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The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 Hardcover – August 8, 2006

by Lawrence Wright (Author)

4,244 ratings

See all formats and editions

Pulitzer PrizeWinner, 2007
Los Angeles Times Book PrizeWinner, 2006

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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.

The Looming Tower achieves an unprecedented level of intimacy and insight by telling the story through the interweaving lives of four men: the two leaders of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri; the FBI’s counterterrorism chief, John O’Neill; and the former head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Turki al-Faisal.

As these lives unfold, we see revealed: the crosscurrents of modern Islam that helped to radicalize Zawahiri and bin Laden . . . the birth of al-Qaeda and its unsteady development into an organization capable of the American embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and the attack on the USS Cole . . . O’Neill’s heroic efforts to track al-Qaeda before 9/11, and his tragic death in the World Trade towers . . . Prince Turki’s transformation from bin Laden’s ally to his enemy . . . the failures of the FBI, CIA, and NSA to share intelligence that might have prevented the 9/11 attacks.

The Looming Tower broadens and deepens our knowledge of these signal events by taking us behind the scenes. Here is Sayyid Qutb, founder of the modern Islamist movement, lonely and despairing as he meets Western culture up close in 1940s America; the privileged childhoods of bin Laden and Zawahiri; family life in the al-Qaeda compounds of Sudan and Afghanistan; O’Neill’s high-wire act in balancing his all-consuming career with his equally entangling personal life—he was living with three women, each of them unaware of the others’ existence—and the nitty-gritty of turf battles among U.S. intelligence agencies.

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Wright, a New Yorker writer, brings exhaustive research and delightful prose to one of the best books yet on the history of terrorism. He begins with the observation that, despite an impressive record of terror and assassination, post–WWarII, Islamic militants failed to establish theocracies in any Arab country. Many helped Afghanistan resist the Russian invasion of 1979 before their unemployed warriors stepped up efforts at home. Al-Qaeda, formed in Afghanistan in 1988 and led by Osama bin Laden, pursued a different agenda, blaming America for Islam's problems. Less wealthy than believed, bin Laden's talents lay in organization and PR, Wright asserts. Ten years later, bin Laden blew up U.S. embassies in Africa and the destroyer Cole, opening the floodgates of money and recruits. Wright's step-by-step description of these attacks reveals that planning terror is a sloppy business, leaving a trail of clues that, in the case of 9/11, raised many suspicions among individuals in the FBI, CIA and NSA. Wright shows that 9/11 could have been prevented if those agencies had worked together. As a fugitive, bin Ladin's days as a terror mastermind may be past, but his success has spawned swarms of imitators. This is an important, gripping and profoundly disheartening book. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

The Looming Tower may be the most riveting, informative, and "heart-stopping account" yet of the men who shaped 9/11 (New York Times Book Review). The focus on individuals gives the book its emotional punch, but it is also a narrative bold in conception and historical sweep. Lawrence Wright conducted more than 500 interviews, from bin Laden's best friend in college to Richard A. Clarke, Saudi royalty, Afghan mujahideen, and reporters for Al Jazeera. The result, while evenhanded in its analysis of the complex motives, ideals, and power plays that led to 9/11, leaves few nefarious details uncovered. An abrupt ending did little to sway critics that Looming Tower is nothing less than "indispensable" reading (Cleveland Plain Dealer).

From Booklist

Wright, a talented New Yorker staff writer with a diverse portfolio and a long-standing personal interest in the Middle East, was on the al-Qaeda beat within hours of the 9/11 attacks. The product of his efforts is more deeply researched and engagingly narrated than nearly all of the looming stack of books on Osama bin Laden and his cohorts published in the past five years. The events are familiar: this account begins with theorist Sayid Qutb, covers the trajectories of bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, and culminates with Mohammed Atta and the collapsing Trade Center. But Wright's interview--fueled, character-driven approach captures both the complexity of individual actors--Qutb's alienation, for example, and bin Laden's struggle for legitimacy--as well as the fluid internal dynamics of the often covert terrorist organization. The tragic centerpiece of the book, familiar to New Yorker readers, is Wright's sensitive portrayal of John O'Neill, the deeply flawed working-class FBI gumshoe from New Jersey who may have been the only American to fully understand the al-Qaeda threat before 9/11. Wright seems to have found his calling: a perceptive and intense page-turner, this selection and Peter Bergen's The Osama bin Laden I Know (2006) should be considered the definitive works on the topic. Brendan Driscoll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

“Powerful and important . . . a history of a man and a movement, replete with the accidents of history and historic inevitability.” —Kevin Horrigan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Don’t read The Looming Tower in bed. This book requires a straight spine and full attention . . . The reporting is so good that it will matter in 100 years. Wright’s determined, disciplined work has made his book indispensable. “ —Karen Long, The Plain Dealer

“A page-turner . . . encompassing religion, politics, economics and more. If you’ve been meaning to sharpen your understanding of what all led up to September 11, 2001, then Wright may have written just what you’ve been waiting for.” —Tom Gallagher, San Francisco Chronicle

“Brilliant . . . describes the contorted intellectual journey that has taken place among some Muslims which allows a holy book that appears to condemn suicide and the killing on innocents to be used to justify catastrophic terrorism.” —Stephen Fidler, Financial Times

