I just finished The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright over a long weekend in Hamburg (of all places). It was a good read, a page turner, which was able to put some perspective on a couple of things (as the New York Times Book Review says “(…) A thoughtful examination of the world that produced the men who brought us 9/11”.) Despite the topics depth, the war of the cultures, radical belief, Wrights (historical) storytelling remains demure and to the point. Beyond the style, the amount of material that he has brought together is mind boggling; he must of plowed through thousands of interviews and transcripts which are all listed in a separate chapter ordered by pages in which the source was used. In summary, his book is less about the philosophical landscape in which such radical thoughts as 9/11 were formed. His book is about the people. He sketches the people who formulated the concepts that spearheaded the radical islamist movement with apparent ease: Sayyid Qutb, for example, is foremost descibed as a shy and bright man scared of the challenging and play-to-win attitude in the academic landscape of an american university. After reading into his character as sketched by Wright I couldn’t shake the feeling that he could be living a suburban life in north America if he would have met the right person (that is, woman). He was hanged in 1965 after being sentenced to death (which he apparently greeted with words “Thank God”) under the Regime of Nasser in Egypt. His ideas, such as Ma’alim fi al-Tariq, still fuel more then mere thoughts. The Looming Tower is not about fault. It recognizes the errors and decisions made, elegantly unfolds how chance and accidents made things happen and how a few radical minds can fuel hate. Nonetheless, Osama Bin Laden, the apparent mastermind of 9/11 and ultimate bad guy, is described as soft and kind despite being radical beyond healthy limits. I really don’t think this book is a must read, something that is to be incorporated in school history, as it has the stench of investigative journalism. The farce of the silver haired man, always proper, who daringly closes in on the story no matter how tedious. A man that wears steal rimmed round glasses because they make him look more intelligent. Ok… not quite fair. The man taught in Egypt, close to the source so to say, and was a staff writer for The New YorkerNewYorker. The book somehow feels “frontlinesque” but is, along that line, well researched with fine-grain details. It is for you if you want the details and history behind the people that conceived and executed the attacks of 9/11; perhaps a first step to understanding what went wrong. And for that a dazzlingly good read.