''Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Bin Laden'' is a book by

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

investigative journalist and documentarian

Peter Bergen Peter Bergen (born December 11, 1962) is an American journalist, author, and producer who serves as CNN's national security analyst and as New America's vice president. He produced the first television interview with Osama bin Laden in 1997, w ...

. It was published in November 2001, two months after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, and was a ''New York Times'' Best Seller in 2001. In the book, Bergen discusses the meteoric rise of Osama bin Laden during the Soviet invasion of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

in the 1980s, and the subsequent evolution and expansion of his terrorist organization, Al-Qaeda. Bergen interviewed bin Laden in person with former

journalist

Peter Arnett Peter Gregg Arnett (born 13 November 1934) is a New Zealand-born American journalist. He is known for his coverage of the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. He was awarded the 1966 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting for his work in Vietn ...

in 1997. ''Holy War, Inc.'' provides a multi-faceted context that details: (1) how jihadist terrorism evolved from being primarily state-sponsored groups to the independent and sophisticated multinational organization that is Al Qaeda; (2) who made up the groups of people that were willing to leave behind the comforts of home to join what would later become Al Qaeda; (3) where the US went wrong in its covert sponsorship of militants who fought against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s; (4) what motivates bin Laden and his disciples to attack the US and other Western targets; and (5) why bin Laden is revered by many throughout the Muslim world. As Bergen finds, the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Sovie ...

had the dual result of making bin Laden famous while also giving bin Laden a feeling that he could go toe-to-toe against a superpower with his "holy warriors" and prevail. These factors, coupled with bin Laden's strong feelings of resentment toward the US for its presence in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

(or the "Land of the Two Holy Places" as he called it) during and after the

Persian Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

, led to his plotting multiple attacks against the US, and then later to an all-out declaration of war against the West. Ultimately, by green-lighting the

on the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, bin Laden would then get his desired war. ''Holy War'' was published by Free Press in 2001 as a hardcover (). In the same year,

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...

audio released an abridged

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

on CD () and audio cassette (). Thorndike Press published a largeprint edition in hardcover in 2002 (). Free Press released a paperback edition in 2002 (). Orion Publishing Company published a paperback in 2004 (). The book was translated into 18 languages: Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Norwegian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, and Turkish.

Critical reactions

Jeff Stein at ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' called ''Holy War'', "equal parts journalism, history and whimsical travelogue." Roger Hardy of

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

praised Bergen's "eye for detail," noting that Bergen conducted "extensive interviews in many of the key locations ... in the Middle East" and that he "pinned down elusive facts" while offering few theories. Michiko Kakutani at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' states that Bergen "does a succinct job of pulling together a wealth of information into a coherent ... narrative ... that impresses upon the reader the crucial role that the Afghan-Soviet conflict played in radicalizing many Islamic militants ... and replacing the notion of Arab nationalism with that of a larger Islamist movement." L. Carl Brown, writing for '' Foreign Affairs'' magazine, called Bergen's work a "first-rate account" of Osama bin Laden's "secret world" and of the personnel who carried out various terrorist attacks against the United States between the early 1990s and 2000. Bruce Hoffman writes in ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' that ''Holy War'' gives a "unique perspective ... into bin Laden's mindset and behavior."Osama bin Laden's mindset; two extraordinary novels; the peaceful collapse of "The Evil Empire"
''The Atlantic'' For instance, he references bin Laden's education and work experience in his family's construction business that later informed his decisions on how to "transform Al Qaeda ... into the world's pre-eminent terrorist organization."

References

External links

*
''Washington Journal'' interview with Bergen on ''Holy War, Inc.'', November 12, 2001
C-SPAN
Discussion with Bergen on ''Holy War, Inc.'', December 12, 2001
C-SPAN
''Booknotes'' interview with Bergen on ''Holy War, Inc.'', December 16, 2001
C-SPAN
Presentation by Bergen on ''Holy War, Inc.'', April 16, 2005
C-SPAN {{Authority control Non-fiction books about jihadism 2001 non-fiction books Free Press (publisher) books Works about Osama bin Laden