“A magisterial, beautifully crafted narrative . . . This focus on character, along with Wright’s five years of fierce on-the-ground reporting (he lists 560 interviewees), pays off.”
—Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, Los Angeles Times

“Deeply researched . . . immaculately crafted.”
—Peter Bergen, The Wall Street Journal

“What a riveting tale Lawrence Wright fashions in this marvelous book. ‘The Looming Tower’ is not just a detailed, heart-stopping account of the events leading up to 9/11, written with style and verve. [It’s] a thoughtful examination of the world that produced the men who brought us 9/11, and of their progeny who bedevil us today. The portrait of John O’Neill, the driven, demon-ridden F.B. I. agent who worked so frantically to stop Osama bin Laden, only to perish in the attack on the World Trade Center, is worth the price of the book alone. ‘The Looming Tower’ is a thriller. And it’s a tragedy, too.”
–Dexter Filkins, The New York Times Book Review cover

“Dozens of intricately reported books about 9/11 are already available; I had read perhaps half of them [before] starting The Looming Tower. But Lawrence Wright’s book is my new touchstone. None of the previous books led me to say ‘Aha, now I think I understand’ as frequently.”
—Steve Weinberg, The Boston Globe

“A magisterial, beautifully crafted narrative . . . This focus on character, along with Wright’s five years of fierce on-the-ground reporting (he lists 560 interviewees), pays off.” —Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, Los Angeles Times

“Deeply researched . . . immaculately crafted.” —Peter Bergen, The Wall Street Journal

“A searing view of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, a view that is at once wrenchingly intimate and boldly sweeping in its historical perspective . . . a narrative history that possesses all the immediacy and emotional power of a novel, an account that indelibly illustrates how the political and the personal, the public and the private were often inextricably intertwined.”
–Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

“Important, gripping . . . One of the best books yet on the history of terrorism.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Lawrence Wright provides a graceful and remarkably intimate set of portraits of the people who brought us 9/11. It is a tale of extravagant zealotry and incessant bumbling that would be merely absurd if the consequences were not so grisly.”
—Gary Sick

"Lawrence Wright's integrity and diligence as a reporter shine through every page of this riveting narrative."
—Robert A. Caro

“A towering achievement. One of the best and more important books of recent years. Lawrence Wright has dug deep into and written well a story every American should know. A masterful combination of reporting and writing.”
—Dan Rather

“Comprehensive and compelling…Wright has written what must be considered a definitive work on the antecedents to 9/11…Essential for an understanding of that dreadful day.”
--starred Kirkus review

About the Author

Lawrence Wright graduated from Tulane University and spent two years teaching at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. He is a staff writer for The New Yorker and a fellow at the Center on Law and Security at New York University School of Law. The author of five works of nonfiction—City Children, Country Summer; In the New World; Saints and Sinners; Remembering Satan; and Twins—he has also written a novel, God’s Favorite, and was cowriter of the movie The Siege. He and his wife are longtime residents of Austin, Texas.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Martyr

In a first-class stateroom on a cruise ship bound for New York from Alexandria, Egypt, a frail, middle-aged writer and educator named Sayyid Qutb experienced a crisis of faith. “Should I go to America as any normal student on a scholarship, who only eats and sleeps, or should I be special?” he wondered. “Should I hold on to my Islamic beliefs, facing the many sinful temptations, or should I indulge those temptations all around me?” It was November 1948. The new world loomed over the horizon, victorious, rich, and free. Behind him was Egypt, in rags and tears. The traveler had never been out of his native country. Nor had he willingly left now.

The stern bachelor was slight and dark, with a high, sloping forehead and a paintbrush moustache somewhat narrower than the width of his nose. His eyes betrayed an imperious and easily slighted nature. He always evoked an air of formality, favoring dark three-piece suits despite the searing Egyptian sun. For a man who held his dignity so close, the prospect of returning to the classroom at the age of forty-two may have seemed demeaning. And yet, as a child from a mud-walled village in Upper Egypt, he had already surpassed the modest goal he had set for himself of becoming a respectable member of the civil service. His literary and social criticism had made him one of his country’s most popular writers. It had also earned the fury of King Farouk, Egypt’s dissolute monarch, who had signed an order for his arrest. Powerful and sympathetic friends hastily arranged his departure.

At the time, Qutb (his name is pronounced kuh-tub) held a comfortable post as a supervisor in the Ministry of Education. Politically, he was a fervent Egyptian nationalist and anti-communist, a stance that placed him in the mainstream of the vast bureaucratic middle class. The ideas that would give birth to what would be called Islamic fundamentalism were not yet completely formed in his mind; indeed, he would later say that he was not even a very religious man before he began this journey, although he had memorized the Quran by the age of ten, and his writing had recently taken a turn toward more conservative themes. Like many of his compatriots, he was radicalized by the British occupation and contemptuous of the jaded King Farouk’s complicity. Egypt was racked by anti-British protests and seditious political factions bent on running the foreign troops out of the country—and perhaps the king as well. What made this unimposing, midlevel government clerk particularly dangerous was his blunt and potent commentary. He had never gotten to the front rank of the contemporary Arab literary scene, a fact that galled him throughout his career; and yet from the government’s point of view, he was becoming an annoyingly important enemy.

