The 9/11 Wars

DAILY TELEGRAPH, ECONOMIST AND INDEPENDENT BOOKS OF THE YEAR

Throughout the 1990s a vast conflict was brewing. The storm broke on September 11th 2001. Since then much of the world has seen invasions, bombings, battles and riots. Hundreds of thousands of people have died. Jason Burke, a first-hand witness of many of the conflict's key moments, has written the definitive account of its course in his acclaimed book The 9/11 Wars.

At once investigation, reportage and contemporary history, The 9/11 Wars is an essential book for understanding the dangerous and unstable twenty-first century. Whether reporting on the riots in France or the attack on Mumbai, suicide bombers in Iraq or British troops fighting in Helmand, Jason Burke tells the story of a world that changed forever when the hijacked planes flew out of the brilliant blue sky above Manhattan on September 11th.

Reviews:

'The best overview of the 9/11 decade so far in print' Economist

'A magisterial history of the last decade ... 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 9/11 Wars warrants great respect' Metro

'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' Sunday Telegraph

'[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 ... [The 9/11 Wars] 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' David Aaronovitch, The Times

'This remarkably balanced, well-sourced and very well-written book ... will be turned to in the future ... [Burke] 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 ... taut, careful reporting ... Remarkable' Scotsman

'Potent ... journalism of a high order. Like all good reporters, Burke is something of a scholar, drawing meticulously on interview notes years old, and on extensive background reading. He excels, too, in describing the experiences of ordinary Muslims; such insights make this book essential for understanding the past decade' Sunday Times

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.