The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright

TWENTY YEARS

It is hard to believe that two decades have passed since 9/11. Reading and watching the coverage on the anniversary over the weekend has taken me right back to that day, as I’m sure it has done you too. I remember our teacher telling us the news in our AS Level English class. We were in the middle of reading Frankenstein, just an ordinary afternoon. Until the world changed forever.

Some years later, I read this book by Lawrence Wright which has since been made into a TV series (I haven’t watched it though Chaya tells me it’s excellent). It came out around 5 years after the attacks and was deemed the first book to tell their human story. What it is without question is a superb account of the rise of Al Qaeda and the events that led to that fateful day in September. 

Brilliantly constructed and researched to the highest level, it is chilling, mind-blowing and powerful. And, in my view, will continue to be seen as a vital and essential piece of reading for many, many years to come.

~ Sophie