He was Western in so many ways—his dress, his love of classical music and Hollywood movies. He had read, in translation, the works of Darwin and Einstein, Byron and Shelley, and had immersed himself in French literature, especially Victor Hugo. Even before his journey, however, he worried about the advance of an all-engulfing Western civilization. Despite his erudition, he saw the West as a single cultural entity. The distinctions between capitalism and Marxism, Christianity and Judaism, fascism and democracy were insignificant by comparison with the single great divide in Qutb’s mind: Islam and the East on the one side, and the Christian West on the other.

America, however, stood apart from the colonialist adventures that had characterized Europe’s relations with the Arab world. America, at the end of the Second World War, straddled the political chasm between the colonizers and the colonized. Indeed, it was tempting to imagine America as the anticolonial paragon: a subjugated nation that had broken free and triumphantly outstripped its former masters. America’s power seemed to lie in its values, not in European notions of cultural superiority or privileged races and classes. And because America advertised itself as an immigrant nation, it had a permeable relationship with the rest of the world. Arabs, like most other peoples, had established their own colonies inside America, and the ropes of kinship drew them closer to the ideals that the country claimed to stand for.

And so, Qutb, like many Arabs, felt shocked and betrayed by the support that the U.S. government had given to the Zionist cause after the war. Even as Qutb was sailing out of Alexandria’s harbor, Egypt, along with five other Arab armies, was in the final stages of losing the war that established Israel as a Jewish state within the Arab world. The Arabs were stunned, not only by the determination and skill of the Israeli fighters but by the incompetence of their own troops and the disastrous decisions of their leaders. The shame of that experience would shape the Arab intellectual universe more profoundly than any other event in modern history. “I hate those Westerners and despise them!” Qutb wrote after President Harry Truman endorsed the transfer of a hundred thousand Jewish refugees into Palestine. “All of them, without any exception: the English, the French, the Dutch, and finally the Americans, who have been trusted by many.”

The man in the stateroom had known romantic love, but mainly the pain of it. He had written a thinly disguised account of a failed relationship in a novel; after that, he turned his back on marriage. He said that he had been unable to find a suitable bride from the “dishonorable” women who allowed themselves to be seen in public, a stance that left him alone and unconsoled in middle age. He still enjoyed women—he was close to his three sisters—but sexuality threatened him, and he had withdrawn into a shell of disapproval, seeing sex as the main enemy of salvation.

The dearest relationship he had ever enjoyed was that with his mother, Fatima, an illiterate but pious woman, who had sent her precocious son to Cairo to study. His father died in 1933, when Qutb was twenty-seven. For the next three years he taught in various provincial posts until he was transferred to Helwan, a prosperous suburb of Cairo, and he brought the rest of his family to live with him there. His intensely conservative mother never entirely settled in; she was always on guard against the creeping foreign influences that were far more apparent in Helwan than in the little village she came from. These influences must have been evident in her sophisticated son as well.

As he prayed in his stateroom, Sayyid Qutb was still uncertain of his own identity. Should he be “normal” or “special”? Should he resist temptations or indulge them? Should he hang on tightly to his Islamic beliefs or cast them aside for the materialism and sinfulness of the West? Like all pilgrims, he was making two journeys: one outward, into the larger world, and another inward, into his own soul. “I have decided to be a true Muslim!” he resolved. But almost immediately he second-guessed himself. “Am I being truthful or was that just a whim?”

His deliberations were interrupted by a knock on the door. Standing outside his stateroom was a young girl, whom he described as thin and tall and “half-naked.” She asked him in English, “Is it okay for me to be your guest tonight?”

Qutb responded that his room was equipped with only one bed.

“A single bed can hold two people,” she said.

Appalled, he closed the door in her face. “I heard her fall on the wooden floor outside and realized that she was drunk,” he recalled. “I instantly thanked God for defeating my temptation and allowing me to stick to my morals.”

This is the man, then—decent, proud, tormented, self-righteous, and resentful—whose lonely genius would unsettle Islam, threaten regimes across the Muslim world, and beckon to a generation of rootless young Arabs who were looking for meaning and purpose in their lives and would find it in jihad.

Qutb arrived in New York Harbor in the middle of the most prosperous holiday season the country had ever known. In the postwar boom, everybody was making money—Idaho potato farmers, Detroit automakers, Wall Street bankers—and all this wealth spurred confidence in the capitalist model, which had been so brutally tested during the recent Depression. Unemployment seemed practically un-American; officially, the rate of joblessness was under 4 percent, and practically speaking, anyone who wanted a job could get one. Half of the world’s total wealth was now in American hands.

The contrast with Cairo must have been especially bitter as Qutb wandered through the New York City streets, festively lit with holiday lights, the luxurious shop windows laden with appliances that he had only heard about—television sets, washing machines—technological miracles spilling out of every department store in stupefying abundance. Brand-new office towers and apartments were shouldering into the gaps in the Manhattan skyline between the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. Downtown and in the outer boroughs, vast projects were under way to house the immigrant masses.

