rashid in stock. Other top sellers include Beyond Belief by 2001 Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul and Islam: A Short History by Karen Armstrong. English translations of the Qur’an have also been popular.

“Those books continue to be on our bestseller list every week,” Horne said.

To accomodate the steady demand for titles related to Sept. 11, many bookstores have set up displays and tables where customers can browse through a range of publications. Both the Harvard Bookstore and Wordsworth have devoted a large shelf and table to books related to the terrorist attacks, and the Coop has smaller shelves, labeled “The World” and “In the News,” filled with books about the issue.

“It’s the first time we’ve created a whole bay of books dedicated to this topic. We’ve had displays before, but they go away,” said Wordsworth Manager Sanj Kharbanda.

These tables and shelves feature books with subjects ranging from more intellectual histories of Islam and national security to works dealing with anger and grief management, in addition to books on anthrax, foreign policy and Manhattan architecture.

Some booksellers have noticed that customers’ tastes have evolved in the weeks since the attacks.

“Right after Sept. 11 we saw people looking for books on terrorism. Then in later weeks people started wondering ‘why?’ and were buying books on Afghanistan and Islam,” Kharbanda said. “Now people are more interested in the history of the conflict and the cause.”

Customers who buy books related to Sept. 11 are generally looking to expand their knowledge on the subject of Islam and the American conflict with the Taliban, Horne said.

“I think they just want to understand as much as they can about Islam and Islam fundamentalism and the Middle East,” she said.

Carolyn A. Daly ’05, who was browsing through the Sept. 11 table at the Harvard Bookstore yesterday afternoon, said she was interested in learning more about the roots of the conflict.

“I’m sort of detatched from the tragedy, but it made me upset, so I want to know as much as I can about it,” she said.