cover image IN THE NAME OF OSAMA BIN LADEN: Global Terrorism and the Bin Laden Brotherhood

IN THE NAME OF OSAMA BIN LADEN: Global Terrorism and the Bin Laden Brotherhood

Roland Jacquard, Roland Jacquard, Jacquard, , trans. from the French by George Holoch, intro. and afterword by Samia Serage. Duke Univ., $18.95 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-8223-2991-6

This latest entry into the Osama bin Laden publishing sweepstakes stands out for its exhaustive research and prescience—it was published in France the week of September 11 and catapulted onto the bestseller lists there. Jacquard, a French terrorism expert, details Osama bin Laden's rise from his childhood in Saudi Arabia to turning into the world's largest terrorist menace. While the story has been told elsewhere (most popularly in Peter Bergen's Holy War Inc.), Jacquard brings new details. He's particularly provocative on bin Laden's travels during the early 1990s, arguing that he returned to Afghanistan only after quarreling with the Sudanese government. He also effectively details the tentacles of al-Qaeda throughout the world, putting together the most comprehensive description of a broad network in Europe and throughout Asia. Documents translated from Arabic and French give additional evidence and background. Now, despite several post–September 11 updates, some of the information published here is no longer novel, but this still stands as a balanced, sweeping description of the bin Laden threat. As the author adds in a new, ominous epilogue, the threat remains: al-Qaeda, he writes, wants "to lead the world into the apocalypse." (Mar.)