It was fitting, in such a buoyant and confident environment, unprecedented in its mix of cultures, that the visible symbol of a changed world order was arising: the new United Nations complex overlooking the East River. The United Nations was the most powerful expression of the determined internationalism that was the legacy of the war, and yet the city itself already embodied the dreams of universal harmony far more powerfully than did any single idea or institution. The world was pouring into New York because that was where the power was, and the money, and the transforming cultural energy. Nearly a million Russians were in the city, half a million Irish, and an equal number of Germans—not to mention the Puerto Ricans, the Dominicans, the Poles, and the largely uncounted and often illegal Chinese laborers who had also found refuge in the welcoming city. The black population of the city had grown by 50 percent in only eight years, to 700,000, and they were refugees as well, from the racism of the American South. Fully a fourth of the 8 million New Yorkers were Jewish, many of whom had fled the latest European catastrophe. Hebrew letters covered the signs for the shops and factories on the Lower East Side, and Yiddish was commonly heard on the streets. That would have been a challenge for the middle-aged Egyptian who hated the Jews but, until he left his country, had never met one. For many New Yorkers, perhaps for most of them, political and economic oppression was a part of their heritage, and the city had given them sanctuary, a place to earn a living, to raise a family, to begin again. Because of that, the great emotion that fueled the exuberant city was hopefulness, whereas Cairo was one of the capitals of despair.

At the same time, New York was miserable—overfull, grouchy, competitive, frivolous, picketed with No Vacancy signs. Snoring alcoholics blocked the doorways. Pimps and pickpockets prowled the midtown squares in the ghoulish neon glow of burlesque houses. In the Bowery, flophouses offered cots for twenty cents a night. The gloomy side streets were crisscrossed with clotheslines. Gangs of snarling delinquents roamed the margins like wild dogs. For a man whose English was rudimentary, the city posed unfamiliar hazards, and Qutb’s natural reticence made communication all the more difficult. He was desperately homesick. “Here in this strange place, this huge workshop they call ‘the new world,’ I feel as though my spirit, thoughts, and body live in loneliness,” he wrote to a friend in Cairo. “What I need most here is someone to talk to,” he wrote another friend, “to talk about topics other than dollars, movie stars, brands of cars—a real conversation on the issues of man, philosophy, and soul.” Two days after Qutb arrived in America, he and an Egyptian acquaintance checked into a hotel. “The black elevator operator liked us because we were closer to his color,” Qutb reported. The operator offered to help the travelers find “entertainment.” “He mentioned examples of this ‘entertainment,’ which included perversions. He also told us what happens in some of these rooms, which may have pairs of boys or girls. They asked him to bring them some bottles of Coca-Cola, and didn’t even change their positions when he entered! ‘Don’t they feel ashamed?’ we asked. He was surprised. ‘Why? They are just enjoying themselves, satisfying their particular desires.’ ”

This experience, among many others, confirmed Qutb’s view that sexual mixing led inevitably to perversion. America itself had just been shaken by a lengthy scholarly report titled Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, by Alfred Kinsey and his colleagues at the University of Indiana. Their eight-hundred-page treatise, filled with startling statistics and droll commentary, shattered the country’s leftover Victorian prudishness like a brick through a stained-glass window. Kinsey reported that 37 percent of the American men he sampled had experienced homosexual activity to the point of orgasm, nearly half had engaged in extramarital sex, and 69 percent had paid for sex with prostitutes. The mirror that Kinsey held up to America showed a country that was frantically lustful but also confused, ashamed, incompetent, and astoundingly ignorant. Despite the evidence of the diversity and frequency of sexual activity, this was a time in America when sexual matters were practically never discussed, not even by doctors. One Kinsey researcher interviewed a thousand childless American couples who had no idea why they failed to conceive, even though the wives were virgins.

Qutb was familiar with the Kinsey Report, and referenced it in his later writings to illustrate his view of Americans as little different from beasts—“a reckless, deluded herd that only knows lust and money.” A staggering rate of divorce was to be expected in such a society, since “Every time a husband or wife notices a new sparkling personality, they lunge for it as if it were a new fashion in the world of desires.” The turbulent overtones of his own internal struggles can be heard in his diatribe: “A girl looks at you, appearing as if she were an enchanting nymph or an escaped mermaid, but as she approaches, you sense only the screaming instinct inside her, and you can smell her burning body, not the scent of perfume but flesh, only flesh. Tasty flesh, truly, but flesh nonetheless.”

The end of the world war had brought America victory but not security. Many Americans felt that they had defeated one totalitarian enemy only to encounter another far stronger and more insidious than European fascism. “Communism is creeping inexorably into these destitute lands,” the young evangelist Billy Graham warned, “into war-torn China, into restless South America, and unless the Christian religion rescues these nations from the clutch of the unbelieving, America will stand alone and isolated in the world.”

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 8, 2006
Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 037541486X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0375414862
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.8 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.6 x 1.6 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #97,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #11 in Terrorism (Books)
- #24 in Political Intelligence
- #107 in World History (Books)

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Customers find the book well-researched and easy to read, with a concise writing style that reads like a field report. They appreciate its comprehensive background and detailed biographies of key characters, describing it as a fascinating look at Al-Qaeda's origins. The narrative quality receives positive feedback, with one customer noting it as an incredible history lesson of worlds colliding. The book's scariness level receives mixed reactions, with some finding it frightening.

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331 customers mention "Information quality"320 positive11 negative

Customers find the book highly informative and well-researched, with one customer noting how the author provides great detail into the lives of the subjects.

"This is a thoroughly researched book that describes the family background, recent history, and influences on Osama bin Laden, the beginning of al-..." Read more

"Well-researched and based on a carefully constructed timeline, The Looming Tower reveals facts about the rise of al-Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks that..." Read more

"...not just the history of the terrorist, but the fascinating if disturbing history of Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Middle East, where religion..." Read more

"...The richness of its new information, and the depth of its perceptions can help us deal more wisely and effectively with the continuing terrorist..." Read more

317 customers mention "Readability"304 positive13 negative

Customers find the book highly readable and worth their time, describing it as an extraordinary document that must be read by every American.

"...serious threat facing the West in the 21st Century and an immensely satisfying read... Captivating!" Read more

"...The central tragic figure in the book is John O'Neill, the brilliant, swaggering but restless and tormented FBI agent who was desperate to snare Bin..." Read more

"...Why is this book so good?..." Read more

"One to read and share. Tuck this knowledge away for the future." Read more

182 customers mention "Writing quality"155 positive27 negative

Customers appreciate the writing quality of the book, describing it as concise and easy to read, with one customer noting it reads almost like a field report.

"...Third and finally, Wright can write. The narrative rushes along, pulling the reader through the book to its final, violent denouement." Read more

"...Tower combines the right amount of detail with the author's lighter prose style. Wright manages to entertain as much as he informs...." Read more

"...England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States...Brilliantly conceived and written, The Looming Tower draws all elements of the story into a..." Read more

"Firstly, this is such a well written book, so incredibly suspensefully placed, you'll find yourself almost believing that you have not heard the..." Read more

176 customers mention "Narrative quality"173 positive3 negative

Customers praise the narrative quality of the book, describing it as a sweeping history of Al-Qaeda's rise and the events leading up to 9/11.

"...Instead of a narrow focus on the 911 plot, the book gives a wide historical context. It is not a painstaking recount of the attack...." Read more

"...Third and finally, Wright can write. The narrative rushes along, pulling the reader through the book to its final, violent denouement." Read more

"...a thoroughly researched book that describes the family background, recent history, and influences on Osama bin Laden, the beginning of al-Qaeda, and..." Read more

"Well-researched and based on a carefully constructed timeline, The Looming Tower reveals facts about the rise of al-Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks that..." Read more

64 customers mention "Character development"60 positive4 negative

Customers appreciate the character development in the book, with detailed biographies of key figures and thorough portrayals throughout.

"...First, Wright includes enough information about his principal characters to make them three-dimensional: bin Laden is not just an evil plotter, he..." Read more

"...sometime later, I was very grateful for the detailed playlist of principle characters provided, in addition to a map of the region, an index, and a..." Read more

"...most enjoyable about Wright's book, it details unusual aspects of his characters' personalities that make them seem more human...." Read more

"...narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence..." Read more

23 customers mention "Depth"23 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the depth of the book, with one customer highlighting its comprehensive background reporting.

"...part of the book is just over 400 pages, then there is a glossary giving the backgrounds and current status of the major people mentioned throughout..." Read more

"...oddball facts and anecdotes that enliven The Looming Tower and add to its interest...." Read more

"...is a very good story teller providing a lot of personal and background information...." Read more

"...limited as it is, I must say that Mr. Wright has produced an enormously relevant and necessary work of real journalism and intelligence, the..." Read more

22 customers mention "Look"18 positive4 negative

Customers appreciate the book's appearance, with several noting Lawrence's unmatched writing style, and one customer highlighting its vivid portrayal of Bin-Laden's background.

"...from the consoling and socializing presence of women." An impressive depiction and compelling narrative of the eve" Read more

"This is a great book! Plain and simple, this guy did his homework and presents a fabulous history of Al Queda...." Read more

"...was so compelling and the story being told was so illuminating and vivid that it was starting to give me bad dreams, and a recurring nightmare that..." Read more

"The Looming Tower is a detailed and insightful look at the increasing unrest in the Muslim world and the rising dominance of Muslim fundamentalism..." Read more

30 customers mention "Scariness level"18 positive12 negative

Customers have mixed reactions to the scariness level of the book, with some finding it frightening and shocking, while others appreciate its painful truths and observations.

"...its perceptions can help us deal more wisely and effectively with the continuing terrorist threat."------ part of the book's introduction...." Read more

"...We see that he is not invincible. Instead, he is largely flawed and vulnerable...." Read more

"...The book is well-written, informative, easy to read, full of painful truths and observations, and a hell of a good way to spend some time...." Read more

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dmiguer
A Road to Ruin
Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2020
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"Wherever you are, death will find you, even if you are in high towers." - Quran 4:78

Sayyid Qutb, an Egyptian Islamic theorist, begins this saga with a voyage to the US in 1948. After a brief stay in the post war sin city of New York, Qutb attended college in small town Colorado as a well known Arabic author. On return to Cairo his ideas crystallized into a dialectical opposition between east-west, traditional-modern and religious-secular. At the time Israel had defeated the Arab alliance and the British were occupying the Suez Canal. Joining with the Muslim Brotherhood, Qutb assisted Nasser in 1952 to depose King Farouk, but Pan-Arabic socialism thwarted his desires for a sharia state. Following a 1954 assassination attempt on Nasser, Qutb was jailed and then executed in 1966.

