Title: The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
Author: Wright, Lawrence
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 037541486X
Call Number: 973.931 W933L
Reading Level: Adult.
Notes: Lawrence Wright, a writer for The New Yorker, gives a detailed account of the events leading up to 9/11. Based on five years of research and almost 500 interviews with people from all over the Middle East--including with bin Laden's best friend--he tells the story of the people and ideas behind the attacks. He follows the lives of four men: the leaders of al-Qaeda, Osama bin laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri; the FBI counterterrorism chief John O'Neill; and the former head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Turki al-Faisal. Through these stories we see the rise of radical Islam, the formation of al-Qaeda, the first attacks organized by bin Laden, and the intelligence failures that resulted in the September 11th attacks. Critically acclaimed, the book was a finalist for the National Book Award.