The Looming Tower The Story of Al Qaeda, 1948-2001 |
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Author:
| Wright, Lawrence |
ISBN: | 978-0-7139-9976-1 |
Publication Date: | Aug 2006 |
Publisher: | Penguin Books, Limited
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Imprint: | Allen Lane |
Book Format: | Paperback |
List Price: | AUD $35.00 |
Book Description:
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Brilliantly written, compelling and highly original,
The Looming Toweris the first book to tell the full story of al-Qaeda from its roots up to 9/11. Drawing on astonishing interviews and first-hand sources, it investigates the extraordinary group of idealogues behind this organization - and those who tried to stop them. There is the tormented Egyptian Sayyid Qutb, whose writings on the godlessness of America turned him into a martyr for Islamic extremists. There is Ayman...
More DescriptionBrilliantly written, compelling and highly original, The Looming Toweris the first book to tell the full story of al-Qaeda from its roots up to 9/11. Drawing on astonishing interviews and first-hand sources, it investigates the extraordinary group of idealogues behind this organization - and those who tried to stop them. There is the tormented Egyptian Sayyid Qutb, whose writings on the godlessness of America turned him into a martyr for Islamic extremists. There is Ayman al-Zawahiri- a devout student who, by the age of fifteen, had already helped to form an underground jihadist cell. There is the deeply contradictory Osama bin Laden- Saudi multimillionaire turned muhajideen commander, whose interests merged with al-Zawahiri's to form a global terror coalition. And there is the FBI's counterterorism chief, the flamboyant, cigar-smoking John O'Neill, who found his warnings that 'something big' was coming continually ignored, and would finally meet his fate in the shadow of the Twin Towers.