The Looming Tower

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)

Bryan Callen I love [this author]. (Source)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)