Lawrence Wright
discusses
The Terror Years:
From al-Qaeda to the Islamic State
Tickets on sale now ($5 or book-included)
This event includes a book signing
DateSep
12
Monday
September 12, 2016 6:00 PM ET (Doors at 5:30) |
LocationBrattle Theatre
40 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA 02138 |
Tickets
$29.75
$5.00
|
Harvard Book Store welcomes Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Looming Tower LAWRENCE WRIGHT for a discussion of his latest book, The Terror Years: From al-Qaeda to the Islamic State.
About The Terror Years
With The Looming Tower, Lawrence Wright became generally acknowledged as one of our major journalists writing on terrorism in the Middle East. Here, in ten powerful pieces first published in The New Yorker, he recalls the path that terror in the Middle East has taken, from the rise of al-Qaeda in the 1990s to the recent beheadings of reporters and aid workers by ISIS.
The Terror Years draws on several articles he wrote while researching The Looming Tower, as well as many that he’s written since, following where and how al-Qaeda and its core cultlike beliefs have morphed and spread. They include a portrait of the “man behind bin Laden,” Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the tumultuous Egypt he helped spawn; an indelible impression of Saudi Arabia, a kingdom of silence under the control of the religious police; the Syrian film industry, at the time compliant at the edges but already exuding a feeling of the barely masked fury that erupted into civil war; the 2006–11 Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza, a study in the disparate value of human lives. Other chapters examine al-Qaeda as it forms a master plan for its future, experiences a rebellion from within the organization, and spins off a growing web of worldwide terror. The American response is covered in profiles of two FBI agents and the head of the intelligence community. The book ends with a devastating piece about the capture and slaying by ISIS of four American journalists and aid workers, and our government’s failed response.
On the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11, The Terror Years is at once a unifying recollection of the roots of contemporary Middle Eastern terrorism, a study of how it has grown and metastasized, and, in the scary and moving epilogue, a cautionary tale of where terrorism might take us yet.
Praise
"Vivid firsthand reportage . . . Wright investigates every facet of the shadowy conflict [in] these dispatches from the frontlines of the 'war on terror.' He writes with empathy for every side while clearly registering the moral catastrophes that darken this pitiless struggle.” —Publishers Weekly
"A brilliant volume that is a must-read for anyone looking for greater illumination of the baffling world of religious extremism." —Carl Hays, Booklist
"Wright displays his top-notch reporting in stories about a disintegrating Syria, the never-ending conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians, the faith-based beliefs that undergird al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, and the massive failures of American intelligence agencies . . . Yet more great work from a dedicated journalist." —Kirkus Reviews
All pre-sales tickets include a copy of The Terror Years, admission into the event, and a $5 coupon for use in the bookstore. Pre-sales tickets (online only) are available for two weeks, after which a $5 ticket option will also go on sale. Books bundled with pre-sale tickets may only be picked up at the venue the night of the event, and cannot be picked up in-store beforehand.
$5 tickets will also be available at Harvard Book Store and over the phone at 617-661-1515. Unless the event is sold out, any remaining tickets will be on sale at the door of the venue when doors open.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-returnable.
Walking from the Harvard Square T station: 10 minutes
As you exit the station, cross Mass. Ave. and proceed along Brattle St. Follow Brattle St. as it curves to the right in Brattle Square (follow the sidewalk on the right side of the street). The Brattle will be on the left-hand side of the street. The building is shared with Algiers Cafe and Alden & Harlow Restaurant, and the theatre entrance is on the left side of the building—look for the sidewalk poster case and marquee.
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