| | |  | Religion & Spirituality | 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
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| | | 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 41 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Another Gem Penned by CollMay 10, 2010
Coll is an engaging writer. His prose here is even better than in his award-winning "Ghost Wars." He draws the reader completely into the time and frames of the substance of his always interestingly drawn, subjects. He has done a magnificent job of turning the Bin Laden's family history into a mini history of modern Middle Eastern geopolitics, especially as it applies to the U.S.-Saudi relationship.
This history, of course is the story of the Bin Laden family, which consisted of the patriarch, Mohammed, his many wives and his fifty -four children, of which the "black sheep" was the infamous Osama. Oddly, Osama and his terrorist activities become a sidelight here rather than the center of the narrative. For, other than his global mayhem, Osama turns out to have been a thoroughly boring and not very bright member of the family. For those interested only in Osama, may I recommend the book by his sister-in law Carmen bin Laden called "Growing up bin Laden." Carmen has a bead on him as a brewing not very bright or interesting person, who somehow became pious and cast his lot with religion. In any case, Osama certainly is not in the same class as his older brother Salem, who until his accidental death clowning on dune buggies was the center of this story and of much international jet-setting and geopolitical intrigue. Nor was either son as talented or as industrious as their father, Mohammed.
The first half of the book is about how Mohammed's father was forced to flee Yemen (after a borrowed ox had died and he failed to make good on the debt incurred as a result). Mohammed grew up in a small poverty-stricken down of Yemen, but at an early age migrated to Africa and on to Saud Arabia, where he insinuated himself into the good graces of the Saudi royal family. Through grit alone, he turned himself into whatever kind of expert the King needed and then always performed well above expectations. As a result, he was constantly able to enlarge his duties and responsibilities until he was not only the King's number one contractor, but his number one financial fixer as well. As his wealth grew, so too did his influence.
The second half of the book gets into the bin Laden's relationship with the royal family, the oil company consortium Aramco, and its number one sponsor, the USA. Among the most interesting of many interesting and revealing facts is how the Saudi King roped Ronald Reagan into geopolitical debt by clandestinely footing the bill for illicit funding to the contras, hostage-trading with Iran, and supporting Osama as he was losing the fight to the Russians. It was "Charlie Wilson's War" in the flesh.
There is something here for everyone and enough intrigue to fill a good spy novel. A great read. Five Stars.
 Much broader than the title suggestsMar 31, 2010
I wasn't originally that thrilled about reading The Bin Ladens. Based on the title alone, I just didn't think a book this length (nearly 600 pages) would keep my attention. But having read Coll's previous book Ghost Wars and being so blown away by it, I finally came around to picking up The Bin Ladens. Needless to say, I'm glad I did.
The most notable thing about the book is that you get so much more than what you probably bargain for based on the title. Yes, this is a story about the Bin Laden family (the whole family, not just Osama which is fascinating in and of itself), but what I quickly realized is that you can't tell the story of the Bin Ladens without also telling in part the story of Saudi Arabia and Washington's relationship with it. The result is a in-depth look at how Saudi Arabia has changed since the the 40s and the tremendous amount of influence that the Bin Ladens (and the al-Sauds) on the development of the Middle East.
What makes this book particularly interesting is how Coll intertwines hard and fast political history with the types of stories one would find in a novel. The Bin Laden family is such a unique and fascinating oddity within the world of the Middle East their story makes the book hard to put down. One almost gets the sense that the book actually is a novel...it's very well-written and Coll does an excellent job pulling it all together in a way that allows the reader to see the impact the Bin Ladens have had on modern day Saudi Arabia. One of the most interesting and somewhat creepy parts of the book is that Osama Bin Laden's father died in a plane accident (the pilot was American), and the successor and eldest son, Salem, died in a plane crash in Texas. It adds a whole new layer of complexity to 9/11 in some way.
But in any case, this is a fascinating book and I would recommend it to anyone interested in the modern Middle East.
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.
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