Ayman al-Zawahiri was born in 1951 to a famous family of doctors and clerics, friends of Qutb. He lived in a rich Cairo suburb, home to Edward Said, Omar Sharif and future King Hussein. In 1967 Egypt blocked the straight to the Red Sea from Palestine. Israel destroyed Egypt's air force, overran Sinai and reached the Suez canal in less than a week. The same six days saw the capture of Jerusalem, the West Bank, Golan Heights, and a rout of Jordanian and Syrian forces. The war marked the birth of a new fundamentalism. Only a return to the faith could regain the lost favor of God. Zawahiri believed that restoration of a caliphate would lead to a holy war with the US and it's Jewish conspirators.

Nasser died in 1970 and Sadat emptied jails of Muslim Brothers in a bid to legitimize his presidency. The decade saw a surge in radical groups fostered by official tolerance. Khomeini established Islamic rule in 1979 Iran, raising hopes for theocracy. Egypt was not ready for revolution however, and in 1980 Zawahiri visited Pakistan to provide medical support in the Afghanistan conflict. Sadat had signed a treaty with Israel in 1978, and was assassinated in 1981. Zawahiri was implicated, and tortured in the Citadel of Cairo. Mubarak arrested hundreds of Islamists for the trial. Omar Abdel Rahman, leader of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing would share prison time with Zawahiri.

Osama bin Laden was born in 1957 to a successful family of developers in Saudi Arabia. King Saud had ended a rebellion of religious fanatics in 1931, and established Salafism as the fundamentalist creed of the land. Oil boomed in 1950, and the bin Laden's became rich through construction for the king. Seventeenth son Osama was a devout youth, and fervent for sharia law. Influenced by Qutb, he joined the Muslim Brothers. Rapid social change and resentment of royalty spurred dreams of revolution. King Faisal was killed in 1975 while making secular reforms. Mecca's mosque was seized in 1979 by rebels seeking theocratic rule. If an Islamic state could be formed the world would soon follow.

Abdullah Azzam, al-Azhar scholar and jihadi, left Jordan for Jeddah in 1980, where he met bin Laden. He joined Afghan forces against the Soviets, issued fatwas to fight and spun tales of battlefield miracles. Bin Laden had raised funds and recruited volunteers, where he met Zawahiri. Saudi royals sacrificed riches to defend the faith and block the USSR from the gulf. The US funneled fortunes into the region to protect oil interests. Bin Laden built training camps for foreign fighters, using Pakistan as a local base. A network of Arab princes, holy warriors, secret agents, Muslim mystics and puppet dictators was born. Azzam became a founding father of al-Qaida, Hamas and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Azzam vied with Zawahiri and bin Laden for control of al-Qaida when the USSR fell in 1989. The Saudis intervened and bin Laden won the day. When Azzam fell from favor he was killed. Hailed as hero in the Afghanistan-Soviet war, bin Laden led a ragtag band who amused the Afghan army. The last half of the book covers the decade leading to the 2001 attacks. Royal corruption and an economic slide bred unrest in the Kingdom. Bin Laden blamed the US, a tricky position towards an ally against the USSR, but the princes feared domestic threats as much as foreign ones. Allowing infidel troops on Saudi soil in 1990 to attack Saddam Hussein was an affront to bin Laden, even in defense of Saudi oil.

Hasan al-Turabi, a Sudanese scholar armed with degrees from London and Paris, staged a coup that created a Sunni Islamist state in 1989. He had been a Muslim Brotherhood leader since 1964. Sudan opened it's doors to stateless jihadi, with a special invitation extended to bin Laden. Relocating to Khartoum in 1992 he reunited with Zawahiri. As the communist threat subsided a Christian one took hold. The presence of Americans in the KSA and Yemen violated a Quranic verse about one religion in Arabia. This coalesced into a crusades redux, where ancient battles began anew. If a western new world order was the future, then al-Qaida would reignite a fight for past traditions of law and faith.

Omar Abdel Rahman led the 1993 WTC bombing, funded by bin Laden. Al-Qaida trained fighters killed 19 US soldiers in Mogadishu that year. Mubarak survived a 1995 assassination attempt by Zawahiri. Bin Laden returned to Afghanistan in 1996, under the baleful eye of Taliban leader Mullah Omar, who was bankrolled by Pakistan and the KSA. Khaled Sheikh Mohammed visited bin Laden. His nephew, WTC bomber Ramzi Yousef blew up a passenger jet and plotted to kill Bill Clinton. Their new plan was to crash airliners into US buildings. Khobar Towers exploded, killing 19 US Air Force personnel. In 1997 62 tourists were gunned down in Egypt. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania followed in 1998.

The last quarter of the book details the dysfunctional ties between the FBI and the CIA. An agent of Zawahiri told the FBI about al-Qaida in 1993, but the CIA wasn't informed. As bin Laden declared war on the US in 1996 we wondered what it would mean. Al-Qaida began suicide missions, evolving from freedom fighters to global terrorists. In 1999 a missile strike aimed at bin Laden was canceled by the CIA. As al-Qaida pilots entered the US in 2000 the CIA didn't tell the FBI. The USS Cole exploded in Yemen killing 17 sailors. By the summer of 2001 there were reports a vast attack was imminent. The FBI agent who lead the al-Qaida team retired. Within two weeks at his new job in the WTC the planes hit.

I lived next to the WTC then as I do now. Assuming I had heard it all in the news, I delayed reading this book. Instead of a narrow focus on the 911 plot, the book gives a wide historical context. It is not a painstaking recount of the attack. Lawrence Wright won a 2007 Pullitzer Prize for his work. More than 350 people worldwide were interviewed by the author. He takes a balanced view and no one is blameless in this account. From blinkered politicians and warlike empires, corrupt royalty and cynical clergy, Machiavellian intellects and credulous minds came a scourge of violence. Bin Laden may not have succeeded in a showdown for a single world faith, but the seeds of destruction were sown.

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-_Tim_-
The Looming Tower
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2010
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The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright, traces the history of Al-Qaeda from its roots in Egypt and Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan and Pakistan and finally to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Wright's narrative begins in Egypt, where the humiliation of the Arab states in the 1948 war and popular disgust with King Faisal helped build support for Islamic fundamentalists. There, the Muslim Brotherhood, using a structure of secret cells with no more than five members each, built a powerful political, economic, and social force. However, Egypt's geography did not favor guerilla warfare, and Egypt's secular governments brought force to bear to suppress the Brotherhood and other radical Islamic movements.

In Saudi Arabia, the intolerant Wahhabi sect was "a dam against the overwhelming, raging river of modernity" that accompanied exploitation of the country's oil resources. According to Wright, radical fundamentalism was also a reaction against royal ostentation and displays of wealth. The collapse of oil prices in the 1980s accentuated stresses within Saudi Arabia. According to Wright: "Radicalism usually prospers in the gap between rising expectations and declining opportunities. This is especially true where the population is young, idle, and bored; where the art is impoverished; where entertainment - movies, theater, music - is policed or absent altogether; and where young men are set apart from the consoling and socializing presence of women."

In 1979, a Palestinian cleric named Abdullah Azzam issued a fatwa against the Soviets and helped convince 3,000 Arabs to move to Peshawar, Pakistan where they expected to support the Afghan mujahideen. His emphasis on martyrdom "created the death cult that would one day form the core of al-Qaeda." While this force had no practical impact in the conflict with the Soviets - Wright says most members never left Peshawar - Osama bin Laden was able to exploit a "David and Goliath" myth to enhance his prestige.

Bin Laden split from Azzam in 1990 to form al-Qaeda, and he returned to Saudi Arabia a hero. Expelled for his criticism of Saudi cooperation with the United States after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, he moved to Sudan. There, he enjoyed a bucolic life until 1996, when the United States pressured Sudan's government to expel him. By now, the Saudi government had confiscated bin Laden's share of his family's construction business, and Sudan's government confiscated nearly all of his remaining wealth when he was forced to leave Sudan. Hereafter, bin Laden would be dependent on external financing to keep al-Qaeda in operation.

In Afghanistan again, bin Laden set up camps that, according to Wright, trained 10 to 20 thousand Sunni fighters. These were not the dreamers and posers that came to Peshawar in the 1980s. These were educated men who had lived in Europe or the United States and spoke several languages. Many of them were not very religious before joining al-Qaeda.

The United States focused on bin Laden and al-Qaeda as an unambiguous threat after the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. But, according to Wright, U.S. intelligence and military forces were not well prepared to respond to this type of unconventional threat. In retaliation for the bombings, the United States fired $750 million worth of cruise missiles at a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan and at bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan, but only a handful of al-Qaeda members were killed.

At this point, bin Laden and his organization were a liability to the Taliban. It was not in the Taliban's interests to allow bin Laden to turn the United States into an enemy by planning and launching attacks from Afghanistan. In fact, Wright says, Mullah Omar had already reached an agreement in principle to turn bin Laden over to the Saudi government. But these considerations were discarded when bin Laden pledged his "personal fealty" to Mullah Omar and recognized his authority as his "noble emir." From this point onward, a friendship developed between the men and Mullah Omar defended bin Laden against complaints by other members of the Taliban.

Wright's book ends with an account of the 9/11 attacks themselves, focusing on John O'Neill, a former FBI agent who became the World Trade Center's security chief just a few days before the attacks. Wright's account of the attacks is deeply disturbing and includes details that other writers have omitted, possibly from a sense of delicacy. It is best written account I have seen.

Wright is critical of poor communication within the U.S. intelligence and law enforcement communities on al-Qaeda's intentions. He attributes this poor communication not to legal obstacles, but to a fear that arrests and prosecutions would allow al-Qaeda to learn too much about U.S. intelligence gathering activities.

The Looming Tower has three principal strengths that distinguish it from similar histories. First, Wright includes enough information about his principal characters to make them three-dimensional: bin Laden is not just an evil plotter, he is also "the most daring terrorist in history" and his "commitment and relentlessness" are "unequaled." O'Neill is not just an indefatigable FBI agent locked in a contest with bin Laden, he is also a deceitful womanizer who runs up large debts. Second, Wright is careful with his evidence and discloses its limitations. Third and finally, Wright can write. The narrative rushes along, pulling the reader through the book to its final, violent denouement.

