Reviews

• 倒壊する巨塔の原著

  アルカイーダとビンラディンに関する本。 まるでオウム真理教の生い立ちを見てるみたい。 テロ集団てどれもおんなじなんだね。 世間と隔絶したカルト団体。 今では邦訳版が出てますね。 「倒壊する巨塔―アルカイダと「9・11」への道」 （平賀 秀明：翻訳、白水社、2009/08）

• The book deserving of Pulitzer Prize

  On page 148, Lawrence Wright wrote Deraz (Essam Deraz, he is an Egyptian filmmaker and met bin Laden at his base named Lion's Den in 1988.) became bin Laden's first biographer. I suppose Lawrence Wright is the last biographer of bin Laden. This book consists of many interviews and historical materials and the author explains the difficulty of materials' credibility in ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND NOTES ON SOURCES. He also wrote there that "A full story of al-Qaeda cannot be told until they are allowed to talk." They are parties related to 9/11 including al-Qaeda prisoners in USA. Although Japanese have little knowledge of Muslims we are carelessly tending to judge by news or comments of critics. I recommend you this book to understand history and thinking of Muslims.

• Livre en anglais. On comprend le prix Pulitzer pendant la lecture et aussi en voyant à la fin de l'ouvrage la liste des personnes rencontrées, plus de cinq cent, la bibliographie sur onze pages, les commentaires sur cinquante pages. Partant des débuts avant le sujet principal, il raconte toute l'histoire des luttes, conflits, mouvements, personnes ayant fini par conduire au 9/11. Tout est détaillé, précis, méticuleusement suivi dans le temps et l'espace. Le lecteur fait plus qu'apprendre, il découvre, il comprend, enfin ! L'auteur fait partager l'évolution des idées, mais aussi les doutes, les hésitations, les craintes de tous les acteurs de cette tragédie. Il les situe constamment dans le contexte de l'histoire du 9/11 que nous avons suivi, ce qui donne de très bons repères chronologiques et permet de situer le récit dans le contexte des informations des média du moment. Et on comprend bien qu'on ne savait pas tout, pas plus la CIA que le reste du monde. Vraiment excellent.

• Very interesting and well written book, it gives you an insight into the events that led to 9/11 in a novel-like way, therefore making it an easy read. Recommended to anyone interested in this very current topic.

• This is the best book I've read about the events leading to 9/11. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 2007, and deservedly so. The author's research is thorough, his writing style is very good and he presents the information in a very interesting way, tracing al-Qaeda's ideological and philosophical roots through Islamic theorists like Sayeed Qutb and Ayman al-Zawahiri up to Osama bin Laden. He also examines the US positions and actions in exhaustive detail by concentrating on several key FBI and CIA figures. His account of Saudi Arabian political and security arrangements comes primarily from a Saudi Prince who was ousted as the Kingdom's Chief of Intelligence after 9/11. In short, a fascinating book. If you want to understand 9/11, this book should be at the top of your reading list. The mp3 audio book is well done. The reader does a good job with the material and the writer's style adapts easily to narration. My only complaint with the audio book is that the individual audio tracks are often divided in the middle of sentences and/or paragraphs, so there are frequent short delays and pauses in the narration in the middle of sentences and paragraphs as the player changes tracks. But that's a technical production issue which does not reflect in any way on the quality of the author's work. But overall, this is an excellent book and audiobook. If you only have time or money for one book about 9/11, this one would be a good choice.

• This narrative is sweeping and magisterial in scope. What is intriguing is that even though the various pieces of the jigsaw puzzle was available with different agencies, petty and personal issues came in the way to prevent this tragedy.

