Read an April 9, 2013 Boston Globe‘s story on the two brothers’ “paths into infamy.”

An April 21 article in The Wall Street Journal (subscription only) reports that religious issues increasingly divided the Tsarnaev family.

An April 22, 2013 post at New York magazine that rounds up various stories exploring the family dynamics that may have contributed to the radicalization of the Tsarnaev brothers, especially Tamerlan.

William Saletan in Slate on April 28, 2013 rounds up several stories that explore the possible explanations and motivations behind the radicalization of the suspects.

An April 23, 2013 Associated Press story says questioning of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev by authorities indicated “the two brothers were motivated by an anti-American, radical version of Islam.” A CNN story adds that the older brother was the driving force behind the attacks and that they had no contact with international terrorist groups but were affected by watching videos online.

Read an April 28, 2013 article by John Blake at CNN about extremism.

Read a May 3, 2013 Time magazine essay about what the latest neuroscience says about the biological origins of evil actions.

Read a May 6, 2013 Rolling Stone article that analyses media’s effect on radicalism. It quotes John Horgan, director of the International Center for the Study of Terrorism at Pennsylvania State University, as downplaying the idea that young men can “self-radicalize” by watch YouTube videos and reading Al Qaeda magazines.”

James Aho was an emeritus professor of sociology at Idaho State University until he retired in December of 2010. Hew researches and writes on the relationship between religion and violence, especially among right-wing groups and individuals.