The Generation of Vipers: The Generational Provenance of Terrorists

Generation has multiple meanings. On the one hand, the term refers to all the people born at a particular time, as in “the Vietnam generation.” But, it also refers to producing or procreating, or in biblical language, to the act of begetting. This essay considers both meanings of the word, sketching out the generational provenance of terrorists, the manner in which the psychodynamic relationship between parents and children produces terrorists, as well as the similar generational dynamics of youth in relation to their historical and political contexts.