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The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader Paperback – August 8, 2006

by Peter L. Bergen (Author)

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No one knows more about Osama bin Laden than Peter Bergen. In 1997, well before the West suddenly became aware of the world's most sought-after terrorist, Bergen met with him and has followed his activities ever since.

Today, years after President Bush swore to get him dead or alive and despite haunting the popular imagination since September 11, 2001, bin Laden remains shrouded in mystery and obscured by a barrage of facts, details and myths. With numerous never-before-published interviews, The Osama Bin Laden I Know provides unprecedented insight into bin Laden's life and character drawing on the experiences of his most intimate acquaintances. This timely and important work gives readers their first true, enduring look at the man who has declared the West his greatest enemy.

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Editorial Reviews

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"Highly illuminating. Peter Bergen, an experienced reporter as well as an academic, stands out among terrorism 'experts' for his breadth of experience and clear-headedness. Bergen has done a fine job of researching and compiling a very wide range of oral testimony. What emerges is a fascinating sequence of oblique-angled perspectives, casting light on the underlying motives of bin Laden and his companions and revealing some of his less-remarked but significant adventures." -- Max Rodenbeck, The New York Review of Books

"A coherent and dramatic account. How appropriate that the short biographies of those cited are gathered under the rubric 'Dramatis Personae.' This is a compelling story well told. There is plenty of evil, but thanks to Bergen's ability to bring out the human dimensions of the individuals involved, the banality of evil is not lacking either." -- L. Carl Brown, Foreign Affairs

"Peter L. Bergen has written what will long be the 'go-to' resource . . . a chronological record of what is known about bin Laden from his birth in 1957 to 2005, assembled by stringing together statements from bin Laden and those who taught him, met him, worked with him, or interviewed him over those forty-eight years." -- Richard A. Clarke, The Washington Post

About the Author

Peter Bergen is the author of Holy War, Inc. and The Osama Bin Laden I Know, both named among the best nonfiction books of the year by The Washington Post. He is a contributing editor at The New Republic and has worked as a correspondent for National Geographic television, Discovery, and CNN. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Time, Vanity Fair, among other publications.

Paperback: 528 pages
Publisher: Free Press; 1st Trade Edition edition (August 8, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743278925
ISBN-13: 978-0743278928
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.6 x 8.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 29 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #267,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #306 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > International & World Politics > Diplomacy
- #499 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Terrorism
- #730 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Specific Groups > Crime & Criminals

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Newton Ooi

A summary of testimonies

December 22, 2009

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Peter Bergen is one of the few western journalists to have interviewed Osama Bin laden in person, and as such, can offer insight into this man that few others can. This book is a portrait of bin Laden as created from the accounts of numerous individuals who have met the man. These include family friends, family members, former bodyguards, work colleagues, childhood friends, journalists, politicians, and businessmen. The book chronicles bin Laden's life and "career" in terrorism chronologically, using the words and reflections of those who knew him, instead of relaying Mr. Bergen's personal opinion. What comes across is a man of focus and perseverance; one who gladly sacrifices his own safety and luxury as a way of inspiring his followers to do more. The book is fairly easy reading, with a fair amount of explanation of names, places and events by the author to give a good history of Al Qaeda.

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Michael D. Rose

BEST BIN LADEN BOOK OUT THERE!

February 2, 2006

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I've read just about every credible book out there on Osama Bin Laden(OBL)and I think this one is by far "THE BEST." What I particularly like about this book is it's approach - the snapshots in time, the individual personal remembrances that give fascinating little details into the personality and character of OBL. These little details and Peter Bergen's excellent commentary throughout the book help us to develop a profile of OBL and gain a better understanding of who he is and what made him into the person he is today. As a former military analyst this is fascinating stuff, but don't just take my word for it - READ THIS BOOK!