• Well-researched and based on a carefully constructed timeline, The Looming Tower reveals facts about the rise of al-Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks that most readers will find surprising. For instance, a common misconception is that Osama Bin Laden was wealthy and therefore able to self-fund the training and equipping of al-Qaeda fighters. In Lawrence Wright's account, we learn instead that while certainly wealthy, Bin Laden's strength is as a prolific fundraiser. He is able to tap both wealthy Arab governments and private donors, particularly as he demonstrates al-Qaeda's increasing lethality. Much more significant perhaps, Wright portrays Bin Laden as a master of public relations. Indeed, he demonstrates early on that his charisma and soft-spoken charm could both inspire followers and unleash horrific violence. In the lead up to 9/11 Bin Laden captures the imagination of disaffected but well-educated young Muslim males searching for validation and a deeper meaning in their lives. Already steeped in traditional Muslim thought (many studied in madrasses in Western Pakistan), these individuals merely need a catalyst and some direction for their aims and readily find it in Bin Laden's radical proselytizing. Proving Josef Goebbels' famous quote, "make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it", Bin Laden convinces his followers that America (and its staunch ally, Israel) is the source of all persecution in the Islamic world. He eventually gains a critical mass of converts and hence a blunt instrument to wage global jihad. The scheme to strike at the soft underbelly of American 'infidel' society and the means to do it are born. Wright also exposes the many seams in the U.S. national security infrastructure and schisms within the law enforcement and intelligence organizations that existed prior to 9/11. Ironically, those same intelligence organizations were created with the single purpose of detecting and preventing terrorist attacks. Simply tragic... The mosaics the author pieces together in developing his characters (based on scores of interviews) bring to life such leading U.S. counterterrorism officials as Richard A. Clarke and John P. O'Neill. These individuals' relentless efforts to protect America's domestic and international interests undoubtedly prevent countless attacks. Yet, as Wright alludes, their persistent demands to go on the offense against an emergent al-Qaeda are stymied by poor communication and internecine rivalries between government agencies combined with bureaucratic inertia and simple inaction on the part of our country's political leaders. The Looming Tower traces the roots of al-Qaeda to radical Islamic organizations such as Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the Muslim Brotherhood and fiery Islamic scholars like Sayyid Qutb and Dr. Abdullah Yusuf Azzam. We learn that while their extreme views prove a source of discomfort for mainstream Islamic governments - they espouse violent uprising to achieve their ends - their aggressive activism is largely contained. Interestingly, despite Azzam's pleas for moderation, Bin Laden exhorts his charges to commit suicide bombings as a means of achieving al-Qaeda's aims (and those of greater Islam) while punishing America for 'occupying' the Arabian Peninsula. Additionally, we discover that Ayman al-Zawahiri and Bin Laden find refuge and a sympathetic ear in failed states such as Somalia, Sudan, and Afghanistan and co-opt their governments to help nurture and train radicals for jihad. Their demands ever more insistent and their attacks growing in ferocity, Islamic extremists in the Bin Laden era gain a new sense of urgency. Yet, incredibly, despite many alarm bells Western intelligence agencies remain unable to convince their governments of the seriousness of the threat posed by al-Qaeda. Wright pieces together through hundreds of interviews each militant Islamist plot from the 1993 World Trade Center bombing through the 2000 USS Cole suicide attack. He painstakingly traces the steps of the jihadists as they gradually ratchet up the stakes while leaving unmistakable clues as to their grand design. Only a handful of astute, hyper-vigilant FBI and CIA agents grasp the significance of those clues, but their voices are seemingly drowned out by the bureaucracy with, of course, calamitous results. The Looming Tower ranks with Rohan Gunaratna's Inside Al Qaeda and Steve Coll's Ghost Wars in its narrative sweep. Not nearly as dense as the Pulitzer Prize-Winning Ghost Wars, The Looming Tower combines the right amount of detail with the author's lighter prose style. Wright manages to entertain as much as he informs. Perhaps most enjoyable about Wright's book, it details unusual aspects of his characters' personalities that make them seem more human. Bin Laden, the devoted family man; John O'Neill, the sentimental romantic; and, Richard Clarke, the ambitious product of blue collar roots... These are the figures who grace Wright's pages. And a truly fascinating cast of characters it is! Lawrence Wright's book, though a work of investigative journalism, reads like a Greek tragedy. A sobering insider's look at the first (and arguably most) serious threat facing the West in the 21st Century and an immensely satisfying read... Captivating!

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