The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century
by Steve Coll
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Book Summary Information
Author: Steve CollEdition: Hardcover
Published: 2008-04-01
ISBN: 1594201641
Number of pages: 688
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Book Reviews of The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century
Book Review: Fascinating, but should have covered Saudi Arabia itself more
Summary: 4 Stars
The Bin Laden family and their rise to prominence is covered in great details in this book. The founding father and two sons who succeeded him are thoroughly covered. More interesting, really is the sideways glances we get of Saudi Arabia itself. Or rather, the Saud family. The coverage of the family is, all in all, fairly sympathetic. They got a very raw deal from their black sheep.
Saudi Arabia's ruling class gets me pretty close to being being racist. More exactly, their sloth, hypocrisy and decadence and the mess they have made with their wealth. Odd how they could manage to build so many palace without providing for basic necessities for their subjects. Later on, that changed to modern day bread and circus: don't vote, don't criticize. In return you won't have to work.
And just in case not enough citizens agree, they bribe one of the most intolerant branches of Islam to declare that the alcoholic Al Sauds kings are Defenders of the Faith against all the godless heathen everywhere. Bit like Jerry Falwell declaring Bush the ruler of all (he probably did). I would have loved to learn more about that devil's bargain and the reasons behind it.
The common people of Saudi Arabia are almost entirely ignored. Yet, you get the feeling that, ruled by a traditional 18th century royal court of lazy bums, they could hardly be expected to be happy with the world at large.
In short, I would have welcomed more coverage of Saudi Arabia (perhaps so dispelling my prejudices) rather than endless details about Salem Bin Laden's flying skills. As it is, this definitely a family biography.
And Osama in all this? He's mostly off stage, because there was little in the way of written records (and probably because Mr. Coll didn't get all the access he might have wished for). Mr. Coll describes him in an fairly condescending way: he's pious and competent, but hardly an brilliant figure. For example he's described as a strictly so-so businessman. In fact, Steve Coll covered him better in Ghost Wars.
Is it wise to describe a successful enemy as a second rater? Not necessarily, but it is customary. Would it have been smart to sing the praises of Osama's organizing skills, if any? Certainly not.
Despite its focus on the family itself this book remains a fascinating and highly readable account of one facet of the 9/11 events. And I can now watch Fahrenheit 911 reasonably confident that I can catch on to Mr. Moore's more obvious distortions of events about the handling of the Bin Laden's evacuation.
Summary of The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the national bestseller Ghost Wars, Steve Coll presents the story of the Bin Laden family?s rise to power and privilege, revealing new information to show how American influences changed the family and how one member?s rebellion changed AmericaThe Bin Ladens rose from poverty to privilege; they loyally served the Saudi royal family for generations?and then one of their number changed history on September 11, 2001. Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Steve Coll tells the epic story of the rise of the Bin Laden family and of the wildly diverse lifestyles of the generation to which Osama bin Laden belongs, and against whom he rebelled. Starting with the family?s escape from famine at the beginning of the twentieth century through its jet-set era in America after the 1970s oil boom, and finally to the family?s attempts to recover from September 11, The Bin Ladens unearths extensive new material about the family and its relationship with the United States, and provides a richly revealing and emblematic narrative of our globally interconnected times.
To a much greater extent than has been previously understood, the Bin Laden family owned an impressive share of the America upon which Osama ultimately declared war?shopping centers, apartment complexes, luxury estates, privatized prisons in Massachusetts, corporate stocks, an airport, and much more. They financed Hollywood movies and negotiated over real estate with Donald Trump. They came to regard George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Prince Charles as friends of their family. And yet, as was true of the larger relationship between the Saudi and American governments, when tested by Osama?s violence, the family?s involvement in the United States proved to be narrow and brittle.
Among the many memorable figures that cross these pages is Osama?s older brother, Salem?a free-living, chainsmoking, guitar-strumming pilot, adventurer, and businessman who cavorted across America and Europe and once proposed marriage to four American and European girlfriends simultaneously, attempting to win a bet with the king of Saudi Arabia. Osama and Salem?s father, Mohamed bin Laden, is another force in the narrative?an illiterate bricklayer who created the family fortune through perspicacity and wit, until his sudden death in an airplane crash in 1967, an accident caused by an error by his American pilot.
At the story?s heart lies an immigrant family?s attempt to adapt simultaneously to Saudi Arabia?s puritanism and America?s myriad temptations. The family generation to which Osama belonged?twenty-five brothers and twenty-nine sisters?had to cope with intense change. Most of them were born into a poor society where religion dominated public life. Yet by the time they became young adults, these Bin Ladens found themselves bombarded by Western-influenced ideas about individual choice, by gleaming new shopping malls and international fashion brands, by Hollywood movies and changing sexual mores?a dizzying world that was theirs for the taking, because they each received annual dividends that started in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. How they navigated these demands is an authentic, humanizing story of Saudi Arabia, America, and the sources of attraction and repulsion still present in the countries? awkward embrace.
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