Los años del terror: De Al-Qaeda al Estado Islámico

by Lawrence Wright

Ganador del premio Pulitzer por La torre elevada, Lawrence Wright es considerado uno de los periodistas mas prestigiosos en temas de terrorismo y Oriente Medio. Los reportajes reunidos en Los anos del terror buscan dar explicacion a la metamorfosis y la expansion de al-Qaeda desde sus origenes en los anos noventa hasta nuestros dias, con el surgimiento del Estado Islamico. Desde el indeleble recuento de su estancia por Arabia Saudi, pasando por la industria cinematografica siria, el conflicto de Gaza, y un devastador articulo sobre la captura y las ejecuciones de los cuatro periodistas y cooperadores internacionales en manos del Estado Islamico y el estrepitoso fracaso de las democracias occidentales, en particular de Estados Unidos para hacer frente al conflicto que asola Oriente Medio, el lector se ve embarcado en una inquietante travesia por el mundo de la violencia yihadista, convirtiendose en observador de perpetradores, cabecillas, lobos solitarios, victimas y enemigos.

Resenas:
Wright entreteje sus investigaciones en un sutil tapiz de experiencias personales y sensatas reflexiones.
James Traub, The New York Times Book Review

Fascinante[...] este libro llamara la atencion de todos los lectores interesados en los origenes y posterior desarrollo de los movimientos terroristas.
Library Journal

Uno de los periodistas mas lucidos nos ayuda de nuevo a comprender el extremismo islamico y la reaccion occidental.
Ahmed Rashid, The New York Times

Un prosa clara e incisiva [...] Cada reportaje es una mina de informacioncondensada.
USA Today

Esto es reportaje de alto nivel. Lawrence Wright hace recuento de sus investigaciones con prosa cristalina sin perder su propio compas moral.
Max Boot, The Wall Street Journal

ENGLISH DESCRIPTIONWith the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright became generally acknowledged as one of our major journalists writing on terrorism in the Middle East. Here, in ten powerful pieces first published in The New Yorker, he recalls the path that terror in the Middle East has taken, from the rise of al-Qaeda in the 1990s to the recent beheadings of reporters and aid workers by ISIS.The Terror Years draws on several articles he wrote while researching The Looming Tower, as well as many that he's written since, following where and how al-Qaeda and its core cultlike beliefs have morphed and spread. They include a portrait of the -man behind bin Laden, - Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the tumultuous Egypt he helped spawn; an indelible impression of Saudi Arabia, a kingdom of silence under the control of the religious police; the Syrian film industry, at the time compliant at the edges but already exuding a feeling of the barely masked fury that erupted into civil war; the 2006-11 Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza, a study in the disparate value of human lives. Other chapters examine al-Qaeda as it forms a master plan for its future, experiences a rebellion from within the organization, and spins off a growing web of worldwide terror. The American response is covered in profiles of two FBI agents and the head of the intelligence community. The book ends with a devastating piece about the capture and slaying by ISIS of four American journalists and aid workers, and our government's failed response.

On the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11, The Terror Years is at once a unifying recollection of the roots of contemporary Middle Eastern terrorism, a study of how it has grown and metastasized, and, in the scary and moving epilogue, a cautionary tale of where terrorism might take us yet.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Middle East, Terrorism, War, Religion

544 pages, Paperback

First published August 23, 2016

About the author

Lawrence Wright is an author, screenwriter, playwright, and staff writer for The New Yorker magazine. He has won a Pulitzer Prize and three National Magazine Awards.

His latest book, The Human Scale , is a sweeping, timely thriller, in which a Palestinian-American FBI agent teams up with a hardline Israeli cop to solve the murder of the Israeli police chief in Gaza. According to The New York Times, “Wright succeeds in this complex, deeply felt work.”

He is the author of 11 nonfiction books. His book about the rise of al-Qaeda, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Knopf, 2006), was published to immediate and widespread acclaim. It has been translated into 25 languages and won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. It was made into a series for Hulu in 2018, starring Jeff Daniels, Alec Baldwin, and Tahar Rahim.

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief (Knopf, 2013) was a New York Times bestseller. Wright and director Alex Gibney turned it into an HBO documentary, which won three Emmys, including best documentary. Wright and Gibney also teamed up to produce another Emmy-winning documentary, for Showtime, about the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi.

In addition to The Human Scale, Wright has three other novels: Noriega: God’s Favorite (Simon and Schuster, 2000) which was made into a Showtime movie starring Bob Hoskins; The End of October (Knopf, 2020), a bestseller about a viral pandemic that came out right at the beginning of COVID; Mr. Texas (Knopf, 2023), which has been optioned as a limited streaming series.

In 2006, Wright premiered his first one-man play, “My Trip to Al-Qaeda,” at The New Yorker Festival, which led to a sold-out six-week run off-Broadway, before traveling to Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. It was made into a documentary film of the same name, directed by Alex Gibney, for HBO.

Before he wrote the novel, Wright wrote and performed a one-man show also called The Human Scale, about the standoff between Israel and Hamas over the abduction of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. The Public Theater in New York produced the play, which ran for a month off-Broadway in 2010, before moving to the Cameri Theater in Tel Aviv. Many of the ideas developed in that play later evolved into the novel of the same name, published 15 years later.

