NYTimes.com: The Plot Against America

by Dexter Filkins

A review of "The Looming Tower," a book about Osama bin Laden and the plot against America.

[Excerpted from the review:]
The events of Sept. 11, 2001, were in many ways less the start of a
tale than the end of one, or at least the climax of one, begun many
years before in many different precincts: in the middle-class suburbs
of Cairo, in the mosques of Hamburg, in Jidda, in Islamabad, in the
quiet university town of Greeley, Colo.

In its simplest terms, this is the story of how a small group of men,
with a frightening mix of delusion and calculation, rose from a
tormented civilization to mount a catastrophic assault on the world's
mightiest power, and how another group of men and women, convinced that such an attack was on the way, tried desperately to stop it.

What a story it is. And what a riveting tale Lawrence Wright fashions
in this marvelous book. "The Looming Tower" is not just a detailed,
heart-stopping account of the events leading up to 9/11, written with
style and verve, and carried along by villains and heroes that only a
crime novelist could dream up. It's an education, too — though you'd
never know it — a thoughtful examination of the world that produced
the men who brought us 9/11, and of their progeny who bedevil us
today. The portrait of John O'Neill, the driven, demon-ridden F.B.I.
agent who worked so frantically to stop Osama bin Laden, only to
perish in the attack on the World Trade Center, is worth the price of
the book alone. "The Looming Tower" is a thriller...

BOOKS / SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW | August 6, 2006
The Plot Against America
www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/books/review/06filkins.html

Review by DEXTER FILKINS
Lawrence Wright offers a detailed, heart-stopping account of the
events leading up to 9/11, carried along by villains and heroes that
only a crime novelist could dream up.
CLICK ON ABOVE LINK TO READ THE REVIEW.