The Age of Sacred Terror

Winner of the 2004 Arthur Ross Book Award from the Council on Foreign Relations From two of the world's foremost experts on the new terrorism comes the deFinitive book on the rise of al-Qaeda and America's efforts to combat the most innovative and dangerous terrorist group ever. Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon trace the growth of radical Islam from its medieval origins and, drawing on their years of counter-terrorism work at the National Security Council, provide essential insights into the thinking of Usama bin Laden and his followers. With unique authority, they analyze why America was unable to defend itself against this revolutionary threat on September 11, 2001, why bin Laden's apocalyptic creed is gaining ground in the Islamic world, and what the United States must do to stop the new terror.

STEVEN SIMON, assistant director and senior fellow for U.S. Security Studies at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, served on the National Security Council staff as director for global issues from 1994 to 1998 and senior director for counterterrorism from 1998 to 1999. Prior to entering the administration, he held several positions at the U.S. Department of State dealing with regional security and nonproliferation. He holds degrees from Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton and was an international-affairs fellow at Oxford University.<br><br>DANIEL BENJAMIN, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, served as director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council staff from 1998 to 1999 and as special assistant and foreign-policy speechwriter for President Clinton from 1994 to 1997. Prior to entering the administration, he was Berlin bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal and has been a foreign correspondent for Time. He holds degrees from Harvard and Oxford, where he was a Marshall Scholar.<br><br><br><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>