Rating: 
Summary: worthless and nothing to say about the man in question
Review: When I bought the book, I expeted this to be biography of a man
who has the whole world after him after Sep 11, 2001 but all the book talks about is the Islamic fundamentalists and extremists. The book just mentions Bin Ladin approx. seven times but the subject remained fundamentalists and extremism NO BIN LADIN.
I hope someone writes a real biography to explain why Bin Ladin is so adamant about taking revenge from Americans on what exactly?
Rating: 
Summary: A real eye-opener!
Review: I don't usually read books on history, politics, or world affairs, but I wish I had read this a long time ago. The author explains the complicated politics of the Middle East, along with ever-shifting loyalties, and our country's own manipulation by Pakistan, all of which contributed to the rise of Osama Bin Laden and worldwide terrorism. The book is detailed and well researched. Although it's not a "quick" read, it was so informative, I had a hard time putting it down.This book was written before the events of September 11 2001, but it gives the background information to put those events into perspective. It made me realize that in America, we've all been living in denial for the past 20 years, while overseas, a lot of anti-American (and anti-Western) sentiment has been brewing. I had no idea how many people out there would die to ensure the fall of Western civilization. We take our religious freedom, as well as separation of church and state, for granted in this country. I have never appreciated it as much as I do right now. Thank you to Mr. Bodansky for opening my eyes.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent read on face value
Review: I've owned this book since it first was published in '99. The book reads well with the excepetion of a few boring parts. For the most part, Bodansky gives the straight facts about bin Laden and definately covers his history in depth. My only real complaint is the anti-bin Laden spin Bodansky puts on his writing. Some chapters seemed to carry a little too much of his personal agenda with them. Bottom line: take this book on its face value and ignore the [personal] input.
Rating:
Summary: Please allow me to introduce myself I'm a man of wealth and
Review: "Won't you get my name; what's quite puzzling you is the nature of my game". I guess we now know that the game is a jihad-a holy war against America as the antithesis of Islam's fundamentalist values and that's what this book is about. Writing from his perspective as director of Florida congressman Bill McCollum's Congressional Task Force on Terrorism, Bodansky knows of which he speaks. One can quibble with his version, but I think the jury is in on Osama Bin Laden's ability to carry out mass acts of terrorism where thousands of innocent people are needlessly sacrificed to his ideal of Islamic justice. Bin Laden has been the world's most wanted Terrorist for a number of years and it's a black mark on the policies of the Clinton-Gore administration that they made it so difficult for our intelligence agencies to apprehend such men. Bodansky posits how Bin Laden has become a hero to scores of radical Muslim youth. He recounts the litany of his terrorist attacks on American embassies in Africa and on India while in league with the ISI, Pakistan's intelligence service. Sponsorship of Islamic terrorist movements has become a part of Paki national security policy and Bin Laden plays no small part in this exercise. The role of Pakistan in recruiting and soliciting radical Islamic militants is a chilling forecast of things to come. The Taliban has now taken its religious views to the extreme and has "taken its show on the road". This will unfortunately lead to resolute retaliation by the West which will in turn lead to much blood letting. This book will provide the interested reader with a lot of the history of what has made up and what has gone into the resistance by Bin Laden to the UN forces in Somalia and elsewhere . It will also provide an in depth view of the operations of terrorist networks as they have become spread across that section of the world that borders the southern and eastern Mediterranean. Read this book and prepare for what is sure to come.
Rating:
Summary: If Only We'd Read This Before 9/11/01!
Review: This book is a great overview for those interested in the man
who has become the most wanted man in the world! Unlike A.Gadad,
Brandon Taylor and Raj Ghoshal, I definitely did not see bin
Laden as some sort of misunderstood, put-upon religious hero,
but was interested in bin Laden's background and what makes him
"tick". This book helps someone unfamiliar with the culture, history and lifestyle of bin Laden and his followers obtain
excellent information. Obviously, Mr.Bodansky knows his subject well, and despite some of the other criticism listed here, his background & credentials alone supply enough "reference" to make his accounts credible. On a more personal note--I add A.Gadad to "Joe's Spit-On List"!
Rating:
Summary: Hindsight is 20/20
Review: This is one of the books that has sat on my "going to read" bookshelf until the tragic events of 9/11/01. Now that I have read it I am experiencing a wide array of emotions, not the least of which are anger and dismay. Not that my reading it before would have done anything but it would have at least lessened the shock and surprise at "who could do such a thing" and "how could something like this have happenned?". This book answers those questions. It is for readers who believe in the maxim "Know thy Enemy" for the author does a magnificent job of describing bin Laden and how he developed into the extremist terrorist who threatens the free world's way of life; how he developed his resources, and the complex network of followers who are willing to die for their beliefs. It's almost as interesting to read some of the reviews of this book written prior to the recent acts of terror. Those reviews discount bin Laden and the assertions Bodansky makes about him, claiming the author is trying to make money by sensationalizing the Islamist leader, his resources and his blueprint for destruction. Don't believe them. Yossef Bodansky has impeccable research to back up his statements and the indescribable horror of this last week solidifies his credibility.
