Présentation de l'éditeur
How was it possible for one middle-aged Saudi millionaire to have threatened the world's only superpower? This is the question at the centre of Jonathan Randal's riveting account of Osama bin Laden's role in the rise of terrorism in the Middle East. Randal - a journalist whose experience of the Middle East spans the past forty years - makes clear how Osama's life epitomized the fatal collision between the twenty-first century West and the Islamic world. His investigations into the history of 'Al-Qaeda' produce all kinds of surprises, such as the real sources of Osama's money, and the possibility that Osama offered the Saudis his band of radical Islamist fighters to drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait in 1991. In this latest edition, Randal explores the background and ideologies of Al-Qaeda and its leader. With his long-maintained sources in the Middle East and his intimate understanding of the region, Randal gives us a clearer explanation than any we have had of why, where and how the world's most feared terrorist operated. 'Randal's book...(moves) like a shark through the modern course of Islamic radicalism, seizing facts, people, villains and anecdotes to show where Osama bin Laden started, where he moved and how he has reached the almost mythical level he has, defying Uncle Sam and hiding out in the hills like some latterday Billy the Kid on the run from all the high-tech sheriffs and marshals the world can muster.' - The Sunday Tribune, 27th November 2005. Review by Tim Llewellyn; 'An incredibly detailed and readable biography... an enlightening, objective account of one man's fight against a giant.' - Irish Times; 'Jonathan Randal's detailed and thoroughly researched biography.' - Charles Glass, London Review of Books
Revue de presse
'An account that is simultaneously detailed and fast paced... witty, opinionated, and highly urbane... Of all the flutter of bin Laden and Al Qaeda books, Randal has produced the most readable and informative.' --Richard A. Clarke, former head of US counter-terrorism operations
'The volume does a nimble and often highly compelling job of leading the reader through the labyrinth of information and speculation about Al Qaeda and the broader jihadi movement, showing how Islamic terrorism has evolved and proliferated over the last two and a half decades' --New York Times
'an outstanding achievement...thorough and penetrating' --Publisher's Weekly
Biographie de l'auteur
Jonathan Randal is a former Middle East correspondent for the Washington Post, and the author of an award-winning book on the Iraqi Kurds 'After Such Knowledge, What Forgiveness?'
