Lawrence Wright, a writer for The New Yorker, talks about his new book, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11.

Wright's work is based on more than 500 interviews, some with friends and relatives of Osama bin Laden, and examines the circumstances that led to the formation of al-Qaida. The New York Times Book Review said of The Looming Tower, "The portrait of John O’Neill, the driven, demon-ridden F.B. I. agent who worked so frantically to stop Osama bin Laden, only to perish in the attack on the World Trade Center, is worth the price of the book alone."

Copyright 2023 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air.