The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright
The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright
29 Rating(s)
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The Looming Tower
Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

Author: Lawrence Wright

Narrator: Lawrence Wright

Unabridged: 16 hr 31 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/16/2017

Synopsis

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.

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.

About The Author

Lawrence Wright is a staff writer for the New Yorker and the author of nine books of nonfiction, including In the New World, Remembering Satan, The Looming Tower, Going Clear, and Thirteen Days in September, and one novel, God’s Favorite. His books have received many prizes and honors, including a Pulitzer Prize for The Looming Tower. He is also a playwright and screenwriter. He and his wife are longtime residents of Austin, Texas.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Will on September 11, 2023

Lawrence Wright - from his site Lawrence Wright looks at the players involved in the history and construction of Al-Qaeda, offering short bios of Sayyid Qtub, Ayyman Zawairi, bin Laden on the AQ side and John O’Neill of the FBI and others on the anti-terrorist teams. It is a thorough and interesting......more

Goodreads review by Bart on November 05, 2007

What a great surprise this book was. I first read about The Looming Tower (the title comes from the Koranic verse Osama bin Laden used as a coded message to the 9/11 hijackers) in a number of political op/ed columns. Finally, though, it was conservative writer Jonah Goldberg's heavy reliance on The......more

Goodreads review by brian on August 13, 2016

there are the books that make our heads explode, that make every minute of the day a chinese water torture of waiting for the chance to get the hell home and read some more, the books that live inside us all through the day, the books that make us excited to take a crap just so we can shut the door......more

Goodreads review by Anthony on December 27, 2024

How to Change the World. September 11, 2001 is one of those pivotal days in history, where I was actually alive, remember where I and watched events unfold. I like everyone around the world saw the world change. Lawrence Wright’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book is an extraordinary work of investigative j......more

Goodreads review by Eric_W on July 04, 2012

Well, I finally found my notes and got this review finished - long overdue. For all the energy, lives and treasure we have devoted to Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s important to remember that they had nothing to do with 9/11 which became the excuse for our actions rather than the proximate rationale. We......more

Quotes

“Powerful and important . . . a history of a man and a movement, replete with the accidents of history and historic inevitability.” —Kevin Horrigan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Don’t read The Looming Tower in bed. This book requires a straight spine and full attention . . . The reporting is so good that it will matter in 100 years. Wright’s determined, disciplined work has made his book indispensable. “ —Karen Long, The Plain Dealer

“A page-turner . . . encompassing religion, politics, economics and more. If you’ve been meaning to sharpen your understanding of what all led up to September 11, 2001, then Wright may have written just what you’ve been waiting for.” —Tom Gallagher, San Francisco Chronicle

“Brilliant . . . describes the contorted intellectual journey that has taken place among some Muslims which allows a holy book that appears to condemn suicide and the killing on innocents to be used to justify catastrophic terrorism.” —Stephen Fidler, Financial Times


“A magisterial, beautifully crafted narrative . . . This focus on character, along with Wright’s five years of fierce on-the-ground reporting (he lists 560 interviewees), pays off.”
—Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, Los Angeles Times

“Deeply researched . . . immaculately crafted.”
—Peter Bergen, The Wall Street Journal

“What a riveting tale Lawrence Wright fashions in this 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.  [It’s] a thoughtful examination of the world that produced the men who brought us 9/11, and of their progeny who bedevil us today.   The portrait of John O’Neill, the driven, demon-ridden F.B. I. agent who worked so frantically to stop Osama bin Laden, only to perish in the attack on the World Trade Center, is worth the price of the book alone.   ‘The Looming Tower’ is a thriller.  And it’s a tragedy, too.”
–Dexter Filkins, The New York Times Book Review cover

“Dozens of intricately reported books about 9/11 are already available; I had read perhaps half of them [before] starting The Looming Tower. But 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.”
—Steve Weinberg, The Boston Globe

“A magisterial, beautifully crafted narrative . . . This focus on character, along with Wright’s five years of fierce on-the-ground reporting (he lists 560 interviewees), pays off.” —Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, Los Angeles Times

“Deeply researched . . . immaculately crafted.” —Peter Bergen, The Wall Street Journal

“A searing view of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, a view that is at once wrenchingly intimate and boldly sweeping in its historical perspective . . . a narrative history that possesses all the immediacy and emotional power of a novel, an account that indelibly illustrates how the political and the personal, the public and the private were often inextricably intertwined.”
–Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

“Important, gripping . . . One of the best books yet on the history of terrorism.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Lawrence Wright provides a graceful and remarkably intimate set of portraits of the people who brought us 9/11. It is a tale of extravagant zealotry and incessant bumbling that would be merely absurd if the consequences were not so grisly.”
—Gary Sick

"Lawrence Wright's integrity and diligence as a reporter shine through every page of this riveting narrative."
—Robert A. Caro

“A towering achievement. One of the best and more important books of recent years. Lawrence Wright has dug deep into and written well a story every American should know. A masterful combination of reporting and writing.”
—Dan Rather

“Comprehensive and compelling…Wright has written what must be considered a definitive work on the antecedents to 9/11…Essential for an understanding of that dreadful day.”
--starred Kirkus review

Awards

  • Arthur Ross Book Award
  • J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize
  • L.A. Times Book Prize (History)
  • Lionel Gelber Prize
  • National Book Awards
  • New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism
  • New York Times Editors' Choice
  • Pulitzer Prize
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