The looming tower Al-Qaeda and The Road to 9/11

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • A “heart-stopping account of the events leading up to 9/11” (The New York Times Book Review), this definitive history explains in gripping detail the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, the rise of al-Qaeda, and the intelligence failures that culminated in the attacks on the World Trade Center.

In gripping narrative that spans five decades, Lawrence Wright re-creates firsthand the transformation of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri from incompetent and idealistic soldiers in Afghanistan to leaders of the most successful terrorist group in history. He follows FBI counterterrorism chief John O’Neill as he uncovers the emerging danger from al-Qaeda in the 1990s and struggles to track this new threat.

Packed with new information and a deep historical perspective, The Looming Tower is a sweeping, unprecedented history of the long road to September 11.

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.

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NACIONALINIS BESTSELERIUS • PULITZERIO PRIZO NUGALĖTOJAS • „Širdį stabdantis pasakojimas apie įvykius iki rugsėjo 11-osios“ (The New York Times Book Review), ši galutinė istorija įspūdingai paaiškina islamo fundamentalizmo augimą, Qaeda ir žvalgybos nesėkmės, kurios baigėsi išpuoliais prieš Pasaulio prekybos centrą.

Įtraukiantis pasakojimas, apimantis penkis dešimtmečius, Lawrence'as Wrightas iš pirmų lūpų atkuria Osamos bin Ladeno ir Aymano al-Zawahiri transformaciją iš nekompetentingų ir idealistinių Afganistano kareivių į sėkmingiausios istorijoje teroristinės grupės lyderius. Jis seka FTB kovos su terorizmu vadovą Johną O'Neillą, kai jis atskleidžia 1990-aisiais kylantį al-Qaedos pavojų ir stengiasi atsekti šią naują grėsmę.

Pilnas naujos informacijos ir gilios istorinės perspektyvos, The Looming Tower yra plati, precedento neturinti ilgo kelio iki rugsėjo 11-osios istorija.
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