to be in business. >> now on booktv a literary tour of san bernardino, california. local cable partners time order and charter. in san bernardino we spoke with jamal nassar, dean of the college of social and behavioral science in san bernardino. >> they find terrorism has been around, if we go back to the legend and the holy books, cases are far a phantom.

samson was captured. what do they do, and brought down the temple, killing thousands of innocent people. and the first suicide killer. continued on and on from generation to generation but it comes from the french revolution and the french revolution shortly after the revolution we had the reign of terror. they executed many people, used the guillotine, beheaded people, through people in the river, that was the reign of terror. that is where the word terrorism came from. it is not something modern or something recent or something

islamic. it has been around forever and ever. the tools of change over the years but the act itself, the nature of the act, action of people to oppression, violence has been around a long time. when people are oppressed they will rebuild. when they rebuild a carryout acts we now call terrorism. terrorism today is not really different from terrorism of the past except the tools they use. they are much more destructive. you can get on an airplane and have the airplane go into a building. that didn't exist in the past. what we had in the past was individuals going with their

sword or their gun to kill many other innocent people. today you can kill a lot more by having a bomb attached to your chest or you are carrying it in your handbag if you're desperate enough to kill yourself and others, a lot more people than they would have in history. terrorism today is more violent than in the past. it is more severe, has greater impact on civilians and because of the media it generates a greater amount of fear among people. in the past, people -- that becomes legend almost. nowadays it is instantaneous. the media tells us a bombing in brussels, bombing in pakistan,

bombing in france. it is instant. we see it right away because of the media, communications and people become afraid, right here in san bernardino we had a terrorist attack in december. my own daughter was there, she was terrified then and continues to be terrified today. she was in the midst of it. not where the shooting happened but in the building, she was stranded, held up for 5 hours. it has an impact, brings fear in the heart of other people. in a way it became islamic, the eyes of the mujahedin in afghanistan. under president ronald reagan we recruited the mujahedin, people from the reagan peninsula, north

africa, different places, the ones occupying afghanistan in the name of islam. after the war was over we forgot about afghanistan, they said their base. that was the beginning of al qaeda. we in essence where the contributing factor that brought that about. they got very upset at us because we abandoned them. they tried to go back to their home countries who didn't want them. arms, opposing their system because they had become so devoted to their version of islam and they felt abandoned and take revenge on the united states and september 11th happened. the invasion of iraq brought on

isis, the islamic state of syria and iraq. if we didn't have a war in iraq they were not have been an isis. if we didn't have the mujahedin in afghanistan there would not have been al qaeda. in a way we had a hand in creating this. when we went to iraq we bombed the country, we call it shock and are. try to raise your children, take them to school, do your job and raise a family and all of a sudden b-52s are dropping bombs. the bombs are falling down, what do you do? you look up and say god help me. people are scared, they go back to god, they go back to religion. the iraqis all of a sudden are islamists. we pushed them there.

we made them terrified. when people are terrified they go back to god. religion becomes a greater part of their life. people are upset about the situation. what may be that situation but someone who lost an uncle or aunt, killers in san bernardino, husband and wife, the wife is new arrival from pakistan, the husband went back to pakistan, perhaps she lost somebody. maybe to one of our bombings in northern pakistan on the border with afghanistan. she got very frustrated and wanted to get back at us. when she saw this pakistani american coming and maybe she hooked up with them in order to

carry out some act. there must be something. we don't know the details. my guess is the wife was the instigator behind it. must have been something happening in her situation. we have bombs in their country, drones the drop bombs on leaders of islamist groups in pakistan as well as afghanistan. she may have been frustrated by losing a friend, may have been frustrated by something else to be determined to take revenge, to show the americans. what is happening is we are beginning to have more isis attacks in european cities. the reason for that is the bombing campaign in syria and iraq we have european countries

joining in on the bombing campaign. also in libya when some people rebelled in libya immediately the europeans in dado, the european union, nato joined in and began to bomb libya, declared they could fly and bomb and bring down, murdering qaddafi and many people didn't forgive the europeans for that and the europeans become a target and the coverage in the media, in france incidents happen, big media, leaders from all over the world going to paris, the council meeting, nothing but the facts happen all the time in nigeria, they happen

