Written by the former head of the CIA's Bin Laden unit, the book documents Al Qaeda's historical rise, goals, and motivations. Although the author is an American patriot, you should be aware that it generally gives Al Qaeda the benefit of the doubt insofar as motivations and history are concerned. In that respect, if it's the only book you read on the subject you may be doing yourself a disservice because Scheuer does have a serious man-crush on Al Qaeda as an operational organization and Bin Laden as a great, if sometimes misguided man.

Scheuer's second and third books (Imperial Hubris and Marching Toward Hell) are also heavily recommended, but they are much more polemical and political in nature than the first. In other words, be prepared for blunt, politically incorrect and iconoclastic writing. They should be read extremely critically, but are a nice change of pace from the usual euphemism-filled and cautiously middle-of-the-road circle-jerk analsys that often comes out of Washington.

Having read this, not sure what to call it, in 2008 in retrospect this writing has not proved valid. To charecterize bin Laden as "distinguished" one wonders how the author would define Joe Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Idi Amin etc. Bin Laden has a "passion for martydom" seems easy enough to accomplish yet he has avoided "martydom" for more than 10 years. "Bin Laden has survived by the grace of God ... just as Iraq's Saddem Hussein has kept his regime intact". AHH on second thought...

To compare this terrorist with the heros of the American Revolution is pure drivil. Who were the suicide bombers in 1776? Bin Laden started the jihad because american military were stationed in Saudi Arabia. Why where they there? Because bin Laden was trying to overthrow the Saudi government. This book is not worth 5 minutes of your time.

Michael Scheuer wrote an excellent, eye-opening treatise on the mindset of bin Laden and his camp. Indeed, it not only explains their thinking but also is a psychological exposure of the evolution of a a well-raised and kind man into a fanatical extremist. The comparison with American revolutionary heroes - John Bunyan, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine - shows that the state of righteous passion is treacherous, for it can easily advance from good into evil. Thus, we read that early in his life those who knew him described him as kind, humble, compassionate and gracious, while others saw him grow into a messianic zealot. Anyone wanting to understand the angry mind of the Arabs and the Islamic world should read what Scheuer enumerated as bin Laden's views of his foes and what he accuses them of: Islam's 1400 years of defensive struggle against the crusading worshippers of the cross; western atheism and barbarism in wars; the economic sanctions against Iraq and the starvation of its children, and so on. It is easy to see how an ill informed and opinionated mind can be beckoned into vengeful and retaliatory rage. Quickly, the eruption of explosive fear will create visions of an infidel predator or of the menacing claws of a hegemonic demon. Quickly also, the self-deception of divine inspiration can evoke Allah's order to slay the pagans wherever they can be found. All this can readily be seen as the derailment of a devoted, passionate and angry mind. Our leaders, who are charged with the handling of the enraged Islamic world will gain invaluable information from Scheuer's perceptive analysis. It is a must-read text for those who wish to avoid making tragic miscalculations.

A phenomenal perspective and one every citizen of the US should read (especially the idiots in the Bush Administration).