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The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 953.8052
EAN: 9781594201646
Edition: 1
ISBN: 1594201641
Label: Penguin Press HC, The
Manufacturer: Penguin Press HC, The
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 688
Publication Date: April 01, 2008
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Studio: Penguin Press HC, The
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Editorial Review:
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the national bestseller Ghost Wars, Steve Coll presents the story of the Bin Laden familys rise to power and privilege, revealing new information to show how American influences changed the family and how one members rebellion changed America The Bin Ladens rose from poverty to privilege; they loyally served the Saudi royal family for generationsand then one of their number changed history on September 11, 2001. Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Steve Coll tells the epic story of the rise of the Bin Laden family and of the wildly diverse lifestyles of the generation to which Osama bin Laden belongs, and against whom he rebelled. Starting with the familys escape from famine at the beginning of the twentieth century through its jet-set era in America after the 1970s oil boom, and finally to the familys attempts to recover from September 11, The Bin Ladens unearths extensive new material about the family and its relationship with the United States, and provides a richly revealing and emblematic narrative of our globally interconnected times. To a much greater extent than has been previously understood, the Bin Laden family owned an impressive share of the America upon which Osama ultimately declared warshopping centers, apartment complexes, luxury estates, privatized prisons in Massachusetts, corporate stocks, an airport, and much more. They financed Hollywood movies and negotiated over real estate with Donald Trump. They came to regard George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Prince Charles as friends of their family. And yet, as was true of the larger relationship between the Saudi and American governments, when tested by Osamas violence, the familys involvement in the United States proved to be narrow and brittle. Among the many memorable figures that cross these pages is Osamas older brother, Salema free-living, chainsmoking, guitar-strumming pilot, adventurer, and businessman who cavorted across America and Europe and once proposed marriage to four American and European girlfriends simultaneously, attempting to win a bet with the king of Saudi Arabia. Osama and Salems father, Mohamed bin Laden, is another force in the narrativean illiterate bricklayer who created the family fortune through perspicacity and wit, until his sudden death in an airplane crash in 1967, an accident caused by an error by his American pilot. At the storys heart lies an immigrant familys attempt to adapt simultaneously to Saudi Arabias puritanism and Americas myriad temptations. The family generation to which Osama belongedtwenty-five brothers and twenty-nine sistershad to cope with intense change. Most of them were born into a poor society where religion dominated public life. Yet by the time they became young adults, these Bin Ladens found themselves bombarded by Western-influenced ideas about individual choice, by gleaming new shopping malls and international fashion brands, by Hollywood movies and changing sexual moresa dizzying world that was theirs for the taking, because they each received annual dividends that started in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. How they navigated these demands is an authentic, humanizing story of Saudi Arabia, America, and the sources of attraction and repulsion still present in the countries awkward embrace.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A good start on a very complex subject
The pieces of the Bin Laden family puzzle have been scattered across numerous continents and decades. With a doggedness that has already won him two Pulitzers, Steve Coll attacks the challenge of bringing these pieces together to form the definitive history of this enigmatic family. From published works to countless interviews with Bin Laden family and associates to long sequestered State Department documents, Coll assiduously mines the data and develops a portrait of one of the most recognizable ... Read More
Rating: - What a journey!
Yes, this is a long book; worth every minute. The depth of research is mind-boggling, but it is written with a clear, quickly-moving presentation. It is long on detail, extensive and interesting, short on editorializing: Coll leaves that up to the reader. Given the opacity of the Saud and bin Laden families' entrepreneurship, one is certainly left wondering! My favourite line actually appears at the very end: "...in the meanwhile, each time his audio- or videotapes reached Al-Jazeera or CNN, Osama ... Read More
Rating: - Excellent work
What an insight Mr. Coll gives to the Bin Laden family...I highly recommend this book!
Rating: - An eye opening account of this family and the last century of Saudi history
Picked up this book after hearing the author interviewed on PBS. Given the family's aversion to publicity this represents an exhaustive effort to pry out detail. Coll tracks the family history from their humble beginnings in Yemen to the patriarch's rise in business association with the Saudi royal family, and to the present day. Usually after finishing a book this size I am ready to switch to something els, but at the end of this 575-page volume I found myself going back to reread the first few chapters. ... Read More
Rating: - Nothing much to add
Peterson's review is very good and captures the essence of the book. There is a good deal of information about the Saudi Monarchy in this book that can fill out reading from other sources. It's a poignant story at times evoking the normal tragedies of life in the early deaths of Mohamed, the founder of the dynasty and his heir, Salem. Mr. Coll has a gift for narrative non-ficiton and weaves the constant theme of aviation into the Bin Laden story as well as the destructive side of their construction business. ... Read More
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