When Terrorists Become the Heroes to Young Americans

In prerevolutionary Russia, it was not uncommon for children to dream of becoming terrorists when they grew up. “It was a respected profession,” says Northwestern University professor Gary Saul Morson, who now sees troubling parallels between modern-day America and an era in Russia when terrorism became fashionable and radicals came to see violence as an expression of moral virtue. Today, Morson joins School of War to discuss what Fyodor Dostoyevsky understood about the terrorist mind, why good people can be persuaded to support terrible acts, and what America loses when it stops teaching the history of communism in schools.

3:09 America and Revolutionary Russia

3:47 The Rise of Modern Terrorism

4:38 When Terrorism Became a Respected Profession

6:10 Why Terrorists Had So Much Power

6:22 Why Russian Liberals Failed to Oppose Terrorism

7:26 The Danger of Celebrating Political Violence

9:36 Dostoevsky’s Radical Youth

11:31 Dostoevsky’s Arrest and Mock Execution

13:15 Understanding the Psychology of Revolutionaries

14:29 How Dostoevsky Predicted Totalitarianism

17:55 Why Communism Was Worse Than the Czars