To thwart ISIS, first consider history

By Jay Parini

Updated 11:26 AM ET, Tue November 17, 2015

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A memorial commemorates the victims of the Paris attacks on a street in Paris on Monday, November 16.
Photos: Aftermath of Paris terror attacks
A memorial commemorates the victims of the Paris attacks on a street in Paris on Monday, November 16.
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A woman on November 16 sits in front of the Parisian concert venue Balaclan, where many of the victims from the Paris attacks were killed.
Photos: Aftermath of Paris terror attacks
A woman on November 16 sits in front of the Parisian concert venue Balaclan, where many of the victims from the Paris attacks were killed.
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An anti-border control, pro-refugee sticker is pasted over an advertisement in Paris on November 16.
Photos: Aftermath of Paris terror attacks
An anti-border control, pro-refugee sticker is pasted over an advertisement in Paris on November 16.
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A young man in Paris on November 16 holds a sign that reads "Not even afraid" in the neighborhood of Le petit Cambodge, a restaurant that was hit in the attacks.
Photos: Aftermath of Paris terror attacks
A young man in Paris on November 16 holds a sign that reads "Not even afraid" in the neighborhood of Le petit Cambodge, a restaurant that was hit in the attacks.
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Security guards stand outside a Disney store on Champs Elysees in Paris on November 16.
Photos: Aftermath of Paris terror attacks
Security guards stand outside a Disney store on Champs Elysees in Paris on November 16.
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Comments made with different colored chalk are written on the Place de la Republique in Paris on November 16.
Photos: Aftermath of Paris terror attacks
Comments made with different colored chalk are written on the Place de la Republique in Paris on November 16.
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A man sells newspapers on Sunday, November 15, at the Barbes-Rochechouart Metro station in one of the Paris neighborhoods with the highest foreign-born population. The headlines read "The War against Daech / ISIS" and "The Day After."