Books

The Osama bin Laden I Know

An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader

No one knows more about Osama bin Laden than Peter Bergen. In 1997, well before the West suddenly became aware of the world’s most sought-after terrorist, Bergen met with him and has followed his activities ever since.

Today, years after President Bush swore to get him dead or alive and despite haunting the popular imagination since September 11, 2001, bin Laden remains shrouded in mystery and obscured by a barrage of facts, details and myths. With numerous never-before-published interviews, The Osama Bin Laden I Know provides unprecedented insight into bin Laden’s life and character drawing on the experiences of his most intimate acquaintances. This timely and important work gives readers their first true, enduring look at the man who has declared the West his greatest enemy.

PRAISE

“Highly illuminating. Peter Bergen, an experienced reporter as well as an academic, stands out among terrorism ‘experts’ for his breadth of experience and clear-headedness. Bergen has done a fine job of researching and compiling a very wide range of oral testimony. What emerges is a fascinating sequence of oblique-angled perspectives, casting light on the underlying motives of bin Laden and his companions and revealing some of his less-remarked but significant adventures.”

— Max Rodenbeck, The New York Review of Books

“A coherent and dramatic account. How appropriate that the short biographies of those cited are gathered under the rubric ‘Dramatis Personae.’ This is a compelling story well told. There is plenty of evil, but thanks to Bergen’s ability to bring out the human dimensions of the individuals involved, the banality of evil is not lacking either.”

— L. Carl Brown, Foreign Affairs

“Peter L. Bergen has written what will long be the ‘go-to’ resource . . . a chronological record of what is known about bin Laden from his birth in 1957 to 2005, assembled by stringing together statements from bin Laden and those who taught him, met him, worked with him, or interviewed him over those forty-eight years.”

— Richard A. Clarke, The Washington Post

 

REVIEWS

May 15, 2012

review of OBL I Know in Le Monde

New York Times
May 15, 2012

Kirkus Review on The OBL I Know

New York Times
May 15, 2012

Review of the “Osama bin Laden I know” by Dick Clarke in the Washington Post

Washington Post
May 15, 2012

Review of the OBL I Know in The Guardian

The Guardian UK
May 15, 2012

Review of “The OBL I Know” on CNN.com

CNN
May 15, 2012

Review of the OBL I Know in The Nation

The Nation
May 15, 2012

Review of the OBL I Know in Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs Magazine
May 15, 2012

Review of OBL I Know in the UK Sunday Times

CNews
May 15, 2012

Review of “The OBL I Know” in the New York Review of Books.

New York Review of Books
May 15, 2012

Miami Herald review of OBL I KNow

CNews
May 15, 2012

Toronto Star feature on the OBL I Know

PB
May 15, 2012

review of OBL I Know in Denver Post

CNews
May 15, 2012

Maclean’s magazine feature on the OBL I Know

Macleans
May 15, 2012

Review of “The OBL I Know” in Asia Times

PB
May 15, 2012

review of OBL I Know in Pakistan’s Daily Times

PB
May 15, 2012

Review of OBL I Know in Asharq Al Awast

Asharq Al Awast
May 15, 2012

Library Journal review of The OBL I Know

CNews
May 15, 2012

New Statesman review of the OBL I Know

CNews
May 15, 2012

review of OBL I know in Books in Canada

PB
May 15, 2012

TLS review

PB