In addition to his one-man productions, Wright has written five other plays that have enjoyed productions around the country, including Camp David, about the Carter, Begin, and Sadat summit in 1978; and Cleo, about the making of the movie Cleopatra.

Wright is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Society of American Historians, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also serves as the keyboard player in the Austin-based blues band, WhoDo.

Reviews

[Clarky · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you've read Looming Tower the first 5 chapters are straight from that book. This really doesn't cover ISIS it covers American hostages in a vague way and then it's like the author gloating about his encounters for awhile. I mean you still can learn something from this book but definitely don't use it as a sole resource.

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's my review for USA TODAY:

Few American writers understand the phenomenon of Islam-based terrorism better than writer Lawrence Wright, whose 2006 book The Looming Tower comprehensively detailed the rise of al-Qaeda from its roots in the Muslim Brotherhood to the 9/11 attacks.

Wright has returned in The Terror Years: From al-Qaeda to the Islamic State (Knopf, 350 pp., ***½ out of four stars), a collection of his reporting for The New Yorker, which again demonstrates Wright’s thorough knowledge of what is unfortunately the national security challenge of our time.

While The Looming Tower was a feast of knowledge about al-Qaeda, The Terror Years is more like a tasting menu of Wright’s reporting on different elements of the terrorism that has altered the world’s politics and attitudes toward security.

The collection, although published over a more-than-10-year period, maintains a thematic strength that merits its placement alongside The Looming Tower. Each story shows how the Muslim world and the West have struggled with the challenges posed by terrorist groups and the religious impulses that allegedly guide them.

Wright’s reporting glides from the life and career of former FBI agent John O’Neill, whose anti-terrorism work ended in the wreckage of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11, to FBI agent Ali Soufan, who fought the use of enhanced interrogation techniques that many consider torture. Each story is a densely packed nugget of information enhanced by Wright's clear and sharp writing.

His conclusions also sting. "The 2003 invasion of Iraq by U.S. and coalition partners stands as one of the greatest blunders in American history," Wright writes. "The Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, rose out of the the chaos, throwing the region into turmoil that hasn't been equaled since the fall of the Ottoman Empire."

Author Lawrence Wright.
Author Lawrence Wright. (Photo: Daniel Bergeron)
In "Five Hostages," Wright tells the story of five American families whose children were captured by ISIL and how they struggled to get them released with the help of U.S. media entrepreneur David Bradley, whose company publishes The Atlantic. The cases of James Foley, Theo Padnos, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller showed the virulent spread of ISIL and the "feckless" limitations of the U.S. government when it came to freeing the captured Americans or haplessly watching them die.

Foley's videotaped execution by decapitation, broadcast around the world, highlighted the scope of ISIL's depravity and galvanized the United States and its allies into what has been a two-year military campaign against the terrorist group. Read now, Wright's article seems almost quaint; the fears of ISIL have metastasized as the group inspired mass attacks in Brussels, Paris and Nice, France.

The United States and its allies, Wright writes, will inevitably defeat ISIL, because all terrorist groups eventually lose. But he fears the cost of success.

"This age of terror will end one day, but whether our society can restore the feeling of freedom that once was our birthright is hard to predict," he concludes. The failure to remember what we were as a nation before 9/11 will mean "we may never steer in that direction again. In that case, the terrorists really will have won."

[Abhi Gupte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before starting the book, I hadn't realized that it is just a compilation of articles written by Wright for the New Yorker. The articles are very well written and give good insights into different aspects of Middle Eastern society. I found the Saudi Arabia piece highly educational.
That being said, I feel Wright tried to cash in his success with 'The Looming Tower' by "writing" what appears to be a sequel but is anything but. The different "chapters" are neither specifically about terror nor about terrorist networks and they definitely do not talk about how ISIS supplanted Al Qaeda as the premier Islamist terrorist organization.

[Aditya Raj · Rating 5 out of 5]

A NYTimes article writes that Lawrence Wright has now reached the pedestal where his magazine work is collected as an anthology. The Terror Years immaculately draws a reflection of this assertive statement and this work of his is a brief, though thorough, chronicle of the major events which took place after 9/11. The book also delves into the friction among various intelligence departments in the US where every other agency desired a lead and knowingly created roadblocks hindering the flow of information at critical junctures. It also traces the root of ideological and methodological schism among the leadership of initial days of Jihad, specifically Egypt and Afghanistan. The book progresses gradually to the abduction of five hostages in Syria by the Jabhat al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State and their killings in 2014, the year Islamic State declared itself as a Caliphate. Additionally, the author has also shed light on the efforts made by the US government to rectify its pre 9/11 mistakes.

So in all, The Terror Years is a collection of 11 essays knitted together which surprisingly offers us an overall scenario of the major events which took place post 9/11 leading up to the Islamic State's initial days killings of the hostages. Not many enthusiasts of these fields know about the efforts made by David Bradley, the owner of Atlantic Media, to rescue these hostages; something which the author has painstakingly narrated in the book. This book also offers tribute to the two FBI heroes, John O'Neill and Ali Soufan, who were hell-bent on the belief that AlQaeda is up to something huge when no other agencies seemed too eager to ruminate deeply over it. This book is a MUST READ for those of us who are intelligence and terrorism enthusiasts, or so to say of any book by Lawrence Wright.