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Akshay
Simply magnificent
Reviewed in India on December 5, 2021
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Reading this book almost 15-years after it's first publication doesn't diminish its value one bit. On the contrary its gives an indepth understanding of the horrors Al-Qaeda unleashed in a post September 11, 2001 world. Anybody familiar with the subject and who knows the history of the Middle-east after the American invasion of Iraq will find this book even more interesting, as it speaks of the formation of Al-Qaeda from its roots. I would recommend reading this along with "The Bin Ladens" written by Steve Coll. They form a fascinating interconnection of the events before the world changed in September 2001.

And a special mention to the seller who delivered the book without any blemish. The packing was perfect. Exactly the way books should be delivered,
bubble wrapped .

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Akshay

Simply magnificent

Reviewed in India on December 5, 2021
Reading this book almost 15-years after it's first publication doesn't diminish its value one bit. On the contrary its gives an indepth understanding of the horrors Al-Qaeda unleashed in a post September 11, 2001 world. Anybody familiar with the subject and who knows the history of the Middle-east after the American invasion of Iraq will find this book even more interesting, as it speaks of the formation of Al-Qaeda from its roots. I would recommend reading this along with "The Bin Ladens" written by Steve Coll. They form a fascinating interconnection of the events before the world changed in September 2001.

And a special mention to the seller who delivered the book without any blemish. The packing was perfect. Exactly the way books should be delivered,
bubble wrapped .

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David Manzano
MUY BUENO
Reviewed in Spain on December 7, 2024
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Gran detalle en toda la historia y contada interesante para enganchar al lector. Impresionante cómo pudo pasar por alto semejante plan.

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Mr ANDRE JUNIOT
Excellent. Unique.
Reviewed in France on April 3, 2020
Verified Purchase
Livre en anglais.
On comprend le prix Pulitzer pendant la lecture et aussi en voyant à la fin de l'ouvrage la liste des personnes rencontrées, plus de cinq cent, la bibliographie sur onze pages, les commentaires sur cinquante pages.
Partant des débuts avant le sujet principal, il raconte toute l'histoire des luttes, conflits, mouvements, personnes ayant fini par conduire au 9/11. Tout est détaillé, précis, méticuleusement suivi dans le temps et l'espace. Le lecteur fait plus qu'apprendre, il découvre, il comprend, enfin !
L'auteur fait partager l'évolution des idées, mais aussi les doutes, les hésitations, les craintes de tous les acteurs de cette tragédie. Il les situe constamment dans le contexte de l'histoire du 9/11 que nous avons suivi, ce qui donne de très bons repères chronologiques et permet de situer le récit dans le contexte des informations des média du moment. Et on comprend bien qu'on ne savait pas tout, pas plus la CIA que le reste du monde.
Vraiment excellent.

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Antonio
Recommended to anyone looking in gaining a well researched and narrated insight on the topic
Reviewed in Italy on November 7, 2020
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Very interesting and well written book, it gives you an insight into the events that led to 9/11 in a novel-like way, therefore making it an easy read.
Recommended to anyone interested in this very current topic.

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Mark Anderson
Excellent Account Of The Events Leading To 9/11 - And The MP3 Audio Book Version Is Well Done
Reviewed in Canada on February 15, 2014
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This is the best book I've read about the events leading to 9/11. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 2007, and deservedly so.

The author's research is thorough, his writing style is very good and he presents the information in a very interesting way, tracing al-Qaeda's ideological and philosophical roots through Islamic theorists like Sayeed Qutb and Ayman al-Zawahiri up to Osama bin Laden.

He also examines the US positions and actions in exhaustive detail by concentrating on several key FBI and CIA figures. His account of Saudi Arabian political and security arrangements comes primarily from a Saudi Prince who was ousted as the Kingdom's Chief of Intelligence after 9/11.

In short, a fascinating book. If you want to understand 9/11, this book should be at the top of your reading list.

The mp3 audio book is well done. The reader does a good job with the material and the writer's style adapts easily to narration. My only complaint with the audio book is that the individual audio tracks are often divided in the middle of sentences and/or paragraphs, so there are frequent short delays and pauses in the narration in the middle of sentences and paragraphs as the player changes tracks. But that's a technical production issue which does not reflect in any way on the quality of the author's work.

But overall, this is an excellent book and audiobook. If you only have time or money for one book about 9/11, this one would be a good choice.

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The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 Hardcover – August 8, 2006

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5.0 out of 5 stars A Road to Ruin

5.0 out of 5 stars The Looming Tower

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply magnificent

Simply magnificent

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5.0 out of 5 stars MUY BUENO

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent. Unique.

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended to anyone looking in gaining a well researched and narrated insight on the topic

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Account Of The Events Leading To 9/11 - And The MP3 Audio Book Version Is Well Done

A Road to Ruin

The Looming Tower

Simply magnificent

MUY BUENO

Excellent. Unique.

Recommended to anyone looking in gaining a well researched and narrated insight on the topic

Excellent Account Of The Events Leading To 9/11 - And The MP3 Audio Book Version Is Well Done