I. Introduction
A. Shortly after the death of Tamerlan Tsarnaev and the capture of his brother Dzhokhar, law enforcement authorities began investigating their background. Most of the efforts focused on discovering how they became “radicalized” and who had radicalized them. Little effort was focused on who they actually were. However, later examinations of their background revealed much about their motives and pointed more to the fact that they acted on their own rather than as a result of radicalization. This presentation will provide some of the details of their background as a way of understanding why they decided to carry out a terror attack.
II. Background
Mother, Father and Sisters
Early childhood
Kyrgyzstan
Dagestan
Early influences
Chechen Customs and Traditions
Islam
III. Move to the United States
Tamerlan
Difficulty adjusting to life
Dropping out of school
Boxing
Marriage
Investigation for triple homicide
Dzhokhar
Bunker Hill Community College
Activities outside of school
Unhappiness with American life
IV. Tamerlan Finds Religion
A. Decision to become a devout Muslim
B. Trip back to Dagestan
C. Questioning of U.S. Middle East policy
V. Tamerlan’s Influence on Dzhokhar
A. Dzhokhar’s turn to Islam
B. Questioning of U.S. policy against radical Islam
VI. Their own personal radicalization and the decision to act on their ideas
References
Gessen, M. (2015). The Brothers: The Road to an American Tragedy. New York, NY: Riverhead Books.
Gessen, M. (2015). The Tsarnaev brothers: The road to a modern tragedy. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/30/tsarnaev-brothers-book-extract-masha-gessen
Reitman, J. (2013, Jan. 17). Jahar’s world. Retrieved from http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/jahars-world-20130717
