The 9/11 Wars Hardcover – 1 Sep 2011

Review

A magisterial history of the last decade ... Burke's book provides much sober information and analysis of its fiascos, which are intellectual as well as political and military ... The long patient sentences of The 9/11 Wars are suffused with the melancholy of a man who has learned a great deal from long exposure to atrocity and folly (Pankaj Mishra Guardian )

The best overview of the 9/11 decade so far in print ... More than most authors (and for that matter most politicians) Mr Burke is alert to the complex, multi-dimensional nature of what he dubs the "9/11 wars" (Economist )

For all Burke's ground-level eye, ... this is as much a book of scholarship as reportage, deftly analysing the shortcomings of both the bin Laden and the Bush camps ... Pacy, well-researched, and packed with telling anecdotes, this book's strength is in its detailed, balanced overview ... At a time when there are more books out on terrorism than ever before ... this is likely to be among the best, be the reader an armchair commander in London or a real one in Lashkar Gah (Sunday Telegraph )

Jason Burke ... is one of the most respected and experienced foreign correspondents in the business ... A major authority on the politics and organisation of Islamic extremism and ... a talented writer with the rare gift of joining effortless prose to challenging scholarship. He marshals both talents in this latest book ... It is a magnificent achievement (Irish Times )

A reader wanting a more dispassionate survey of how 9/11, and the response to it, may have shaped parts of the world will do no better than invest in [this] brilliant book ... The work of a journalist who has not only been there and witnessed, but also visited and revisited the places most affected by terror and the war on it ... The must-read on [the 9/11] anniversary (David Aaronovitch The Times )

This remarkably balanced, well-sourced and very well-written book ... will be turned to in the future ... Burke avoids all the classic pitfalls of war correspondents writing history ... [He] has demonstrated impressive expertise as a historian who has had the advantage of having been present on many of the battlefields he describes (Andrew Roberts Evening Standard )

[A] lucid, sane account ... Burke's taut, careful reporting puts back the facts that were clouded out. He talks to the right academics, the right spooks, but also to anyone willing to explain themselves, mullahs or pols or market traders, soldiers as well as generals, even suicide bombers who changed their minds at the last minute ... Remarkable (Scotsman )

A comprehensive summing up of the past decade's violent events ... Throughout, Burke's concern is to insist any accurate rendering must show the murky, convoluted nature of Western nations imposing one good-bad narrative on frequently unrelated local conflicts ... The 9/11 Wars warrants great respect (Metro )

Making sense of the aftermath of 9/11 ... is a monumental task - but Burke is up to the job. The 9/11 Wars is insightful, thorough, and at times fascinating (Daniel Byman Foreign Policy )

About the Author

Jason Burke is the South Asia correspondent for the Guardian. He has reported around the world for both the Guardian and the Observer. He is the author of two other widely praised books, both published by Penguin: Al-Qaeda and On the Road to Kandahar. He lives in New Delhi.