9/11 books

The three books you must read about 9/11 are "The Cell" by John Miller, "The Looming Tower" buy Lawrence Wright, and Perfect Soldiers by Terry McDermott.

I don't do the 9/11 conspiracy bullshit. I've mentioned my disdain for those whack jobs and if anything, it's grown deeper as time goes on. Yes, there is a difference between being a "skeptic" of the government story and thinking that missiles brought down the twin towers, but if you are looking for "9/11 Truth" (ironically the "truth" is that 19 suicidal Islamic militants killed 3,000 people. No conspiracy at all) you need to read these books. 

The Cell was written by a journalist for ABC news. Not really known as a hotbed for cutting edge journalism, I was surprised at John Millers credentials. He interviewed Bin Laden pre 9/11 and unlike Dan Rather interviewing Saddam it was actually real journalism. He (Miller) was also a hard boiled journalist who was allowed to drink with cops in New York City in the 80's. Basically he was what journalists were before they became ass kissers for the elite. The Cell basically focuses on the 9/11 terrorists while they were in America. It tells the gripping story not of what radicalized them-though it does touch on that-but their daily life in America. They walked among us and were part of our society without us knowing it. The Cell reads like 60 Minutes back during the Mike Wallace years. 

"The Looming Towers" is longer and much more in depth. It's the graduate version of 9/11 popular books. Wright goes into detail about the history of radical Islam, starting with Sayyid Qutb (a radical cleric whom Bin Laden patterned himself after) and his effect on Islamic countries. Wright is a great writer and the research and study he did for this book is incredible. It's a commitment to read it because it's a little dull in some parts, but history is like that as well. 

"Perfect Soldiers" is the most terrifying of the three books. McDermott has a way of humanizing the terrorists that you still think about for a long time after you finish the book. Like McDermott says (in a much better way than I ever could) we want to think that evil acts are done by psychopathic monsters. People with red eyes, pitchforks and devil horns. That's not how evil works,and McDermott shows how normal the 9/11 hijackers were. It's scary. You can see radicalism happening to neighbors you share apartments with-white, black, yellow and green. Human evil doesn't discriminate.