The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage)

The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage)
by Lawrence Wright

The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage)
List Price: $15.95
Our Price: $8.08
You Save: $7.87 (49%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $7.50 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Lawrence Wright
Edition: Paperback
Published: 2007-08-21
ISBN: 1400030846
Number of pages: 576
Publisher: Vintage

Book Reviews of The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage)

Book Review: The Looming Tower .......and The Wall.
Summary: 4 Stars

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 is appropriately titled. If I had to recommend a first book for one who wants to gain insight into the formation of the world's most sinister terrorist organization and the events leading to September 11, 2001, this is the book. Lawrence Wright is concise, to the point and does not allow the book's tentacles to wander too far away from the main subject, Al-Qaeda, in an attempt to cover the fundamentals. Mr. Wright also covers "The Wall" very well. The Wall was the operational restrictions mainly between the FBI and the CIA exposed during the 911 Commission. The Wall discouraged mutual cooperation between the CIA and the FBI in investigating the very terrorists that would wreak havoc in America on that fateful date. The book focuses on many individuals involved in the investigation of Al-Qaeda, especially the late FBI Special Agent John O'Neill's battles with "The Wall", US Ambassador-to-Yemen Barbara Bodine, and Al-Qaeda in general. John O'Neill is a true American hero and this book explains why. Mr. Wright also ties the 1998 US Embassy bombings in East Africa, the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, and the September 11, 2001 attacks in a simple package. Sometimes the book lacks substance but that can be directly attributed to a lack of information or suspect resources associated with Al-Qaeda which to date remains a shadowy terrorist organization. Great book.

Summary of The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage)

National Book Award Finalist

A Time, Newsweek, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and New York Times Book Review Best Book of the Year

A gripping narrative that spans five decades, The Looming Tower explains in unprecedented 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. 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 the definitive history of the long road to September 11.

20th Century Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Top Ten Non-fiction Award Winners
Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone (Vintage) ImageImperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone (Vintage)
by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Vintage; Published: 2007-09-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.44
Price in other shops: $14.95
Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya ImageImperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya
by Caroline Elkins
Owl Books; Published: 2005-12-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.72
Price in other shops: $10.00
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century ImageThe Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
by Alex Ross
Picador; Published: 2008-10-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.24
Price in other shops: $18.00
Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster ImageCome Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster
by Michael Eric Dyson
Basic Civitas Books; Published: 2007-07-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.40
Price in other shops: $14.95
Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica ImageSlicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica
by Tom Griffiths
Harvard University Press; Published: 2007-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.23
Price in other shops: $29.95
Hirohito and the making of modern Japan ImageHirohito and the making of modern Japan
by Herbert P. Bix
HarperCollins Publishers; Published: 2000-09-01; Hardcover; Book
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl ImageThe Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
by Timothy Egan
Tantor Media; Published: 2006-01-25; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $19.99
Price in other shops: $34.99
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA ImageLegacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
by Tim Weiner
Anchor; Published: 2008-05-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.15
Price in other shops: $16.95
The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage) ImageThe Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/ 11 (Vintage)
by Lawrence Wright
Vintage; Published: 2007-08-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.75
Price in other shops: $15.95
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: Or the Murder at Road Hill House ImageThe Suspicions of Mr Whicher: Or the Murder at Road Hill House
by Kate Summerscale
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; Published: 2008-04-07; Hardcover; Book
Similar Books and other products
Falling Through the Earth: A Memoir ImageFalling Through the Earth: A Memoir
by Danielle Trussoni
Picador; Published: 2007-02-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.98
Price in other shops: $14.00
The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century ImageThe Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century
by Steve Coll
Penguin Press HC, The; Published: 2008-04-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.50
Price in other shops: $35.00
Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground ImageHog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground
by Robert D. Kaplan
Random House; Published: 2007-09-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.92
Price in other shops: $27.95
Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century ImageLeaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century
by Marc Sageman
University of Pennsylvania Press; Published: 2008-01-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.60
Price in other shops: $24.95
Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America, Revised Edition ImageThrough Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America, Revised Edition
by Michael Scheuer
Potomac Books Inc.; Published: 2007-11-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops: $10.95
Remembering Satan:  A Tragic Case of Recovered Memory ImageRemembering Satan: A Tragic Case of Recovered Memory
by Lawrence Wright
Vintage; Published: 1995-04-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.89
Price in other shops: $13.00
The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader ImageThe Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader
by Peter Bergen
Free Press; Published: 2006-08-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.82
Price in other shops: $15.00
The Al Qaeda Reader ImageThe Al Qaeda Reader
Broadway; Published: 2007-08-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.98
Price in other shops: $15.95
Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror ImageKnowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror
by Mary Habeck
Yale University Press; Published: 2007-03-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.20
Price in other shops: $17.00
Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground ImageImperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground
by Robert D. Kaplan
Random House; Published: 2005-09-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops: $27.95
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories