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Summary and Reviews of Bin Laden by Yossef Bodansky

Bin Laden by Yossef Bodansky

Bin Laden

The Man Who Declared War on America

by Yossef Bodansky
  • Paperback:
  • Sep 2001, 464 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

This fascinating account of Osama bin Laden’s war against America illustrates the murky world of Islamic extremism and state sponsored terrorism.

A portion of the proceeds on the sale of this book will be donated to the Red Cross to aid in humanitarian relief efforts around the world.

Inside the Campaign to Terrorize America

Who is Osama bin Laden--the only terrorist leader ever to have declared a holy war against America? What drives him and those he leads to hate a West that helped enrich and arm them? Bin Laden’s name has been linked to a number of incidents that have cost Americans their lives, including the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 and the destruction of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Now, he is linked to the recent catastrophic assaults on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Here is a comprehensive account of the rise of bin Laden. In meticulous detail, world-renowned terrorism expert Yossef Bodansky uncovers the events in bin Laden’s life that turned the once-promising engineering student into a cold-blooded leader of radical Islam. In the process, Bodansky reveals a chilling story that is as current as today’s headlines but as ancient as the Crusades--a story that transcends bin Laden and any other single man. This book is a sobering wake-up call.

NOW IN HIS MID-FORTIES, a university graduate with computer skills, Osama bin Laden lives with his four wives and some fifteen children in a small cave in eastern Afghanistan. They have no running water and only a rudimentary heating system against the extreme cold of winter. Bin Laden is always on guard against assassins, commando raids, and air strikes. Had he followed the path chosen for him by his father, bin Laden could have been a respected building contractor in Saudi Arabia and a billionaire in his own right. Instead he freely elected to abandon the life of affluence and commit himself to waging a jihad under extremely harsh conditions.

Osama bin Laden is not the only Islamist who has abandoned a good career and comfortable lifestyle in order to wage a jihad. Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri -- bin Laden's right-hand man -- now in his late forties, could have been one of Egypt's leading pediatricians but gave up a promising career and affluence to fight the Egyptian...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Author Blurb Baroness Caroline Cox, the British House of Lords
This is the most important publication I have seen for many years. The brilliant combination of fascinating narrative and detailed research make it compelling reading. For everyone concerned with the growing menace of international terrorism and its threats to the peace and freedoms too many of us take for granted, this is a timely, profoundly significant book.

Author Blurb Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard
Americans need to know about Osama bin Laden, and the best place to find out is in Yossef Bodansky's trenchant study of the man. This book not only recounts bin Laden's privileged past but also explains how it led him to become one of America's most resourceful enemies. A brilliant work.

Author Blurb Helle Bering-Jensen
A readable and thoroughly researched account of a man and a movement, both deeply hostile to our way of life and to U.S. influence in the world. It is a first-rate study.

Author Blurb Jeane J. Kirkpatrick
This fascinating account of Osama bin Laden's war against America illustrates the murky world of Islamic extremism and state-sponsored terrorism. I strongly recommend it.

Reader Reviews

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Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

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    How is it possible for one middle-aged Saudi millionaire to threaten the world's only superpower? This is the question at the center of Jonathan Randal's riveting, timely account of Osama bin Laden's role in the rise of terrorism in the Middle East.

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