[Andrew Tollemache · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I could rate this book better. I was really hoping this was the follow up to "Looming Tower" it was marketed as, but it was not. If it had the same narrative drive, the same degree of original reporting and detail, then maybe it would be a 5 star book. "The Terror Years" is better seen as an EP to the vaunted "Looming Tower". Many of the chapters, like the ones on Ayman Zawahiri (Osama's more ferret, but less charismatic #2) and Ali Sufan (the Arab FBI agent mentioned at length in LT) seem to be straight out of unused source notes from LT. Others, like the chapter on his time guest editing a Saudi newspaper or the key players in Syrian indie film, are just rando pieces Wright had done over the years for mags like The Atlantic and The New Yorker.
The one part that measure up to the power of LT, was the section telling the stories of the 6 Westerners who were captured by ISIS and ended up dying or being executed in a grisly manner. Hearing the tale of how their families learned of, dealt with and tried to resolve their loved one's ordeals was too painful to bear at times. Wright does a great job contrasting the US and UK's stated [policy of non-negotiation for hostages, which prevented many of the efforts made by NGOs to free them, with the frequent US of prisoner swaps and other quid pro quo deals by the US govt when it suited its own needs, such as in the prisoner swap for Bo Bergdahl, the POW/deserter the US swapped for several imprisoned Taliban fighters and leaders.
This is a good book for getting more information or insight, but nothing really super compelling on a level like "The Looming Tower"

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Terror Years - Lawrence Wright

An interesting read on a series of topics ranging from the rise of Al Qaeda (AQ) to ISIL and all in between. A few quick thoughts:

Wright chooses to have each chapter home in on a unique part of the rise of terrorism in recent years. As would be expected there are chapters on the rise of AQ and the inner workings of the group but Wright also chooses to focus on some other elements in the region such as the rise of extremism and authoritarianism in Egypt seen in recent decades. He sets out the rationale for the groups like AQ and how the views of its leaders were shaped with events such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Wright too looks at events such as the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and the USS Cole bombing in 2000 and the subsequent FBI investigations into these attacks. Wright lays outs starkly how the withholding of intelligence between the CIA and FBI likely meant that clear signs were missed that AQ were plotting to attack the US in 2001 and that interdepartmental rivalry and bureaucracy possibly resulted in the September 11th attacks going ahead. Wright goes onto speak of how post 9/11 the US intelligence community was reformed and reconfigured to fight terrorism, revealing great insights into mass government surveillance.

The piece also benefits greatly from Wright’s own experiences on the ground visiting places such as Saudi Arabia and Syria and explaining what life is like in this countries, in addition he covers some of the lesser known aspects of these societies such as the underground Syrian film movement and what it’s like being a reporter in a place so tightly ran as Saudi Arabia. Wright gives significant attention to deconstructing the extremist views of groups such as AQ and ISIL by bringing in many Islamics scholars who abhor what the latter organisations stand for and Wright does a good job using his knowledge and that of other experts of showing how these terrorist organisations twist the religion.

One of the most moving and poignant chapters in the book is that on the Israel/ Palestine dispute. Whilst there has been much work on the “top down” view looking at the leadership and arguments on both sides, Wright covers what everyday life is like in the Gaza Strip. He explores how the Israeli blockade on goods led to a secret black market being established where basic goods needed for survival are smuggled in. Wright mentions the danger of living in the Gaza Strip for its trapped citizens and what they endure day to day. His interviews with Israelis and Palestinians alike reveal how both sides view the situation and set out the fears, differences, and the common ground between the two groups. The commonalities are cause for hope in the medium to long term. As Wright’s interviews with the leadership on both sides show however, it is unlikely a solution will be reached in the near term without changes in the positions of the leaderships. This chapter on Israel/Palestine has certainly developed, and in some aspects changed, my own views on this topic it has to be said.

Of particular note is the chapter on the individuals taken hostage by ISIL during their rise circa 2014. Wright has fascinating details and stories of the efforts made by the families of the hostages to rescue their relatives and the lengths they went to, including setting up their own de facto intelligence network to try to track down their relatives. Wright scathingly notes how poorly the families were treated by their own government too and what little help they were provided.

Overall, a decent read that I would recommend to anyone looking for a good run down of terrorism in the region and beyond and to anyone looking for a good understanding of certain key nations in the Middle East.

[Alfonso D'agostino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lawrence Wright mi aveva letteralmente conquistato con Le altissime torri, letto qualche anno prima che ne fosse tratta una fortunata (e ottima) serie tv. Con Gli anni del terrore la magia si è ripetuta, e sul comodino già mi attende il testo dedicato a Scientology, che mi gusterò dopo qualche intervallo più narrativo.

Wright è un esponente di quel giornalismo investigativo che tanto mi cattura e la cui qualità ho spesso rimpianto in Italia, con alcune nobilissime eccezioni fra le quali in questo periodo mi piace citare Il post.

Hai presente quando sei disteso su un materassino sul mare piatto e all’improvviso ti senti sollevare da un moto ondoso? E alzi la testa per guardare al largo cercando di capire cosa lo abbia provocato?

I libri di Wright fanno esattamente questo: ti mostrano la barca che ha provocato le onde, ti spiegano dove è stata costruita, forniscono la testimonianza di chi l’ha varata e ti raccontano da dove è partita, dove sta andando e perché.

Gli anni del terrore è un compendio di storia contemporanea, uno sguardo delle organizzazioni terroristiche e della loro genesi e una lente con cui approfondire la propria visione di che cosa sia il Medio Oriente. Ed è - forse soprattutto - la dimostrazione di come si possa fare del giornalismo un’arte.

[Roger DeBlanck · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this solid collection of lengthy essays, Wright offers a broad examination of terrorism around the world since 9/11. First off, he shares his experiences of working with journalists in Saudi Arabia, where the regime monitors everything. He shows how the Saudis' incredibly restrictive and repressive society makes it nearly impossible for the media to report the facts and the truth to important stories. Focusing on an entirely different facet of terrorism, Wright assesses the sharp rifts and ideological arguments that have arisen within al-Qaeda about the use of violence and about the interpretation of the Quran in extremist fashion. Moving to cover the Israeli and Palestinians impasse, Wright brings shocking perspective to the abject poverty and depravity of the Palestinians living in virtual captivity within Gaza. He sheds light on the perpetual intransigence between the Israelis and the Palestinians as both sides continue to wreck the possibility of negotiations towards a lasting goal of peace. However, Wright also gives notice of the Israelis' disproportionate use of violence and their insistence of carrying out collective punishment as a strategy to crush the terrorist elements of Hamas and Hezbollah within the Palestinian community. The heartbreaking and sorrowful final essay chronicles five Americans captured by ISIS and the shocking fate of four of them. As a group of essays, The Terror Years is not intended to match the narrative suspense and dread the way Wright did so compellingly with The Looming Tower. Nonetheless, he provides many glimpses into the face of terror networks in the 21st Century and the countless efforts of the men and women working in counterterrorism trying to disrupt and eliminate the threats of radicals.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

It has been five years since I read 'The Looming Tower', Lawrence Wright's excellent side-by-side study of the rise of Al-Qaeda and America's—mostly the FBI's—attempts to stop them before the September 11 attacks. That book was tightly constructed and a single line of narrative, even as its subjects diverged. It built upon itself and picked up steam as the awful, inevitable conclusion neared.

'The Terror Years', however, is not that, but to be fair it probably was not supposed to be. This book is a collection of stories Wright wrote for 'The New Yorker', and not a single story. The principle of caveat emptor certainly applies, but it is also an act of misleading marketing. The subtitle is laughable, and the title very nearly is as well. ISIS is not really mentioned until the last chapter, detailing the group's taking five Americans hostage and attempts to free them. Similarly, at least a quarter to a third of this book takes place before 9/11. It is absolutely not a story of how ISIS rose or how Al-Qaeda morphed. Most of this collection is of the human interest variety—and this reader was not interested. This is all probably unfair to Wright, but I am just not sure of what the *point* of this collection was. It was fine. That it took so long to complete is not a testament to slow reading, but to the number of times that I chose to do something better with my time.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some minor criticisms: There were two Iraq wars pursued by two Bushes. I would have appreciated a clearer distinction between. As misleading as the titles were, more references to Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom would have helped to clarify which wars he was referring to. Same goes for the Bushes. The distinction is important because he establishes a clear justification for the first war and the second war was an unmitigated disaster. I would have liked more time references too. Sometimes the book is very rooted in time and sometimes you struggle to understand what the chronology is.

A more substantial criticism: The first three chapters are a very reduced rehash of The Looming Towers. If you already read The Looming Towers it might make sense to review, but I felt like it was so reduced that it was very difficult to keep up. Just read Looming Towers first.

I feel like Wright is making the point that the West is to some extent reaping the whirlwind we sowed. We propped up an authoritarian government in Iran and work with authoritarian governments throughout the Middle East that are corrupt and treat their people brutally. He explores Saudi Arabia's treatment of its people in the chapter about the silent press. And he makes the point that corporations prefer to deal with authoritarian governments because it is easier.

The chapter on the relationship between Israel and Palestine is very grim. He points out that they hate each other so much neither side is rational, however I felt he was also trying to say that since Israel has all of the power to deny basic supplies like food and building materials and even toys to the Palestinians and respond to acts of terrorism so disproportionately that (as with the corrupt Middle Eastern authoritarian rulers) the Palestinian people are forced into supporting more extreme religious/jihadi positions than they might otherwise. It seems that all of this religious/jihad fervor starts with the lack of basic democratic rights and a government that works in the people's best interests. Our meddling has not improved any of that because we are not working the best interests of the people, just our best corporate interests.

