The Road to Al-Qaeda: The Story of bin Laden's Right-Hand Man

Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahiri is considered by many to be the operational mastermind of al-Qaeda. This work, written by an Egyptian Islamist critical of Zawahiri, describes the evolution of Zawahiri's career and ideology. In part a response to Zawahiri's criticism's of the author's advocacy of Islamism by peaceful means, the text looks at Zawahiri's aristocratic background, his reactions to Egyptian political events such as the assassination of Anwar Sadat, the participation of Islamists in the CIA-sponsored war against the Russians in Afghanistan, and the evolution of Zawahiri's change in focus from "near enemies" (local Muslim leaders) to the United States and Israel. Distributed in the U.S. by Stylus publishing. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR