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The Looming Tower
Al-Qaeda And The Road To 9/11
by Lawrence Wright

8.3 based on 20 reviews read critic reviews how did we calculate this? based on 18 votes read user comments rate this book

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• Official Publisher Site

Based on five years of research, "Tower" recounts the events leading up to the 2001 terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

Knopf, 480 pages
08/08/2006
$27.95

ISBN: 037541486X

Nonfiction
Current Events & Politics

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

The New York Times Michiko Kakutani

Remarkable.

The New York Times Book Review Dexter Filkins

A marvelous book. The Looming Tower is not just a detailed, heart-stopping account of the events leading up to 9/11, written with style and verve, and carried along by villains and heroes that only a crime novelist could dream up. It’s an education, too — though you’d never know it — a thoughtful examination of the world that produced the men who brought us 9/11, and of their progeny who bedevil us today.

Christian Science Monitor Erik Spanberg

A book filled with dazzling insight, pitch-perfect anecdotes, and compelling context. Simply put, this is the most thorough and accessible account of the people, politics, and roiling theology behind Islamic terrorism. It should be required reading for every American; yes, it is that good.

Wall Street Journal Peter Bergen

[FBI Official John O'Neil's] story is the most poignant, and frustrating, of many in this immaculately crafted, unsettling book.

Booklist Brendan Driscoll

Wright seems to have found his calling: a perceptive and intense page-turner. [1 Aug 2006, p.34]

Publishers Weekly

Wright, a New Yorker writer, brings exhaustive research and delightful prose to one of the best books yet on the history of terrorism. [19 June 2006, p.56]

Kirkus Reviews

Essential for an understanding of that dreadful day. [1 June 2006, p.566]

Boston Globe Steve Weinberg

Lawrence Wright's book is my new touchstone. None of the previous books led me to say "Aha, now I think I understand" as frequently. It is also the best example of narrative storytelling.

Houston Chronicle Ronnie Crocker

Wright's story sparkles with exquisite detail

Los Angeles Times Daniel Kurtz-Phelan

A magisterial, beautifully crafted narrative.

Daily Telegraph Damian Thompson

It takes Wright several hundred pages to describe the years of palm-greasing and back-stabbing that handed the responsibility for international jihad to a psychopath (hailed, incidentally, as an Islamic messiah by agents of Saddam Hussein). He does so with immense forensic skill, in the stripped-down prose of the best thriller-writers.

Entertainment Weekly Jennifer Reese

A stunningly well-researched opus. [25 Aug 2006, p.89]

Library Journal Elizabeth Morris

Wright's research is exemplary, including dozens of primary-source interviews and first-person perspectives, and he provides welcome insight into the time line leading up to 9/11. [1 July 2006, p.96]

The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Wesley Wark

Wright provides immense and colourful detail about the birth and evolution of al-Qaeda and its principals. Wright can make a familiar story new, but his account is strangely lacking in narrative drive.

Chicago Sun-Times Matthew Nickerson

The Looming Tower excels at this: colorizing the black-and-white images we have of the Sept. 11 figures.

New York Observer Charles Taylor

Gripping, lucid.

Washington Post Bruce Hoffman

Wright deftly evokes the jihadist milieu, but he is on less solid ground later in the book when he attempts to recast his narrative into a sort of police procedural: a race against time by the forces of good -- embodied by John O'Neill, the mercurial head of the FBI's New York counterterrorism office -- to thwart the evil machinations that culminated in the 9/11 attacks.

The Economist

Mr Wright offers not much new information on his subject—and perhaps nothing that is incontrovertible. Instead, he has sought to write the most comprehensive, objective and readable guide to al-Qaeda's emergence. He scores quite well on each count, having produced a concise history coloured by many enjoyable anecdotes.

The Observer Jason Burke

There is sufficient new material or, at least, sufficient additional detail on episodes that were not previously properly understood to make the book well worth reading.

The Guardian Tariq Ali

Wright has employed the vacuum-cleaner approach, collecting all the published material, sifting through it and then conducting dozens of interviews and doing a great deal of cross-checking. It is a murky tale.

The average user rating for this book is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Rick K gave it a9:
Mr. Wright, who is fluent in Arabic, interviewed many of the actors involved in this crime. Contrary to Mr. Anonymous, his book undermines much of the propaganda put out by both Government and non-Goverment actors. Mr. Anonymous rather would cling to his dark conspiracy beliefs then accept Al Qaeda's ability to wreck chaos on our technically vulnerable civilization. As Wright accurately portrays it, our Government is now so incompetent it could not run a two car parade, little lone a vast conspiracy to destroy the two towers.

James G gave it a9:
Did the anonymous reviewer even read the title page? What an idiot! This book is hardly a repackage of anything. Lawrence actually took the time to INVESTIGATE rather than use google to write a book like so many people are doing these days. A must read!

Andrew V gave it a10:
An incredible piece of work. Great research and a fascinating read as well.

sherwood w gave it a10:
outstanding. represents the best kind of reportage of those dreadful events.

[Anonymous] gave it a0:
Sadly, Wright fails to do more than repackage the propagada of the media and government.

Paul S gave it a10:
Lawrence Wright's account of the events leading to 9/11 (including those which happened 60 years ago) is undoubtedly the most important book on the origins and fidelity of Islamist beliefs. Where previous books fail, Wright succeeds. His facts are based on personal interviews, newspaper articles, scholarly journals, and many other relevant sources, which 5 years of history has allowed him to unearth. While I am not in favor of the public deception and manipulation of intelligence which lead to America's involvement in Iraq, I believe our presence in that country is necessary. America must have a foothold in the Middle East, especially given its fragile relationship with Saudi Arabia and its support of Isreal (the ostensible source of Islamist bitterness which is discussed in great detail in Wright's book). With that said, it is essential for any American with an interest in her future to understand the reasons for Islamist hostility - some of which is based on legitimate dissaproval of America's ego-centric foreign policies, while most has modernity and American support of Israel at its core. The Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan Congressional commission, recently released a report on the situation in Iraq and offered some recommendations for the future. While most of the recommendations are a bit unrealistic, every American should read the first 40 pages of the Report. They offer a surprisingly candid description of precisely what is happening in that country. As someone with a B.A. in Political Science and a specialization in Middle Eastern Politics, I highly recommend this book and all further study on the Middle East to everyone.

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