He did put in a comment from a Palestinian woman reporter who said that she was shocked after Israel demolished Gaza in retaliation for the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit that the Arab countries did nothing but the United States and Great Britain sent convoys of aid. She said that before that she had seen Osama Bin Ladin as a hero for fighting the West, but she realized afterwards that all of those religious extremists were monsters. I feel like that is the heart of Wright's message: stop bombing people. As someone I knew once said, you can't bomb people into liking you. Work harder to get these people basic human democratic rights, basic necessities. Stop propping up authoritarian governments (including Israel) that refuse to recognize the humanity of these people and then you will see change. Maybe he didn't say the last explicitly, but I felt that he might agree with the sentiment. My husband and I stopped supporting our Temple (slogan: We Stand With Israel no matter what) after the Shalit reprisal. Israel is capable of stunning human rights violations (read Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People for example).

I wish in the chapter about the spymasters he had talked about the proposal from the Bush (George W.) administration to have libraries report suspicious book borrowing and postal workers spy on our mail and meter readers spy inside our houses. The American Library Association and the United States Postal Service and the various gas and electric corporations said no they would not violate our constitutional right to privacy and that we were their customers and deserving of respect. It does also help to explain why Americans do not trust the spymasters. You don't have to go all the way back to Nixon to understand that. Sadly the Census Bureau said yes.

Well now I've read the epilogue and everything I thought he was saying was wrong. While the entire book (and Looming Towers) seems to say that repressive and corrupt governments and high unemployment leaving young men with nothing constructive to do, especially highly educated young men contributes to terrorism, reforming these governments would not change that. He specifically says "It's common to suggest that dealing with root causes of terrorism is the best and maybe [the] only way to bring it to an end, but there is very little evidence to support that notion -- or, indeed, what those root causes are. Poverty doesn't necessarily lead to acts of terror. Nor does tyranny, nor do wars, corruption, a lack of education or opportunity, gender apartheid, a feeble civil society, a muzzled press, nor an absence of democracy. Not one of these factors by itself is sufficient to say that here at last is the reason that idealistic young people line up for the opportunity to behead their opponents or blow themselves up in a fruit market. BUT EACH OF THEM IS A TRIBUTARY IN A MIGHTY RIVER THAT FLOODS THE MIDDLE EAST, A RIVER THAT WE CAN CALL DESPAIR." (Capitols mine)

He then goes on to say that removing dictators does not necessarily improve things and uses Iraq as an example. But Saddam Hussein was not removed organically, we blew that country apart and it is no surprise that turned out badly and did not lead to a happy democratic paradise. He cites various ways of fighting terrorism like killing charismatic leaders but Wright himself seems to have fallen into a dark funk where nothing can ever change. It is very confusing since the entire book before the epilogue seems to be saying the exact opposite -- that these movements happen in countries where the population is isolated and repressed. I remember reading that Iran, before Operation Iraqi Freedom, was starting to modernize -- that it was an organic movement from within the country. After the debacle of the Iraq war, everything clamped back down, but I think all Wright has proven is that modernization and improvement has to come from within, that it can't be imposed. You can't bomb people into liking you or into improving themselves. We do have to bomb the terrorists of course, but we don't have to support Israel when they decimate Gaza.

Anyway, I would recommend skipping the first three chapters and reading looming towers and then maybe just forget the epilogue too unless you think that the world is about to end in a bang.

[Alessandro Argenti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un libro del quale non se ne sarebbe sentita la mancanza perché non contiene nulla di interessante: "le altissime torri" furono un capolavoro giornalistico, questo invece contiene singoli resoconti per nulla legati tra loro. L'inizio sembra promettente, poi via via si finisce nella noia assoluta. Un commento a parte riguarda il capitolo su Israele e Palestina: che ci fa in mezzo a tutto questo? La presa di posizione filo-israeliana è troppo marcata e l'autore si limita a citare unicamente episodi storici di condanna contro i palestinesi...alla faccia dell'imparzialità insomma. Si tratta di libri impacchettati con appunti vecchi e non utilizzati nei precedenti lavori, libri privi di incisività, libri che un bravo autore dovrebbe quindi evitare di pubblicare, libri che assomigliano ai film dove tutti sparano e gli effetti speciali coprono la trama. Un'americanata in pratica.

[Dave Fillingame · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't realize before starting this that this was actually a collection of his New Yorker articles rather than a cohesive, comprehensive book on the topic. Some of the essays covered somewhat redundant subject matter that was less interesting to me and some were more compelling/interesting to me than others ("Five Hostages" was especially stunning). So in hindsight I'd advise picking and choosing essays rather than trying to read it cover to cover, because in that way New Yorker articles are like battles in the war on terror, it's important to choose them carefully.

[Ben Peyton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine but not nearly as good as Looming Tower. It's a collection of articles from the New Yorker that Wright did throughout the years. The first three are longer versions of pieces included in The Looming Tower. The best articles are two pieces on the spread of radical Islam in Europe before and after the Madrid bombings and a great piece on the weird film industry in pre-civil-war Syria. The other pieces are kind of interesting but these two were the best.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Account of Al-Qaida and ISIS

Lawrence Wright is an excellent writer and gives an account that is clear and poignant. One of the best accounts of Al Qaida and ISIS. Really good.

[Dayna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wright is one of my favorite journalists/authors. I love his clear, concise language and admire him for the difficult subjects he tackles. His voice is much needed.

