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A review by maggies
The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.0
*Read as part of my challenge to (attempt to) read all 100 of NYT's best books of the 21st century*
I was a child on 9/11/01, so my memories are of a child, and this account is the most I've ever read on the events leading up to the attack. I appreciated Wright's attempt to humanize the major players, from Bin Laden and other members of Al-Qaeda to the American intelligence officers, but I did struggle to keep them all safe. The whole story reminded me of the idea that the intelligence team trying to prevent attacks like this have to get it right 100% of the time, but the attackers only have to get it right once. The intelligence failures were absurdly frustrating, considering how lucky the attackers had to be to carry out their plan. A difficult read, to say the least.
I was a child on 9/11/01, so my memories are of a child, and this account is the most I've ever read on the events leading up to the attack. I appreciated Wright's attempt to humanize the major players, from Bin Laden and other members of Al-Qaeda to the American intelligence officers, but I did struggle to keep them all safe. The whole story reminded me of the idea that the intelligence team trying to prevent attacks like this have to get it right 100% of the time, but the attackers only have to get it right once. The intelligence failures were absurdly frustrating, considering how lucky the attackers had to be to carry out their plan. A difficult read, to say the least.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Suicide, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail