Author, Editor
Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism: What Went Wrong After 9/11 (3rd expanded edition, 2026)
On August 15, 2021, after twenty years, trillions of dollars, and thousands of lives, America’s war in Afghanistan ended in humiliating collapse. The Taliban returned to power, triumphant. Iran’s nuclear program was bombed in 2025, and despite the U.S.-Israel war on Iran in 2026, that regime—backer of Hamas, Hezbollah and other jihadists—survives, unbowed.
Why does the most powerful nation in history keep failing to defeat a materially weaker foe?
Now in its third expanded edition—spanning twenty-five years since 9/11, with new commentary on Afghanistan, October 7, and Iran—this incisive collection remains the clearest diagnosis of what went wrong after 9/11, and what a rational foreign policy would require instead.
Failing to Confront Islamic Totalitarianism: What Went Wrong After 9/11 (co-authored with Onkar Ghate) 2026
Why Nationalism Is Hostile to America (2025)
In this short work from ARU Press, Elan Journo and Yaron Brook examine the true nature and consequences of the rise of nationalism in America, especially the so-called national conservatism. They argue that the principles and ideas of the advocates of national conservatism are ultimately anti-American, as they reject the founding principles of America: the individual rights. | Paperback, Kindle and Audiobook
What Justice Demands: America and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (2018)
What is at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? What does justice demand of us in this conflict? This book clarifies an intimidatingly complex issue—and upends conventional views about America’s stake in it.
In this book, Elan Journo explains the essential nature of the conflict, and what has fueled it for so long. What justice demands, he shows, is that we evaluate both adversaries—and America’s approach to the conflict—according to a universal moral ideal: individual liberty. From that secular moral framework, the book analyzes the conflict, examines major Palestinian grievances and Israel’s character as a nation, and explains what’s at stake for everyone who values human life, freedom, and progress.
What Justice Demands shows us why America should be strongly supportive of freedom and freedom-seekers—but, in this conflict and across the Middle East, it hasn’t been, much to our detriment. (Post Hill Press, 2018) | Read an excerpt
Winning the Unwinnable War (2009)
Eight years after 9/11 and in the shadow of two protracted U.S. military campaigns in the Middle East, the enemy is not only undefeated but emboldened and resurgent. What went wrong–and what should we do going forward?
Winning the Unwinnable War: America’s Self-Crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism (editor and chief contributor) 2009 | Read the introduction
Contributor
The First Amendment: Essays on the Imperative of Intellectual Freedom (2024)
While “Americans of every persuasion benefit tremendously from the protections afforded by the First Amendment,” observes Tara Smith, “few appreciate the principle that it embodies—intellectual freedom. As a result, the foundations of the First Amendment are being steadily eroded.” Smith’s incisive new book offers a powerful defense of the philosophic foundation of intellectual freedom, a defense shaped by Objectivism. ARI Press, 2024 (contributor, Elan Journo). Kindle and Paperback
Illuminating Ayn Rand (2022)
Ayn Rand’s novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged are classics of American literature, taught in schools nationwide. Her philosophy of Objectivism has ignited an intellectual movement across the globe. Forty years after her death, Rand’s cultural presence continues to grow.
This book sheds light on some little-discussed yet interesting facets of Rand’s life and career. The essays collected here, presenting curated sidelights rather than a sustained narrative, are deeply sourced in the Ayn Rand Archives — the world’s most comprehensive repository of materials about Rand’s life and work — and many are accompanied by images of handwritten drafts, manuscripts and other documents from the Archives. Kindle and paperback.
A New Textbook of Americanism: The Politics of Ayn Rand (2018)
This book features previously unavailable material by Ayn Rand on her politics, along with contributions by other authors on the application of her ideas to today’s issues. Edited by Jonathan Hoenig, 2018 (contributor, Elan Journo) | Kindle and Paperback
Defending Free Speech (2016)
Freedom of speech is indispensable to a free and civilized society, yet this precious right is increasingly under attack today. Why is this happening? What can be done? Edited by Steve Simpson, 2016 (contributor, Elan Journo) | Kindle and Paperback | Read the introduction
Elan Journo 