| | |  | Political | Home » » » The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century | | | | | | | Description: | | Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the national bestseller Ghost Wars, Steve Coll presents the story of the Bin Laden family’s rise to power and privilege, revealing new information to show how American influences changed the family and how one member’s rebellion changed America
The Bin Ladens rose from poverty to privilege; they loyally served the Saudi royal family for generations—and then one of their number changed history on September 11, 2001. Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Steve Coll tells the epic story of the rise of the Bin Laden family and of the wildly diverse lifestyles of the generation to which Osama bin Laden belongs, and against whom he rebelled. Starting with the family’s escape from famine at the beginning of the twentieth century through its jet-set era in America after the 1970s oil boom, and finally to the family’s attempts to recover from September 11, The Bin Ladens unearths extensive new material about the family and its relationship with the United States, and provides a richly revealing and emblematic narrative of our globally interconnected times.
To a much greater extent than has been previously understood, the Bin Laden family owned an impressive share of the America upon which Osama ultimately declared war—shopping centers, apartment complexes, luxury estates, privatized prisons in Massachusetts, corporate stocks, an airport, and much more. They financed Hollywood movies and negotiated over real estate with Donald Trump. They came to regard George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Prince Charles as friends of their family. And yet, as was true of the larger relationship between the Saudi and American governments, when tested by Osama’s violence, the family’s involvement in the United States proved to be narrow and brittle.
Among the many memorable figures that cross these pages is Osama’s older brother, Salem—a free-living, chainsmoking, guitar-strumming pilot, adventurer, and businessman who cavorted across America and Europe and once proposed marriage to four American and European girlfriends simultaneously, attempting to win a bet with the king of Saudi Arabia. Osama and Salem’s father, Mohamed bin Laden, is another force in the narrative—an illiterate bricklayer who created the family fortune through perspicacity and wit, until his sudden death in an airplane crash in 1967, an accident caused by an error by his American pilot.
At the story’s heart lies an immigrant family’s attempt to adapt simultaneously to Saudi Arabia’s puritanism and America’s myriad temptations. The family generation to which Osama belonged—twenty-five brothers and twenty-nine sisters—had to cope with intense change. Most of them were born into a poor society where religion dominated public life. Yet by the time they became young adults, these Bin Ladens found themselves bombarded by Western-influenced ideas about individual choice, by gleaming new shopping malls and international fashion brands, by Hollywood movies and changing sexual mores—a dizzying world that was theirs for the taking, because they each received annual dividends that started in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. How they navigated these demands is an authentic, humanizing story of Saudi Arabia, America, and the sources of attraction and repulsion still present in the countries’ awkward embrace. | | | Features: | |
• ISBN13: 9781594201646
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Steve Coll | | Hardcover:
| 688 pages | | Publisher:
| Penguin Press HC, The | | Publication Date:
| April 01, 2008 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1594201641 | | Package Length:
| 9.3 inches | | Package Width:
| 6.2 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.7 inches | | Package Weight:
| 2.1 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 39 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 An Arabian SagaFeb 01, 2010
`The Bin Ladens' is a fact-filled yet entertaining history of this larger than life Arabian dynasty. We learn about the family progenitor, Mohamed Bin laden who migrated from his native Yemen to Saudi Arabia as a bricklayer, and ended up being one of the most successful businessmen in the country. The rise of his Bin Laden Construction company coincided with the decision by the Saudi royal family to modernize the country. His work for the Sauds developed into a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship and made Bin Laden rich beyond his wildest dreams. Before his death in 1967, Bin Laden had fathered 54 children with 22 different wives.
When Mohamed died in a plane crash, one of his eldest sons, Salem, became the patriarch of the family. Salem was an interesting character. Unlike his devout father-or his fanatical half-brother Osama-Salem was quite fond of, and comfortable in secular, Western culture. Salem attended college in England, drank alcohol, played in a rock band and chased women. He apparently made a nuisance of himself among the Saudi royals by his constant "outrageous" behavior and his penchant for fart jokes. I actually laughed out loud on a couple of occasions as Coll recounted his antics. Salem had a dark side though. Despite his love of western culture, Islamic traditionalism was embedded in his essence. He apparently once punched an employee for merely speaking to his sister without permission. Salem seems to embody the turbulent and paradoxical relationship that many Saudis have with the west. Salem too died in a plance crash in 1988 in Texas. It is impossible not to notice the ironic connection of Bin Ladens and American aviation. Salem died in Texas as he piloted an ultralight aircraft and the pilot in Mohamed's crash was also an American. The cause of the crash was said to be pilot error.
The most famous Bin Laden is of course, Osama, who Coll thoroughly investigates. From a young age, Osama was quite religious. He was also shy, polite and a bit of a "mama's boy." Initially he was extremely loyal to the Saudi royal family, even after he developed his radical views. It was only after they publicly rebuked him (in the early 90's) for his jihad activities and tried to turn his family against him (in his view) that he turned on them. His animosity towards America is obviously discussed as well, mostly due to the US military presence on Saudi soil, their support for Israel against the Palestinians, and a perceived general attack on Muslims and Islam around the world.
Numerous other Bin Ladens are also discussed, but most of them are much more minor figures in this Arabian epic. I'm not sure I agree with the reviewer who says that Coll "exonerates" the Bin Laden family as "noble" and "ashamed" of Osama. While it doesn't seem that any of his family members were involved in his terroristic activities (and many probably are genuinely repelled by them), there does seem to be a thread of ambivalence running through the family and Saudi society in general. Toward the end, Coll quotes a certain Saudi prince who says, "while I don't condone Osama's actions, at the end of the day, the Americans deserved it." All in all, a fascinating study of the Bin laden dynasty.
 FascinatingJan 20, 2010
This book is a fascinating look at an extraordinary family. The tiny, but ominous, airplane on the cover hints at a common thread to be found through the book. Coll is a first-class writer.
Good In-depth look into the Bin Laden FamilyJan 18, 2010
This book is a great look into the rise of the Bin Laden family. It is a real "rags to riches" story of how the Bin Laden family rose from utter poverty to the highest levels of wealth and power.
The positives of this book is the way the author captures, not only the rise of the Bin Laden family, but also the characters and families outside the Bin Laden family, who helped their ascent. Steve Coll also captures the surrounding geopolitical trends that are sweeping through the word (the rise of terrorism, rise of oil-rich nations, Soviets invading Afghanistan etc) and how the Bin Laden family is intertwined with these issues.
One of the main issues (negative) with the book is that the author focus too much attention on the father, Mohamed, and the first son, Salem....and and as a consequence doesn't devote that much time to the "other" siblings in the family.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Another Masterpiece from CollOct 30, 2009
Around 5 years after 9/11, I started to become interested in the factors that led to that infamous day, easily the defining world event of my life and a turning point in the escalating clash between Eastern and Western Civilization. In the first few years after the attack, researchers focused on two key questions: how had the CIA failed to thwart the attack and what chain of events led to the rise of Bin Laden and Al Qaida. Richard Clarke's Against All Enemies and Robert Baur's See No Evil (the inspiration for the film Syriana) provided excellent recounts of oversights within the CIA, the carelessness of the Bush Administration, and the failure of government agencies to work together to identify threats. Other prominent works include Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower, which did an excellent job charting the rise of the Al Qaida, and Steve Coll's Ghost Wars, a must read examination into how the Afghanistan War created a culture of resistance in the Arab world, leading to the Jihad on America. Both The Looming Tower and Ghost Wars won Pulitzer Prizes, and thankfully, Steve Coll has continued to examine 9/11 with his new book, The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century.
In studying Osama Bin Laden's rise and excommunication from the wealthy Bin Laden family, The Bin Ladens moves past Osama in taking a close look at those in the family who curried the favour of Saudi Arabia's royal family to earn numerous construction contacts. The Saudi Royal Family spent billions of dollars in the 20th century on palaces and mosques, using its fortuitous oil reserves to spend lavishly on themselves, giving little thought to generating an economy. The rise of the Bin Ladens, led by Mahammed Bin Laden, is a fascinating story, expertly described by Coll, who focuses on the family's entrepreneurial drive in a book that has closer parallels to Richard Branson's autobiography, Losing My Virginity, than to other books centered on the events of 9/11. First Mahammed, then his oldest son Salem, Osama's half-brother, are described for the leadership roles they took in creating one of the most successful corporations in the Saudi Kingdom. In fact, the family's passion for flying would have helped them get along well with Branson, whose wild ways mirrored those of Salem Bin Laden, a businessman who did not like to involve himself in religion or politics, and lived a life that was more suited to a Hollywood movie star than a prominant figure in one of the most religious societies in the world. Compared to his father Mahammed, who fathered more that 50 children, and his half-brother Salem, Osama's pious and narrow minded views, and contradictory rhetoric, make him a fairly uninteresting figure.
Osama's actions hang over Coll's story from start to finish. As he describes the personalities and accomplishments of the Bin Laden children, including a Harvard PHD and a multitude of accomplished businessmen and engineers, Osama's betrayal makes tragic figures of the extended Bin Laden family. Coll examines numerous legal documents and conducts an extensive series of interviews which seem to exonerate the Bin Laden family from any wrong doing associated with Bin Laden's war, and he paints a picture of a proud family, ashamed by Osama's action, which makes them more noble than the droves of individuals in the Arab world who consider Osama to be a hero. Coll does the Bin Laden family a great service with this recount of their rise to prominence, and except for his occasional attacks on Osama's hypocritical actions and unfounded religious doctines (much deserved), he maintains an unbiased view throughout the book. In describing the rise of the Bin Ladens, the concomitant rise of the Al-Saud family is nicely outlined as well, providing insight into the birth of Saudi Arabia and the work of the Saudi Royal family in making Mecca, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammed, and Medina, the place of his exile, the glamorous centers of the Muslim world, possibly the only good use of their oil wealth to date.
Steve Coll is one of the foremost experts on Osama Bin Laden's world, and his works give us important details on Osama's rise, his psychological state-of-mind, and his leadership role in Al Qaida. His books are riveting, I read this recent 600 page epic in 4 days, unable to stop sometimes late into the night. Hopefully, someday soon, Osama will be found, and I sincerity hope Coll will tell that story too.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Enjoyable and eyeopeningJul 12, 2009
I had read Steve Coll's Ghost Wars and thought it was a masterpiece. This book is equally good. This is a rare look inside Saudi Arabia and how oil has created a peculiar class of wealthy families there. Coll shows is the culture in which Osama Bin Laden grew up but also the idiosyncracies of oil-rich wealthy Saudis.
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