The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage) | 
 enlarge | Author: Lawrence Wright
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  284 reviews
Sales Rank: 1792
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 576
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 1400030846
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.931
EAN: 9781400030842
ASIN: 1400030846
Publication Date: August 21, 2007
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Condition: Perfect condition... Can pass as Brand New . Book is like new, very clean and beautiful.... We process orders daily usually within 24 hours , update the order status with confirmation tracking number.
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 279 more reviews...
 The Looming Tower September 29, 2008
This is a must read for every American who needs to understand the history of Al-Qaida and its present threat!
I bought several to pass along!
Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Insanity September 2, 2008
Mr. Wright has done an outstanding job of connecting the dots from the first hints of Islamic terrorism to the catastrophic events of 9/11. The book is very readable and gives a clear understanding of this small group of disenfranchised, Middle-Eastern religious windbags and why they were allowed to fester. Also it fleshes out how the bureaucratic infighting between, primarily, the CIA and FBI helped Al-Qaeda to succeed in the terrorists' attacks. The book '102 Minutes' by Jim Dwyer & Kevin Flynn compliments Mr. Wrights book by explaining the bureaucratic snafus and political pettiness that contributed to many of the unnecessary deaths in the Twin Towers. Illuminating, frustrating and places the events and key individuals in proper perspective. Please do yourself a favor and read it.
The Definitive Account of The Genesis of Al Qaeda August 21, 2008
It is easy to see how the author won the Pulitzer for this book. It is the definitive account of Al Qaeda's genesis leading up to 9/11. The book is both detailed but also concise and extremely readable. The author has a talent to make these events of non-fiction read like the best thriller novel. For those that want to understand our enemy and how we got to 9/11, this is essential reading. Highly recommended.
 The Looming Tower .......and The Wall. July 29, 2008
The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 is appropriately titled. If I had to recommend a first book for one who wants to gain insight into the formation of the world's most sinister terrorist organization and the events leading to September 11, 2001, this is the book. Lawrence Wright is concise, to the point and does not allow the book's tentacles to wander too far away from the main subject, Al-Qaeda, in an attempt to cover the fundamentals. Mr. Wright also covers "The Wall" very well. The Wall was the operational restrictions mainly between the FBI and the CIA exposed during the 911 Commission. The Wall discouraged mutual cooperation between the CIA and the FBI in investigating the very terrorists that would wreak havoc in America on that fateful date. The book focuses on many individuals involved in the investigation of Al-Qaeda, especially the late FBI Special Agent John O'Neill's battles with "The Wall", US Ambassador-to-Yemen Barbara Bodine, and Al-Qaeda in general. John O'Neill is a true American hero and this book explains why. Mr. Wright also ties the 1998 US Embassy bombings in East Africa, the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, and the September 11, 2001 attacks in a simple package. Sometimes the book lacks substance but that can be directly attributed to a lack of information or suspect resources associated with Al-Qaeda which to date remains a shadowy terrorist organization. Great book.
A Monumental, but Flawed Work July 26, 2008
First of all, this book makes it clear that 9/11 had many roots that stem from many factors, all of which combined to create the perfect storm that we know as 9/11. However, most of the activities that directly led up to the even occurred during the Clinton Administration. I think Wright tried to protect the reputations of such key people as Sandy Berger, George Tenet, Madeline Albright, Louis Freeh and others -- mainly by omitting or scarcely mentioning them -- leaders who must bear responsibility for success or failure. Instead, Wright goes after the lesser officials -- the guys on the ground, the expendable professionals. And it's clear that he's a big fan of Richard Clarke, who probably provided him with a great deal of the inside baseball in which Clarke is hardly a disinterested party. Therefore Clarke comes out good in this book, despite his attempts to shift blame from his shoulders on others. Wright also seems to favor the FBI, probably because one of the main characters of this book is uber-FBI agent and philanderer John O'Neil. I imagine the CIA didn't help its own cause due to its institutionalized and deep-seated secrecy that probably thwarted its ability to effectively tell its side of the story.
All that said, however, there is no taking away from the fact that this book is a monumental chronology of the rise of jihadist terrorism and and almost Keystone Kops bureaucracy battles between the FBI and the CIA that unwillingly abetted 9/11. If Wright is to be believed -- and I think he should be -- 9/11 could have easily been prevented had the CIA and FBI coordinated better. There were enough warnings but those warnings weren't often shared because each group had a separate agenda --the CIA wanting to recruit spies; the FBI seeking to put them in jail. Also, the book paints a picture of Osama Bin Laden that is revealing. We see that he is not invincible. Instead, he is largely flawed and vulnerable. To my mind, he's a dangerous but unstable mental case who just got lucky. He's still dangerous, but not invincible. Another message is that the U.S. is quite capable of protecting itself against the terrorists if it can correct the infighting among the intelligence/law enforcement instituions. All in all, this is a book for our times and screams to be on bookshelves all over America. The murders and psycopaths are coming back. Will we be ready for them? This book may help you answer that question.
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