The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 » (~)

An award-winning author, screenwriter, and staff writer for The New Yorker, Lawrence Wright has won acclaim for his in-depth investigations into groups from evangelical Christians to Al-Qaeda. He's even written a one-man play, "My Trip to al-Qaeda," about his adventures in researching The Looming Tower, his National Book Award contender.

A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright's remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States. Brilliantly conceived and written, The Looming Tower draws all elements of the story into a galvanizing narrative that adds immeasurably to our understanding of how we arrived at September 11, 2001. The richness of its new information, and the depth of its perceptions, can help us deal more wisely and effectively with the continuing terrorist threat.

The Washington Post - Bruce Hoffman

Although there have been many biographies of bin Laden -- two of the best of them written by Peter L. Bergen and Michael Scheuer -- surprisingly little attention has been devoted to Zawahiri, an Egyptian jihadist. Lawrence Wright, a staff writer for the New Yorker who wrote a memorable profile of Zawahiri four years ago, magisterially redresses this imbalance in The Looming Tower.

Wright tells the compelling story here of a symbiotic relationship between bin Laden and Zawahiri: Their respective strengths complemented each other and created a sum far greater than its parts. The two men's shared strategic vision of a global jihad transformed al-Qaeda into an organization that can punch far above its weight.

1	The martyr	7
2	The sporting club	32
3	The fonder	60
4	Change	84
5	The miracles	99
6	The base	121
7	Return of the hero	145
8	Paradise	163
9	The silicon valley	176
10	Paradise lost	187
11	The prince of darkness	202
12	The boy spies	213
13	Hijira	224
14	Going operational	237
15	Bread and water	245
16	"Now it begins"	262
17	The new millennium	287
18	Boom	301
19	The big wedding	333
20	Revelations	362