all the time in kenya and somalia, in pakistan, europeans don't move, they don't care, they don't call for security council resolution to condemn these acts, they get very frustrated and europeans become a target because that was the racism, the anti-islamic racism we find in europe nowadays, that contributes to targeting europeans. we are beginning to see similar things in this country with this election cycle, the anti-islamic attitude in this country as if all muslims are terrorists somehow or could become terrorists. it is outrageous to label one and a half billion people on earth by the behavior of a few.

timothy mcveigh doing the oklahoma city bombing, all these people including children, we know him, we know his background, we know his religion, we know everything about him. if a muslim does such an ask it is islamic terrorism. we don't know much about the individual or the family or the background or anything. we label one and a half million people by the behavior of the one or the 19, it is wrong, very wrong. you cannot do that. and labeling christians because some christian is shooting or went to a school and started shooting. that would be wrong too. put all the people together and label them by the behavior of the one or the few or doing that

in this country now. when the shooting took place in san bernardino, i saw it on tv. what went through my mind immediately is my daughter because she works for the county. in that area, she was held up and certified so that was the first thing. as a father you worry about your children first but then as an american, a palestinian arab-american, i'm not muslim either, i am catholic actually. as an american, arab-american, i got very worried that the shooter or shooters may be arab or muslim. thank god they weren't arab, they were pakistani.

that contributes to labeling the whole group by the act of these two but this community has been a fantastic community. san bernardino and areas around it collected almost $250,000 for the victims. when muslims had prayers on friday after the shooting, christian and jewish ministers, many people came and stood in front of the mosque so muslims could pray in peace. i love this community. this is an example for all of our country. this is how we should be. work together as a community, protect each other as a community and not think of the act of the one or the few as an act of the whole.

our community did very well with that. i am proud of san bernardino community for what they have done. this book has been very good, done very well when it came out, it received the outstanding book of the year award, gives the perspective not only of the powerful but the perspective of those on the other side, on the receiving end of the powerful. that is the biggest message, the other side, when we call it terrorism also may have some rights that we need to recognize, be aware of. no matter how great we are we do some things wrong like when we invade a country and bomb their people to smithereens or do something wrong in doing that.

the notion of my country love it or leave it, is, in my opinion, a form of stupidity. it is our duty as american this, i became a naturalized american a long time ago, i became an american, when i became american i had to pass a test and i learned it is my duty to correct my country when i see it deviate from what is right. when my country does wrong, it is my job to correct it. so i will never say my country right or wrong. of my country is wrong it is my job to correct it and that is what we need to do. that is the kind of message i would like readers of this book to get, we have a duty in this great country. i love this country but i hate some of its policies and i keep trying and working hard on that. that is what we need to do,

correct the policies of our country that have gone in the wrong direction. many of those watching this program, i hope not too many, only a few, who will be thinking this professor is just a radical who is justifying terrorism. i am not justifying terrorism. i oppose terrorism. i oppose all forms of violence. i think terrorism is counterproductive in the long run into it is outrageous, we need to find ways around it but we don't need to be helping create it. we have helped create terrorism and we need to point ways around it. i do not justify terrorism, i do not support terrorism, i understand the motives that push people to terrorism.

that doesn't mean i accept it or agree with it or support it. i do not. i hope that someday we will get beyond our nationalistic attitudes and begin to look at the betterment of all human beings. and recognize what divides us simply an accident of birth. jerusalem and palestinian born to a christian family, i did not choose that. that is an accident of birth. it doesn't make me lesser than any other human being or more than any other human being. beginning to work on the basis of that, all life is precious, all human beings are important regardless of their accident of birth. >> designated a national

historic landmark in 1962, walden pond is considered the birthplace of the conservation movement. were two years, writer henry david thoreau lived on its shores, inspiring his book "walden". up next, concord museum curator david wood describes thoreau's reasons for living at the pond and his experiences there. [nature sounds]