11 people found this helpful12 people found this helpful

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Herbert L Calhoun

A Useful Rehash

March 6, 2006

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Drawing on more than 50 interviews with people who have known bin Laden personally, and on magazine articles, plus his own exclusive personal interview, Peter Bergen has cobbled together a more or less coherent but greatly rehashed picture of Osama's emergence. There is very little new here.

Over the span of his late teens into early adulthood, Osama went from a not particularly bright but well-educated, and mild-mannered rich kid, to a religious zealot and holy warrior. Bin Laden then cut his military teeth and made his bones during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. During which he used his considerable wealth to build roads and finance military hardware and otherwise, more or less bought the respect, admiration and trust of his fellow Afghan freedom-fighters. After the Russians were successfully defeated, bin Laden was cocky enough to offer his services to Saudi Arabia in efforts to help re-conquer Kuwait. The Saudis naturally declined, relying on the U.S. instead. This embittered Osama and set the Saudis up as one of his three primary targets -- the others of course being Israel and the U.S.

Not much is said about bin Laden's private life except that he has four wives, all of whom are well educated and are allowed, from time to time to speak on behalf of Muslim causes.

As for as his leadership abilities, Bergen does not paint a very pretty picture of the terrorist as leader. According to him bin Laden is a lacksadasical kind of hands off administrator, relying heavily on his top Lieutenants for planning, new ideas and keeping him informed of day-to-day activities. But he seldom gets directly involved in planning and reviewing particualr details. Many of his strategies have fizzled and he does not seem to have a keen awareness of his primary adversaries. That is, according to Bergen he seems to be quite ignorant of what makes both the U.S and Israel tick.

Towards the end of the book Bergen expresses frustration at Bush's inability to catch Osama even though he has spent nearly $300 billion trying to do so. He also speculates about terrorism, and Bush and bin Laden strategies, concluding that many of Bush's assumption about bin Laden -- such as that he has been marginalized; and that he hates the U.S. because of its freedoms, etc. have little basis in fact. He also believes that Iraqi insurgents and terrorists offer a much more potent terrorist punch in the Middle East for the future than will Osama bin Laden and his ragtag gang of terrorists.

11 people found this helpful12 people found this helpful

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Will Jerom

Superior work of journalism.

July 11, 2006

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One hesitates to give five stars to anything, because no book is perfect (4 and a half stars?). Nonetheless, Bergen's book is a convincing and well-documented account of Osama bin Laden, his youth, his developing radical outlook, set within the context of his family, and his major infuences - such as Abdullah Azzam and Ayman al Zawahiri. Anyone seeking to comprehend bin Laden should be pleased with this work. Bergen portrays bin Laden without glamorizing or demonizing, but showing bin Laden for what he is.

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Four Stars

August 16, 2016

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nobody cares about bin laden no more, the man is history, a freaking loser that's it, period.

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A Rather Unsatisfactory Bio of Bin Laden

October 13, 2006

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Peter Bergen is a journalist well known for his knowledge of Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. Here he presents an "oral" history by piecing together documents and interviews into what he considers a narrative whole. For the most part there is nothing new here that hasn't already been out in the public domain. And there is very little analysis. It is basically a group of documents strung together with commentary from Bergen.

For me, this style just doesn't work. It's not a very pleasant reading experience. And while the narrative hangs together well - Bergen would have been better off to write a narrative history of bin Laden with deeper analysis. That would have taken a bit more time and work to complete, but it would have served the reader much better.

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CrossTrainLive

I would have loved to have the chance to meet the author

June 9, 2016

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to get deep and personal with the terrorist mind...this is a great read

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Oliver

An Introduction to Bin Laden

January 12, 2007

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Peter Bergen is a journalist, so it is not surprising that this book is a collection of brief interviews or quotes rather than one long narrative. The interviews are arranged chronologically, with some comments by Bergen interspersed to make a more cohesive and readable book. Bergen has clearly done his homework, and this book provides the reader with a good understanding of who Bin Laden is and where he came from. Now if Bergen could just tell us where to find Bin Laden today . . .

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