Terrorism and foreign policy expert Jessica Stern discusses her book, *Denial: A Memoir of Terror*. While the word "terror" is now primarily used in a global context, including in much of Stern′s work, Denial describes the very personal form of terror that she experienced as a young woman and that influenced her life and career in the years to come. Alone in an unlocked house in a safe neighborhood in the suburban town of Concord, Massachusetts, two good, obedient girls, Jessica Stern, 15, and her sister, 14, were raped on the night of October 1, 1973. The girls had just come back from ballet lessons and were doing their homework when a strange man armed with a gun entered their home. Afterward, when they reported the crime, the police were skeptical. The rapist was never caught. For over 30 years, Stern denied the pain and the trauma of the assault. Following the example of her family, Stern—who lost her mother at the age of three, and whose father was a Holocaust survivor—focused on her work instead of her terror. She became a world-class expert on terrorism, a lauded academic and writer who interviewed terrorists around the globe. But while her career took off, her success hinged on her symptoms. After her ordeal she could not feel fear in normally frightening situations.
