false 8125756 210421 525461 1400030846 9781400030842 56 http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/52/461/525461-m-1255612925.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/books/52/461/525461-s-1255612925.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/525461.The_Looming_Tower_Al_Qaeda_and_the_Road_to_9_11 4.42 196 National Book Award Finalist

A Time, Newsweek, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and New York Times Book Review Best Book of the Year

A gripping narrative that spans five decades, The Looming Tower explains in unprecedented 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. 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 the definitive history of the long road to September 11.]]> 4258 4.33 1888 506 2006 5 3 false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 23 08:12:04 -0700 2007 Mon Nov 05 19:56:42 -0800 2007 The Looming Tower (the title comes from the Koranic verse Osama bin Laden used as a coded message to the 9/11 hijackers) in a number of political op/ed columns. Finally, though, it was conservative writer Jonah Goldberg's heavy reliance on Th...more...]]>