[Stan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good writing and reporting on the Middle East and terrorism. Recommended.

[Alaa Al-Bishbishi]

الكتاب: سنوات الإرهاب.. من القاعدة إلى الدولة الإسلامية
المؤلف: لورانس رايت
الناشر: Knopf
تاريخ الإصدار: 23 أغسطس 2016
عدد الصفحات: 384
اللغة: الإنجليزية


في الذكرى الـ15 لأحداث 11 سبتمبر، صدر "كتاب سنوات الإرهاب.. من القاعدة إلى تنظيم الدولة" في 384 صفحة بالإنجليزية، لمؤلفه لورانس رايت، الحائز على جائزة بوليتزر عن كتابه "بروج مشيدة"، وأحد أبرز الصحفيين الغربيين الذين يكتبون عن "الإرهاب" في الشرق الأوسط.
الهدف الرئيس من الكتاب هو: تذكير القراء بجذور الإرهاب المعاصر في الشرق الأوسط، والتحذير من المخاطر التي لا تزال تحدق بالعالم.
إطلالة عامة
الكتاب عبارة عن عشرة مقالات نُشِرَت أولا في مجلة نيويوركر، تستعرض المسار الذي اتخذته جماعات العنف المسلحة في المنطقة، منذ صعود ت��ظيم القاعدة في التسعينيات، وصولا إلى قطع داعش رؤوس الصحفيين وعمال الإغاثة مؤخرًا.
المقالات المجموعة بين دفتي "سنوات الإرهاب"، كتبها "رايت" أثناء بحثه من أجل كتاب "بروج مشيدة"، فضلا عن العديد من المقالات التي كتبها منذ ذلك الحين.
يتتبع الكتاب كيف نشأ تنظيم القاعدة، ومعتقداته الأساسية، وكيف تحوَّل وانتشر.
من بين الصور التي يستعرضها الكتاب، الرجل الثاني بعد بن لادن، أيمن الظواهري، والسعودية، التي يصفها المؤلف بـ "مملكة الصمت"، التي ترزح تحت سيطرة الشرطة الدينية، والصراع الفلسطيني-الإسرائيلي ما بين 2006 و2011.
فصول أخرى من الكتاب تتناول تنظيم القاعدة، وخطة المستقبل، والتمرد داخل التنظيم، وتنامي شبكة الإرهاب في أنحاء العالم.
يختم الكتاب بمقال حول اعتقال وذبح أربعة صحفيين أمريكيين وعمال إغاثة على أيدي تنظيم الدولة، والرد الأمريكي الرسمي الذي يصفه المؤلف بـ"الفشل".
نبوءة مخيفة
في مقدمة الكتاب، يستشهد المؤلف بتجربة فيلم (الحصار The Siege)، الذي شارك في تأليفه، إلى جانب الممثلين: دينزل واشنطن وطوني شلهوب وبروس ويليس.
السؤال الرئيس الذي يطرحه الفيلم، المعروض عام 1998، هو: ماذا لو تسلل الإرهابيون إلى أمريكا، مثلما فعلوا في فرنسا وإنجلترا؟
لكن الفيلم كان فاشلا بمقاييس الـ بوكس أوفيس؛ وهو ما يُرجِعه الكاتب جزئيًا إلى العرب المسلمون الذين أعربوا عن امتعاضهم من تصويرهم كإرهابيين.
المفارقة أنه بعد أحداث 11 سبتمبر، أصبح فيلم "الحصار" أكثر الأفلام الأمريكية إقبالا، وبات يُنظَر إليه باعتباره نبوءة مخيفة.
مأساة إغريقية ساخرة
من الجانب الأمريكي، يستعرض الكتاب شخصية المنسق السابق لعمليات مكافحة الارهاب، جون أونيل، الذي فقد وظيفته قبيل هجمات سبتمبر، عقابا له على الكشف عن معلومات حساسة.
تولى "أونيل" بعدها منصب مدير الأمن في مركز التجارة العالمي، وسرعان ما لقي حتفه في الهجمات.
يقول المؤلف: "حينئذٍ، رأيتُ السخرية ترفرف فوق جثته: بدلا من أن ينال من ابن لادن، نال ابن لادن منه. واليوم، أنظر إلى مقتل أونيل باعتباره مأساة إغريقية.
عن طيب خاطر، أقحم نفسه في قلب المكان الذي توقع أن يكون "الموقع صفر" في المأساة التي رآها تقترب".
إهمال كارثيّ
أحد اللوحات الأخرى التي يرسمها الكتاب، هي: شخصية علي صوفان، الضابط الأمريكي-اللبناني السابق في مكتب التحقيقات الفيدرالي.
"صوفان"، الذي كان يحظى برعاية "أونيل"، هو الذي استلهم منه المؤلف الشخصية التي قام بها طوني شلهوب في فيلم "الحصار".
يتساءل المؤلف في هذا الجزء عن فشل وكالة الاستخبارات المركزية الأمريكية في التعاون مع تحقيقات صوفان بشأن مقتل 17 بحارا أمريكيا، والأهم عدم منحه المعلومات التي كان يمكن أن تكشف عن تواجد القاعدة في الولايات المتحدة قبل وقوع هجمات سبتمبر.
يرى المؤلف أنه كان بالإمكان إجهاض هذه الهجمات، ويعرب عن استنكاره لعدم محاسبة أحد حتى الآن على هذا الإهمال الذي وصفه بالكارثيّ.
مشاعر مختلطة
خلال السنوات الخمس التالية، انشغل المؤلف بالبحث لإصدار كتابه "بروج مشيدة.. القاعدة والطريق إلى 11 سبتمبر".
ليعرف "رايت" أكثر عن الرجل الثاني خلف أسامة بن لادن في تنظيم القاعدة، أيمن الظواهري، سافر إلى مصر.
أثار استغرابه؛ أن مصر- البلد الذي كان مغرما بها- لم يكدر صفوها المشاعر المختلطة التي أثارتها هجمات نيويورك وواشنطن، والتي هي مزيج من: الفخر والعار والإنكار.
بالمثل، شعر المؤلف بالقلق حين عاود زيارة أماكن كانت تحظى يومًا بمكانةٍ في قلبة، لكنها أصبحت الآن ملطخة بهذه الاختلافات الصارخة، مثل فصول الجامعة الأمريكية التي درَّس فيها، وأصبحت الآن يطاردها شبح محمد عطا، الذي درس الإنجليزية داخلها. والنادي الرياضي الذي لعب فيه التنس، استضاف أيضًا أيمن الظواهري في أمسيات الصيف.
مملكة الصمت
حين حاول المؤلف زيارة السعودية لمعرفة المزيد عن شخصية بن لادن، رفضت السلطات في المملكة- لأكثر من عام- منحه تأشيرة دخول كصحفي.
أخيرًا، حصل على وظيفة مرشد لمجموعة مراسلين شباب يعملون في صحيفة سعودي جازيت اليومية الناطقة بالإنجليزية ومقرها جدة، مسقط رأس زعيم تنظيم القاعدة.
في الظروف العادية، كان "رايت" يقوم بالبحث من داخل غرفة فندق، حيث يجري اتصالاته، ويحاول ترتيب لقاءات. لكن هذه المرة، كان يعيش داخل غرفة متوسطة في المملكة، ويذهب إلى العمل يوميًا.
اسميًا، كان يُدَرِّس مهنة الصحافة، لكن طلابه علموه عن بلدهم أكثر بكثير مما كان يستطيع تحصيله وحده، على حد قوله.
ساعده ذلك على نزع العصابة التي يرتديها المراسلون حين يهبطون من السماء في قلب بلدٍ لا يعرفون شيئًا عن حضارته. وهي التجربة التي سطّرها في كتابه تحت عنوان: "مملكة الصمت".
صناعة الأفلام السورية
انتقل المؤلف إلى سوريا في عام 2006. حينها كان الشرق الأوسط المتصارع المضطرب يعتبر جنة بالنسبة للصحفيين، إلا حينما يتحول إلى فخٍ قاتل.
لفت اهتمام المؤلف صناعة الأفلام السورية، التي كانت صغيرة لكنها مثيرة للاهتمام. وقرر مشاهدة إنتاجها ولقاء صناعها في محاولة للتعرف على هذا البلد عن قرب.

