In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright explains the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, the rise of al-Qaeda, and the intelligence breakdowns that culminated in the attacks on the World Trade Center. Wright re-creates the transformation of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri from incompetent and idealistic soldiers in Afghanistan to leaders of one of the most successful terrorist groups in modern history. He also follows FBI Counterterrorism Chief John O'Neill as he uncovers the emerging danger from al-Qaeda in the 1990s and struggles to track this new threat. Based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States, his book provides a detailed look at daily life inside of al-Qaeda, the U.S. agents who saw the threat, and the long road to September 11th.