Includes bibliographical references (p. 413-417) and index.

In August 1998 two powerful car bombs exploded simultaneously outside U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. In Nairobi, the force of the blast shattered windows more than a quarter mile away. Less than two weeks later the United States retaliated by launching cruise missiles directed against terrorist camps in both Afghanistan and Sudan. The real target, however, was one man who has become the symbol of Islamic terror. "Our mission was clear," a somber President Clinton told the nation. "To strike at the network of radical groups affiliated with and funded by Osama bin Laden, perhaps the preeminent organizer and financier of international terrorism in the world today." "Fascinating account. I strongly recommend it." - Jeane J. Kirkpatrick In meticulous detail, world-renowned terrorism expert Yossef Bodansky uncovers the events in bin Laden's life that turned the once-promising engineering student into a cold-blooded leader of radical Islam. In the process, Bodansky pulls together a chilling story that is as current as today's headlines but as ancient as the Crusades; a story that transcends bin Laden and any other single man, one that sweeps from Iran, Afghanistan, and Iraq to Kosovo and beyond. He takes you deep into the heart of centuries-old hatreds that have produced generations of bin Ladens and a terror network of underground armies that can strike virtually anywhere in the world. Fueled by Middle Eastern oil wealth and covertly armed by some of America's closest allies, this terror network is waging a brutal guerrilla war whose aim is nothing short of changing the course of history. The battlefields are increasingly Western city streets and the casualties are most often innocents caught in the crossfire. Including new information about bin Laden's pursuit of chemical and nuclear weapons, covert deals between the U.S. and Islamic terrorists, and American foreign policy blunders that have cost countless lives, this book is a sobering wake-up call.