(نُشِرَ هذا العرض على موقع مركز إدراك للدراسات والاستشارات في عام 2016، كما نُشِرَ على موقع "العالم بالعربية"؛ أول منصة عربية متخصصة في رصد وتحليل اتجاهات الصحف ومراكز الأبحاث والإصدارات العالمية)

[Emmet Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wright is a great writer, and some of these pieces are really phenomenal. Others are just a little boring and hard to connect to any of the larger themes in the book.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent, readable collection of essays by one of my favs.

[latner3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

" IN MEMORY OF.
James Foley.
Steven Sotloff
Peter Kassig
Kayla Mueller and the world they might have made."

[Will Lennon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fascinating. It really gave me a more rounded understanding of the evolution of jihadist terrorism between the late 90s and present day. The only downside: it's not very cohesive. Currently it reads like a compilation of semi-related essays and articles. Sometimes Wright writes in the style of a historian. Sometimes he writes more like a journalist, and some chapters read like straight up memoir. I wish he had streamlined this into more of a narrative. It's a minor complaint though. Anyone interested in geopolitics should pick this up.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

[Lois · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated Wright's two previous books quite a bit more than this one (The Looming Tower and the Scientology one.) This is a collection of essays previously published with addenda and roughly traces the terrorist organization development from al Qaeda to ISIS. I found it repetitive in spots and ultimately frustrating...although indeed the times and the occurrences themselves have been both repetitive and frustrating. Have a little difficulty with the way he fawns a bit over John O'Neill, who may have been prescient about terrorism but had the morals and behavior in his personal life which ultimately cost him his career and probably at least three women who thought on his last day on this earth that she was "the one."

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This entire collection is excellent. If you haven't had a chance to read the article Wright did for The New Yorker called 'Five Hostages', it is the centerpiece of this collection and it is an absolute must read. I would also recommend starting with The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction before digging in on The Terror Years: From al-Qaeda to the Islamic State.

[Geoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lawrence Wright is a big-time journalist and one of America's premier nonfiction writers. This essay collection is a must-read for anyone interested in the Middle East and Islamism.

Starting with Ayman al-Zawahari's radicalization in Egypt in the 70's (after which he would found Al Qaeda with Osama bin Laden), each essay explores a different aspect of the jihadist movement and Islamic extremism. American intelligence agencies do not come off well, as it seems pretty clear that better communication between the CIA and the FBI would have prevented 9/11. The book ends with the best essay here, a heart-rending portrait of five hostages captured by ISIS and their families at home.

Engaging, informative, readable and powerful, this is modern journalism at its finest.

[Hassan Zayour · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book introduces the reader in a very smooth and nice way to the origins of some of the most infamous Terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda, giving us an insight into why and how did people Like Al Zawahiri, Bin-Laden, Zarqawi, and others emerge. The reader is also introduced into how the intelligence system in the US works, how did 9/11 take place and some other interesting events. An excellent read for anyone interested in studying terrorist organizations and their political effects.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lawrence Wright is such a fantastic author. I appreciate how he presents the facts and doesn't try to get an agenda across. This book is so informative. It is obviously pretty heavy subject matter but it didn't leave me feeling anxious about the future. I wish all the members of our Government and the press would read it.

[Laura Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absorbing, interesting book. I highly recommend this amazingly well-written read to anyone who may have an interest in Saudi Arabia. Any questions you might have will be answered in this book. Absolutely enlightening.

[Huye Lobo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy interesante. No es equidistante y a la vez no es maniqueo, que en este tema es realmente complicado.

[David Quijano · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Lawrence Wright. I was thinking of re-reading either "The Looming Tower" or "Thirteen Days in September" recently and decided to see if he had any new books that might be worth my time. I found that he published "The Terror Years" in 2016 and decided to read that rather than re-read his older stuff.

For anyone that read "The Looming Tower" or "Thirteen Days in September," "The Terror Years" was a great continuation of the Mid-East theme. It found the perfect balance between refreshing old information from Wright's past books and providing new narratives and perspectives. The first two books were strong narrative histories of al-Qaeda and the Camp David Accords, respectively. "The Terror Years" by contrast was a meandering story that covers both the history of al-Qaeda, personal anecdotes from Wright's time in Saudi Arabia as a journalist during the beginning of the second Iraq War, and finally ending with the rise of ISIS.

As someone who has read Wright's other works, I found the parts where he talks about his time in Saudi Arabia as the most interesting. It gives a personal feel and cultural context that his past books may have lacked. When writing about his time in Saudi Arabia, Wright talks about his interactions with women (or lack thereof), how dependent the country is on immigrant labor, and his experiences as a journalist. All of this is fascinating and I found myself wondering how none of this was mentioned in "The Looming Tower."

My main problem with "The Terror Years" is that Wright doesn't really give ISIS the comprehensive coverage I hoped for. Rather, Wright "zooms in" and talks mostly about their kidnapping of American aid workers. His decision to address ISIS in this way was interesting to me. My general feel of Wright is that he is liberal, but he seemed to hit the Obama administration pretty hard on the way it dealt with the American hostages. Specifically, he criticizes the idea that America won't negotiate with terrorist groups, unlike the European countries which ended up getting back many of their hostages. I don't think the criticism is unfair. He gives both sides and explains the political and moral context of the decisions that Obama faced. In terms of morality, the fact that European countries were willing to pay to get their hostages back helped make ISIS the most financially successful terrorist group in history. He also notes that at the time the Americans were prisoners of ISIS, the US made the decision to prioritize stopping the slaughter of the Yazidi people. Doing so may have saved thousands of lives, but it also hurt the chances of getting our hostages back safely. Politically, Wright points out that the Iranian hostage situation killed the Jimmy Carter presidency and nearly ruined the Reagan administration because of the Iran-Contra deal.

All of this was interesting, and I had somehow forgotten about much of the ISIS hostage-taking situation. The problem was he missed some of the basics regarding the rise of ISIS. Wright mentions that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was basically the founder of the group that became ISIS. Zarqawi died in 2006, though, and the next thing we know, Wright is talking about the ISIS hostage situation in 2014. Obviously, a lot happened in those eight years in between, but unless I read another book or a Wikipedia page about it, I will never know what those events are.

Overall, I really liked this book. He finds a good ideological balance and this book should be readable by any liberal or conservative who wants to learn more about Islamic terrorism. There is no unnecessary bashing of unpopular political figures, but he also doesn't avoid hot-button issues like torture (where he quotes multiple credible people with different stances on the issue). He explains the terrorist strategy of trying to goad the US into an expensive all-out war (a strategy that helped destroy the USSR after the Afghan war), but he also admits that by all accounts, that strategy has been a complete failure for al-Qaeda. Not only are almost all the al-Qaeda leaders dead, but Osama did not succeed in getting large numbers of Muslims to join his cause. In fact, many have turned against his tactics. This is a good book for anyone who is interested in learning more about Islamic terrorism and Arab culture. That said, I would recommend "The Looming Tower" to anyone new to the subject before I would recommend this one.