Ranked #1 in 9/11, Ranked #5 in Middle East — see more rankings.
The Looming Tower achieves an unprecedented level of intimacy and insight by telling the story through the interweaving lives of four men: the two... more
Reviews and Recommendations
We've comprehensively compiled reviews of The Looming Tower from the world's leading experts.
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Peter Taylor If anybody wishes to understand what Al-Qaeda is, where it came from and what it is trying to do, I think that this is the key book to read. (Source)
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Bryan Callen I love [this author]. (Source)
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Mary Habeck This is a fantastic account of the origins of al Qaeda, the individuals who laid the foundations of the organisation and why they carried out 9/11. (Source)
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Peter Bergen Former counterterrorism agent John O’Neill, who died in 9/11, is the hero of this book. He played a central part in trying to take Al-Qaeda apart. (Source)
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Simon Conway It is a history of radical Islamism and the road to 9/11. It also explores the failure of the CIA to share vital information with the FBI that might have allowed them to unravel the plot. (Source)
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Yosri Fouda He did five years of research and met over 600 people. It is a vast research on how we arrived at 9/11, the circumstances and the mindset. It has a huge scope. (Source)
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Audrey Kurth Cronin Reading this one book gives you an excellent grasp of the human story and the context from which al-Qaeda emerged. (Source)
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Lloyd Gardner Wright looks at the linkage between the Egyptian Jihad and Al-Qaeda. It is a worthwhile book to read to try to understand the whole problem. (Source)
Rankings by Category
The Looming Tower is ranked in the following categories:
- #8 in Afghanistan
- #62 in American History
- #12 in Current Affairs
- #69 in History
- #19 in Intelligence
- #12 in International Relations
- #8 in Iraq War
- #17 in Islam
- #70 in Journalism
- #18 in Modern History
- #25 in Pakistan
- #67 in Political Science
- #61 in Politics
- #42 in Pulitzer Prize
- #30 in US History
- #98 in War
- #94 in Wars
- #26 in World History