Rating: 
Summary: Staggering Amount of Data
Review: Whatever can be collated into a bio of Osama Bin Laden is in here. An exploration of the mind of terrorism. A lot of history on the Iranian-Sudanese axis that resisted the US-UN in Africa and its activities on the Horn of Africa. An almost exausting amount of data on various terrorist actors and their interrelationships. Also dealt with extensively is the networking process of using legitimate economic development and humanitarian aid organizations to create a shadow economic network to pass money and materiele around. Also the legitimate activities of these organizations can serve propagandistic purposes. The book also details the involvement of Pakistan's ISI in the development of terrorist camps and networks; as well as Pakistan's role in the evolution of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The book is more than an attempt to biographize Osama bin Laden. It is a study of terrorist networks in general, how they exist and survive, and how the operate.
Rating: 
Summary: A Biased Analysis of Islamic Fundamentalism
Review: After reading this book, I must say I'm thoroughly displeased. Bodansky greatly exaggerates the power of Bin Laden so that readers like us may get scared and buy his book. He wants us to believe that Islamic fundamentalism is a threat, yet he only presents one side - the side that is presented everyday by the American and Western media. He never analyzes the fascinating part of Bin Laden's mysterious life - why he does what he does. Moreover, he never explains the oxymoronic nature of the phrase "Islamic terrorism." That is, "Islam" literally means peace or submission, so an "Islamic terrorist" would be a "peaceful, submitting terrorist." Plus, he never goes back and analyzes the religion itself. If he had, we would know that terrorism is absolutely not allowed in Islam. As a result, the book comes off as nothing more than a 19th century Islamiphobic tabloid. If you want the truth, you'll need to find an objective source - not the prejudiced, sensationalist, subjective opinions of an ill-researched reporter like Bodansky. Thus, I do NOT recommend this book, because the only way you can learn from it, is if you already know about the topic.
Rating:
Summary: Simplistic, poor scholarship
Review: This book is worth reading for two audiences: those looking for fairy tales of good guys against bad, and those interested in the way political enemies are constructed by books such as this one. As a member of the second audience, it is depressing to me that this book was published. The most notable thing is its utter lack of references, citations, or anything of the kind. That's right, zero. Throughout the book this problem manifests itself as Bodansky tells us what unnamed "experts" have revealed to him. There is simply no way for readers to judge anything Bodansky says in this book. Apart from that problem, this book is sensationalistic and one sided--suitable only for those who believe that bin Laden is the devil personified. Those interested in why he might do what he does will be disappointed. You could get as much intellectual depth from reading The Adventures of Osama bin Laden Comix. Shoddy work; a reasonably bright college student could do better.
Rating:
Summary: Bin Laden - Terror or Truth?
Review: Here is a little piece of the biography of this man that is not found in this book. During the oil boom of the Middle East during the 1970s, Mohammad bin Ladin, an ordinary from Yemen came and settled with his family in Saudi Arabia. He opened a business which later proved to be one of the biggest construction companies in the entire Middle East: the Bin Ladin Corporation. This company was involved in the construction of roads, buildings, mosques, airports and the entire infrastructure of many of the countries in the Arabian Gulf. Usama was one of the sons of Mohammad bin Ladin. Being an ordinary young man, he was more pious than his brothers, and was deeply affected by the involvement of his family's company in rebuilding the two Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madinah. Then in 1979, just after he graduated from King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah with a degree in Civil Engineering, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, and the Mujahideen put out an international plea for help. Usama bin Ladin responded by packing himself and several of his family's bulldozers off to Afghanistan. He was inspired, he said, by the plight of Muslims in a medieval society besieged by a 20th century superpower. "In our religion, there is a special place in the Hereafter for those who participate in Jihad," he was quoted as saying. "One day in Afghanistan was like 1000 days of praying in an ordinary mosque." At first his work was political. He recruited thousands of Arab fighters in the Gulf, paid for their passage to Afghanistan and set up the main camps to train them. Later he designed defensive tunnels and ditches along the Pakistani border, driving a bulldozer and exposing himself to strafing from Soviet helicopter gunships. Before long, he had taken up a Kalashnikov and was going into battle. In 1986 he and a few dozen Arab defenders fought off a Soviet onslaught in town called Jaji, not far off from the Pakistani border. To the Arab volunteers, it was one of the first demonstrations that the Russians could actually be beaten. A year later, Bin Ladin led an offensive against Soviet troops in the battle of Shaban. Vicious handtohand fighting claimed heavy Mujahideen casualties, but his men succeeded in pushing the Soviets out of the area, with the Help of Allah (SWT). Who in this day and age can dare to stand up against American occupation of muslim land. The answer is not many, but when one man does, he is labeled as nothing other than an evil terrorist. Osama Bin Laden is not a terrorist, the bombings in Kenya and Tanzania are merely crimes alleged to him and to which he himself has refuted. Bin Laden is a man deeply loved and respected and a hero to those that stand for justice. I hope that the mothers of this muslim nation bear one like him.
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