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highly recommended |
The History of 9/11 
In this superbly written book, Lawrence Wright tackles the still controversial subject of how 9/11 happened tact and aplomb. Rather than appealing to extremists on any side of the debate, Wright provides a remarkably in-depth history of how al-Qaeda came into being, and of U.S. policies during and after the Afghan war to kick out the Soviets.
On the al-Qaeda side of the story, Wright begins with the Egyptian Sayyid Qutb and very clearly traces the evolution of militant Islam all the way up to bin Laden and Zawahiri. Qutb's impact on figures like Zawahiri and other Islamists cannot be underestimated, so it is to Wright's credit that he includes a chapter on Qutb. Wright also provides a detailed account of bin Laden's history, from his days in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Sudan. Included in this account, Wright reveals that at one point, bin Laden actually suggested an alliance with Shi'ite Muslims to fight the Soviets. Another interesting bit of information found in the book is the meetings between the Iraqi government and al-Qaeda during the late 1990s, and the Iraqi offer to relocate al-Qaeda to Iraq.
Wright also explains 9/11 from the American failure to stop it. This story primarily involves the lack of communication among the CIA, FBI, and NSA. It's no less than chilling to see just how many times 9/11 might have been prevented had it not been for the turf wars between these agencies. If bin Laden is the main antagonist of this story, FBI agent John O'Neil. Even though I consider myself well-read on the subject, I had never heard of O'Neil before. He spent the last decade of his career trying to get bin Laden, and then tragically died trying to rescue people from the World Trade Center.
I've read many fantastic books over the past five years that deal with the U.S. and the Middle East, but Wright's book is really close to the top of my list. I would recommend this book to just about anyone, regardless of their prior knowledge. I think the book's greatest strength is that Wright managed to take an enormously complex subject and make it accessible to the general public, who is still woefully ignorant about American foreign policy and the Middle East in general.
Get inside Osama's head
While this work is a bit didactic, Wright lays out the logic and planning of the September 11 attacks as a part of a greater plan to purify Islam. He explains the origins of this movement from the Islamic Brotherhood in Egypt, and differentiates the international role of al Qaeda (if only President Bush had asked Karen Hughes to read this book and give him an executive summary). The Looming Tower is a must read for every Westerner who plans to go out in public, and for every Muslim who is not ultra devout and loyal to OBL. Once you read it you'll understand the thinking of another religious zealot, Jeremiah Wright (no relation to the author). And you'll understand why the war on terrorism will be waged indefinitely.
Great insight into Al-Qaeda and 9/11 
This is a great book for anyone wondering where Al-Qaeda came from and the events that brought us to such a terrible attack on U.S. soil. Great narrative of the early days of radical Islam as well as the events that lead to 9-11. Insight given on the CIA and U.S. side as well as the Al-Qaeda side.
I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the history of Al-Qaeda and a recent historical look at how this whole mess we are in today came about.
9/11: A vital and highly readable explanation of what it all means
Trying to make sense of momentous events in our history, like those of September 11th 2001, can seem like standing too close to a very large painting. As the years pass we step away and some of the confusion of shapes and colours slowly starts to take focus. Lawrence Wright's Pulitzer Prize winning book is not the first but quite surely the finest attempt to try and provide some depth and understanding to that blur of incomprehensibility.
This is not a book that lingers on the detailed plans or plotting of the 9/11 hijackers or indeed the horrors of the actual day. Those events are covered elsewhere both in book and on celluloid. Instead The Looming Tower takes us on a 60 year journey and paints with a much wider brush the origins and motivations of Al- Qaeda. However this is more than a history book. Wright entwines together the contrasting and diverse lives of the ubiquitous Osama Bin Laden and the unheralded FBI agent John O'Neill as the narrative unfolds towards the inevitable conclusion. Instead it reads like a page turning thriller.
I learnt much and my mind was opened in unexpected ways. The deep roots of the Islamic fundamentalist tradition in Egypt, the antipathy of the movement to secular Islamists like Nasser and Sadat and the oil transformation of Saudi Arabia which helped create an alternative radical movement within the kingdom are all explored. The irrelevance of Iraq to the main game of the war on terror is made obvious; this is not a book you would find on George W's bedside table. But the best parts of the book are those which deal with Osama Bin Laden himself and his extended family. The familiarity of his name and the countless Bin Laden type jokes have numbed our ability to understand who he is and where he came from.
John O'Neill, the FBI agent, is the perfect foil for Bin Laden. This womanising charmer of Irish catholic traditions, so full of inconsistencies and flaws, at times almost single handedly represented the growing concerns about Al - Qaeda operations. How deeply ironic that he should die in the World Trade Center buildings just 1 month after taking up his new post as head of security. The breathtaking incompetency (as well as plain bad luck) of the US security organisations is revealed. Their failure to act together because of petty jealousies and human flaws is the subplot to the larger story.
The book is well illustrated with maps, photographs and a helpful glossary of characters (which I discovered all too late at the end). The latter is most helpful because the Islamic names can be confusing and difficult to remember. Possibly Wright's greatest achievement is to remain fair and unbiased. As an award winning journalist with the New Yorker he is interested in facts not in grinding an axe.
I strongly recommend this book to anybody who wants to begin to understand the world in which we find ourselves post 9/11.
A must read to better understand our times.
An excellent book regarding Al-Qaeda and its leaders. Here you will find what the goals are and what the funding ideas behind this organization, what the cultural background and what the deep, profund origins of this terrorist nihilist organization are. Many interesting and dramatic pages regard the unacceptable and irresponsible ideological and burocratic barriers that kept CIA and FBI from identifying and isolating the terrorists while they were in the US territory before 9/11. The personal stories of strong characters with steel personalities such as John o'neill and Mike Schauer are also told. Above all the most striking and appalling feature that comes out is how, once again in history, some influencial individuals distorted the original religious message and warped to a point that it became a message of death, suicide, suffering in name of a delirious and insane goal. A must read to understand our present.
reviews: 1, page 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Politics
looming tower, looming, tower
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based on 283 reviews
