The Looming Tower is quite a tough book to read, as is to be expected.
I, like most people I know, am quite interested in foreign affairs and politics so I jumped at the chance to read this book.
This, coupled with the TV adaptation, is certainly an eye opener and is a must read for anyone interested in this subject.

The prologue starts with a revelation : that America prior to 9/11 believed that they were invincible, that Al Qaeda are just a minor group and no matter how much Daniel Coleman believed otherwise, he could not get his superiors at the FBI to return his calls to tell them what he knew. This summises what we now know to be true about America. They were ill equipped to deal with such a terror attack because they believed they were too powerful to even entertain this possibility. This book however seems to hit home how out the loop America really were about Bin Laden and his followers. They had information on the man and his group but never seemed to follow through on it.
The book takes us on a journey and reads like a novel, the authors skill as a journalist seems to show through with the romanticism of some of the areas he discribes. His description of America in the 1940's to Egypt and the middle East is so riveting you can't help but be drawn into the book. This is the history of how one man's ideas of an ideal world, a martyr and Islam combine to show us the history of the Muslim brotherhood and how the spanned into Al Qaeda run by Bin Laden. I never knew that the twin towers being hit wasn't a new idea. A plot had been previously stopped and the Islamic extremists contained in 1993. These quirks in the book appear frequently giving the reader in depth knowledge without it feeling like a history lesson. The writing is concise and flows smoothly without and jarring facts thrown in. This books never feels like a true history book. It has the feel of a le Carre novel. Espionage and intelligence gathering, the description vivid. It is no surprise this book has been made into a TV show. I plan to find out it Lawrence Wright has written further books because this book had me gripped from the first page.

<I><blockquote>Al-Qaeda had aimed its attacks at America, but it struck at all humanity</I></blockquote>

Originally published in 2007 with a 2011 afterword in this edition, it’s clear to see why Wright won a Pulitzer: not just is this a huge undertaking but it manages to build in nuance and complexity rather than over-simplifying. The road to 9/11 is a very long one in this book, starting just after WW2 and inflected by world events including the foundation of the State of Israel, the Civil Rights movement in the US, the Soviet failed war in Afghanistan, and the oil boom and bust which transformed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Despite the vast swathe of names, of ideologies and theological positions, of feuding and allying radical Islamist groups, Wright manages to tell his story with clarity and flair. He draws out, without overplaying, the strange parallels at times between the US and Islamic fundamentalism, and refuses to write out the way America has allied itself, at times, with the forces which later coalesced into the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. He is fairly attentive, too, to the stated unease and dissension even within and between radical groups, especially with regard to acts of violence and terrorism.

The current TV series based on this book is far lighter, turning much of the research into a fairly conventional spy story, and especially skims over the various Arab groups with different ideologies, religious interpretations and visions, and national vs. pan-national political agendas which are detailed here. If you’ve ever wondered about the relationships between Hamas, Hezbollah, the Taliban and others, then this is certainly worth picking up.

The style is journalistic rather than academic so while there are extensive references in an appendix they’re difficult to match up with the text – not a problem for a general reader but worth being aware of.
The world has certainly moved on since this was written and even since the 2011 afterword which is cautiously optimistic but which was written before the conflagration of Syria. All the same, for anyone struggling to make sense of world politics today this is accessible and knowledgeable, while also being a gripping read.

I always wondered what happened before 9/11 that sparked off such a vicious attack. I knew a few facts of course. Everyone does but there was a serious complacence and oversight that terrorism was regarded as a nuisance and not s threat. Of course that's easy to point out in hindsight. Nobody could have possibly imagined what was brewing and bubbling up. Threats were dismissed. Nobody could have possibly anticipated the extent of anger that led to that horrific, barbaric action. It was surreal. Thank you for an interesting insight to the author, NetGalley and the publishers.

I really tried to get into this book but found it really hard to get into. It might just be me and am sure others that are into this type of book will find it interesting.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the TV adaptation of the book, I was keen to read the original narrative, but do have to admit that I found it rather heavy going as it is, inevitably, far more in depth. However, it remains sadly eye opening... hindsight is a wonderful thing.

The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright a fantastic five-star read. I will start this by saying that I don’t normally read this type of book, I enjoy a good drama and light hearted more, but the subject fascinated me as I was supposed to be in New York at the time, but I had to cancel my trip as I couldn’t afford it. I wouldn’t have been in the towers, but I know the devastating effect on people in the city had life altering effects to this day. I came across this and knew I had to read it as it gave us an insight into the planning and what led up to the event rather than the event and the aftermath that we usually hear about. We get to see the side that normally gets glossed over on the news the reasons behind the story, the real faces behind terrorism. It gave me a real idea on how this war with terror started and how it will never end, but also who the real players are as they aren’t always those who we are shown. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone, even if like me it’s not a usual genre give it a go, it will expand your mind.