The Boston Marathon bombing has refocused public attention on a steadily growing phenomenon the Obama administration has been trying to minimize: homegrown, domestic Islamist terrorists whose familiarity with American culture makes them more difficult to detect prior to their acts of terror. The two Boston Marathon bomber brothers are of Chechnyan descent but can be considered homegrown terrorists. A question is, In what home was their terror grown and nurtured? In the Tsarnaev home in Chechnya? Dagestan? Russia? Boston? Was there additional thought reform or brainwashing done via an Internet self-radicalization process? What is self-radicalization? The Internet's world of jihadist websites has blurred the boundary of whether radicalization occurs via personal contacts with radical charismatic Islamist recruiters, purely by lone wolf or wolf-pack activities, self or group self-radicalization, or, all three. By way of preventing similar attacks in the future, it is necessary not only to monitor terror networks but also to understand the psychodynamics of the creation of homegrown terrorists in general? What is the appeal of radical Islam to "in-betweeners" in particular, that is, young persons in a transitional phase in one or more key aspects of their lives?

Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- The vulnerable in-betweeners and the children of terror -- Basic techniques of terrorists' brain washing and indoctrination -- In-betweener countries and communities -- The personal pathway model of terrorist development -- Adam Gadahn : a television voice of al Qaeda -- John Walker Lindh : the American Taliban -- Nidal Malik Hasan, MD : Fort Hood's jihadi doctor death -- Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo : an explosive conscientious objector -- Jose Padilla, Bryant Neal Vinas, and Sharif Mobley -- Richard Reid and Umar Farouck Abdulmutallab : UK and Nigeria's homegrowns -- Omar Hammani of Alabama : the jihadi next door -- Female homegrown terrorists : Aafia Siddiqui and Colleen Larose -- Right wing ideology and its violent fringe : Timothy McVeigh and Ted Kaczynski -- A left wing homegrown terrorist : Bill Ayers -- The Boston marathon bombers, Chechnya's history, and spiritual heirs of Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki -- Decisions, actions, and responsibility of homegrown terrorists -- Afterword : what we all can do to help prevent homegrown terrorism.