โThe definitive book on the nineteen men who brought such devastation and terror to this country . . . a well-told, meticulously researched cautionary tale.โ โWashington Post Book World
The attacks of September 11, 2001, were a calamity on a scale few had imagined possible. In their aftermath, we exaggerated the men who perpetrated the attacks, shaping hasty and often mistaken reporting into caricatures we could comprehendโmonsters and master criminals equal to the enormity of their crime. In reality, the 9/11 hijackers were unexceptional men, not much different from countless others. It is this ordinary enemy, not the caricature, that we must understand if we are to have a legitimate hope of defeating terrorism.
Using research undertaken in twenty countries on four continents, Los Angeles Times correspondent Terry McDermott provides gripping, authoritative portraits of the main players in the 9/11 plot. With brilliant reporting and thoughtful analysis, McDermott brings us a clearer, more nuanced, and in some ways more frightening, understanding of the landmark event of our time.
โThe very best [book] available . . . on the subject.โ โLos Angeles Times
โAbsorbing. . . . [A] richly textured narrative full of the sort of small, telling details that turn these men from faceless figures of evil into individuals.โ โNew York Times
โBound to become one of the most insightful books ever published about September 11.โ โHouston Chronicle
โOffers riveting accounts of the final weeks and days as the plotters prepared to carry out their horrific mission.โ โBooklist
โChilling.โ โKirkusReviews
โThis is journalism at its best.โ โSeymour M. Hersh, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist
โEngrossing and deeply disturbing.โ โPublishers Weekly