The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden
Written by Peter L. Bergen
Narrated by James Langton
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
In The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden, Peter Bergan provides the first reevaluation of the man responsible for precipitating America’s long war with al-Qaeda and its decedents, capturing bin Laden in all the dimensions of his life: as a family man, as a zealot, as a battlefield commander, as a terrorist leader, and as a fugitive. The book sheds light on his many contradictions: he was the son of a billionaire yet insisted his family live like paupers. He adored his wives and children, depending on his two wives, both of whom had PhDs, to make critical strategic decisions. Yet, he also brought ruin to his family. He was fanatically religious but willing to kill thousands of civilians in the name of Islam. He inspired deep loyalty, yet, in the end, his bodyguards turned against him. And while he inflicted the most lethal act of mass murder in United States history, he failed to achieve any of his strategic goals.
In his final years, the lasting image we have of bin Laden is of an aging man with a graying beard watching old footage of himself, just as another dad flipping through the channels with his remote. In the end, bin Laden died in a squalid suburban compound, far from the front lines of his holy war. And yet, despite that unheroic denouement, his ideology lives on. Thanks to exclusive interviews with family members and associates, and documents unearthed only recently, Bergen’s “comprehensive, authoritative, and compelling” (H.R. McMaster, author of Dereliction of Duty and Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World) portrait of Osama bin Laden reveals for the first time who he really was and why he continues to inspire a new generation of jihadists.
Peter L. Bergen
Peter Bergen is the author or editor of nine books, including three New York Times bestsellers and four Washington Post best nonfiction books of the year. A Vice President at New America, Bergen is a professor at Arizona State University and a national security analyst for CNN. He has testified before congressional committees eighteen times about national security issues and has held teaching positions at Harvard and Johns Hopkins University.
More audiobooks from Peter L. Bergen
Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama Bin Laden Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden
Related audiobooks
500 Days: Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Countdown bin Laden: The Untold Story of the 247-Day Hunt to Bring the Mastermind of 9/11 to Justice Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Spymaster of Baghdad: A True Story of Bravery, Family, and Patriotism in the Battle Against ISIS Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US, and Iran's Global Ambitions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5ISIS Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wrong Enemy: America in Afghanistan, 2001-2014 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From Beirut to Jerusalem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mastermind: The Many Faces of the 9/11 Architect, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Growing Up bin Laden: Osama's Wife and Son Take Us Inside Their Secret World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Behind the Kingdom's Veil: Inside the New Saudi Arabia Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Guests of the Ayatollah Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pentagon Papers: The Secret History of the Vietnam War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5ISIS: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Pablo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Search for Al Qaeda: Its Leadership, Ideology, and Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Prisoner in His Palace: Saddam Hussein and the Twelve Americans Who Guarded Him Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Iran Rising: The Survival and Future of the Islamic Republic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Watergate Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Gamble: The Soviet War in Afghanistan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5ISIS: The State of Terror Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government's Secret Drone Warfare Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inside the Middle East: Making Sense of the Most Dangerous and Complicated Region on Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Crash of Flight 3804: A Lost Spy, a Daughter’s Quest, and the Deadly Politics of the Great Game for Oil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow Everything Became War and the Military Became Everything: Tales from the Pentagon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Political Biographies For You
The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The White House Plumbers: The Seven Weeks That Led to Watergate and Doomed Nixon's Presidency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romney: A Reckoning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trump Tapes: Bob Woodward's Twenty Interviews with President Donald Trump Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lincoln Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dressed for a Dance in the Snow: Women's Voices from the Gulag Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear: Trump in the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Watergate Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Assassination Vacation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A House in the Sky: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mornings on Horseback Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5V Is For Victory Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Infidel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Truman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Peril Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden
46 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If ever there was a book with a happy ending...
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It was great from start to finish. The end tells it all. Thanks Steve
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good. I liked it. The commitment of US to eliminate him is commendable.