The Looming Tower
Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group · Print & ebook · August 21, 2007
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • A “heart-stopping account of the events leading up to 9/11” (The New York Times Book Review), this definitive history explains in gripping 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.
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- Who it’s for
- A serious, readable account with the pace of a thriller and the mind of a reporter.
- Genres
- Terrorism & Counterterrorism, Intelligence & Spycraft, Middle Eastern Politics
- Published
- Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, August 21, 2007
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For younger readers: Ground Zero, In the Shadow of the Fallen Towers, Nine, Ten: a September 11 Story
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NATIONAL BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • A “heart-stopping account of the events leading up to 9/11” (The New York Times Book Review), this definitive history explains in gripping 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.
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One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Century • A Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Book of the Last 30 Years In gripping narrative that spans five decades, 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 a sweeping, unprecedented history of the long road to September 11.
Why It Clicks
A serious, readable account with the pace of a thriller and the mind of a reporter.
Come here for
- A clear, page-turning account of how modern history hardens
- The newsroom cadence of a veteran explainer
Expect
- Big-picture context without fog
- A sustained, high-stakes narrative
Where it sits
| Terrorism & Counterterrorism | 76% |
|---|---|
| Intelligence & Spycraft | 39% |
| Middle Eastern Politics | 22% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- 20th-Century History
- Intelligence & Spycraft
- Terrorism & Counterterrorism
- Authors
- Lawrence Wright
- Publisher
- Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Published
- August 21, 2007
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- 20th-Century History