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Title details for The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright - Wait list

The Looming Tower

Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

by Lawrence Wright
Alan Sklar
Audiobook
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0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: At least 6 months

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. 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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    December 12, 2006

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781400123056
      • File size: 498819 KB
      • Duration: 17:19:12

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      A narrator doesn't just tell a story; he keeps the listener company. Alan Sklar is good company--with a voice so distinctive that a blind man could pick him out from across the room. This is straight historical narrative with few dialogue exchanges, but those that do come up are seized upon. Thus, when one Al-Qaeda operative tries to speak in code and his wife refuses to play along, this tragedy touches comedy. When Osama Bin Laden has a wedding speech filmed a second time, because his neck looks thick, you can sense the smile in Sklar's voice. The research is astonishingly thorough, and clearly presented. If you mean to know thine enemy, this one's a must. B.H.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from June 19, 2006
      Wright, a New Yorker
      writer, brings exhaustive research and delightful prose to one of the best books yet on the history of terrorism. He begins with the observation that, despite an impressive record of terror and assassination, post–WWarII, Islamic militants failed to establish theocracies in any Arab country. Many helped Afghanistan resist the Russian invasion of 1979 before their unemployed warriors stepped up efforts at home. Al-Qaeda, formed in Afghanistan in 1988 and led by Osama bin Laden, pursued a different agenda, blaming America for Islam's problems. Less wealthy than believed, bin Laden's talents lay in organization and PR, Wright asserts. Ten years later, bin Laden blew up U.S. embassies in Africa and the destroyer Cole
      , opening the floodgates of money and recruits. Wright's step-by-step description of these attacks reveals that planning terror is a sloppy business, leaving a trail of clues that, in the case of 9/11, raised many suspicions among individuals in the FBI, CIA and NSA. Wright shows that 9/11 could have been prevented if those agencies had worked together. As a fugitive, bin Ladin's days as a terror mastermind may be past, but his success has spawned swarms of imitators. This is an important, gripping and profoundly disheartening book.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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