The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

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.

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Published Aug 21, 2007

540 pages

Average rating: 8.69

13 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

pdshah429
Jun 25, 2025
10/10 stars
The story of modern fundamental terrorism but with good business acumen, such as the very dangerous pitfalls of working in silos (lack of cooperation between CIA/FBI), the interplay of rationalization for immoral means and petty politics in Al-Qaeda and US intelligence, and of course, the hypocrisy of all the leaders.

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