In this sweeping, timely thriller, a Palestinian American FBI agent teams up with a hardline Israeli cop to solve the murder of the Israeli police chief in Gaza--from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower and The End of October.

A layered tale of intrigue and betrayal.--Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March and Horse

Tony Malik, a half-Irish, half-Arab FBI agent based in New York, specializes in tracking money from drug and arms deals. His life takes a dramatic turn when a long-term relationship ends and his job hangs in the balance. Amid personal turmoil, Malik becomes intrigued by his Palestinian father's past. He decides to visit his ancestral homeland for his niece's wedding, accepting a seemingly simple FBI assignment along the way.

Upon arrival in the West Bank, Malik's world is upended when the Israeli police chief is murdered. Initially a suspect, Malik's investigative prowess soon earns him a place in the Israeli investigation. At the heart of the story is Malik's complex relationship with Yossi, the hardline anti-Arab Israeli police officer leading the case. They must learn to trust each other because, as they move closer to solving the case, they realize there is no one else they can trust on either side.

Lawrence Wright populates the novel with richly drawn characters: Yossi's daughter studying in Paris, Malik's niece whose wedding is shattered by violence, her peacenik fiancé with ties to Hamas, and a cast of religious leaders, corrupt cops, and militants on both sides. Through these intersecting lives, Wright weaves an intricate tapestry that culminates in the devastating Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

More than a thriller, Wright's novel explores the complex history between Israel and Palestine, revealing the tragic human scale of this long-standing conflict and offering a nuanced perspective on a tragedy that continues to shape the region and the world.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - PULITZER PRIZE WINNER - A heart-stopping account of the events leading up to 9/11 (The New York Times Book Review), this definitive history explains in gripping detail the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, the rise of al-Qaeda, and the intelligence failures that culminated in the attacks on the World Trade Center.

One of the New York Times's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

In gripping narrative that spans five decades, Lawrence Wright re-creates firsthand the transformation of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri from incompetent and idealistic soldiers in Afghanistan to leaders of the most successful terrorist group in history. He follows FBI counterterrorism chief John O'Neill as he uncovers the emerging danger from al-Qaeda in the 1990s and struggles to track this new threat.

Packed with new information and a deep historical perspective, The Looming Tower is a sweeping, unprecedented history of the long road to September 11.

AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - From the Pulitzer Prize winner and best-selling author, a hilarious, sharply drawn send-up of local politics - A novel about a dark-horse candidate who risks his personal happiness for a career in the Texas House of Representatives - Required reading in these politically turbulent times.--Susan Orlean, author of On Animals

A rollicking satire . . .-- Paul Begala, The New York Times Book Review

Sonny Lamb is an affable, if floundering, rancher with the unfortunate habit of becoming a punchline in his Texas hometown. Most recently, to everyone's headshaking amusement, he bought his own bull at an auction. But when a fire breaks out at a neighbor's farm, Sonny makes headlines in another way: not waiting for help, he bolts to the farm where his heroic actions make the evening news.

Almost immediately, and seemingly out of nowhere, a handsomely dressed lobbyist from Austin arrives at his ranch door and asks if he'd like to run for his West Texas district's seat in the state legislature. Though Sonny has zero experience and doesn't consider himself political at all, the fate of his ranch--and perhaps his marriage to the lovely cowgirl Lola--hangs in the balance. With seemingly no other choice, Sonny decides to throw his hat in the ring .

As he navigates life in politics--from running a campaign to negotiating in the capitol--Sonny must learn the ropes, weighing his own ethics and environmental concerns against the pressures of veteran politicians, savvy lobbyists, and his own party. In tracing Sonny's attempt to balance his marriage and morality with an increasingly volatile professional life, Lawrence Wright has crafted an irresistibly funny and clever roller-coaster ride about one man's pursuit of goodness in the Lonestar State.

Lawrence Wright at the height of his powers. Centers around the newfound--and forced--relationship between a Palestinian American FBI agent and a hard-line Israeli cop, working together uneasily to solve the murder of the Israeli police chief in Gaza. Moving, thrilling, with extraordinary scope, it does for Palestine and Israel what Gorky Park did years ago for Russia. In the vein of John le Carré and Graham Greene, this is the rare novel that manages to entertain, educate, and deeply move the reader.

Tony Malik is a half-Irish, half-Arab New York-based FBI agent, specializing in money flowing from drug and arms deals. The novel opens in shocking fashion, with Malik seriously injured by a terrorist-planted bomb. During his lengthy recuperative process, his life changes radically. A long-term relationship ends, and his job is on the verge of being taken away from him. During this period he learns more about his roots and becomes interested in his father's past and family--his father came to America years ago from Palestine. Malik decides to make a trip to his father's homeland to attend the wedding of his niece, whom he has never met. As a result of his plans, he is given a simple assignment by his boss at the FBI, partly to see how well he can still do his job. That simple assignment becomes anything but simple.

As soon as he arrives in Gaza, the Israeli police chief overseeing the area is murdered. Malik is at first a suspect. Then, due to his superior investigative skills, he is invited into the Israeli investigation, seeking the murderer. At the core of this novel is Malik's relationship with Yossi, the hard-line anti-Arab Israeli police officer leading the investigation. They must learn to trust each other because, as they move closer to solving the case, they realize there is no one else they can trust on either side.

Extraordinary three-dimensional characters populate this novel: Yossi's daughter, studying in Paris, trying to escape the violence that surrounds her in Israel; Malik's niece, whose wedding and life are shattered by the murder; her fiancé, a peacenik whose existence is complicated by the fact that his cousin is high up in the Hamas command; religious leaders on both sides; corrupt Israeli cops; Palestinians thirsting for violence against Israel; Israelis determined to crush the Palestinians. Lawrence Wright brings a wide and complicated tapestry to life, one that culminates on October 7, 2023, with the deadly Hamas attack on Israel. But he has written more than just a thriller, or even just an examination of all these complicated lives. He has written a novel that manages to explore and explain much of the devastating history that encompasses the relationship between Israel and Palestine--and shows it to us in a way that poignantly reveals the tragic human scale that is involved.

NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST - The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower--and a Texas native--takes us on a journey through the most controversial state in America. - Beautifully written.... Essential reading [for] anyone who wants to understand how one state changed the trajectory of the country. --NPR

The inspiration for the HBO Original documentary trilogy God Save Texas streaming on Max

Texas is a red state, but the cities are blue and among the most diverse in the nation. Oil is still king, but Texas now leads California in technology exports. Low taxes and minimal regulation have produced extraordinary growth, but also striking income disparities. Texas looks a lot like the America that Donald Trump wants to create.

Bringing together the historical and the contemporary, the political and the personal, Texas native Lawrence Wright gives us a colorful, wide-ranging portrait of a state that not only reflects our country as it is, but as it may become--and shows how the battle for Texas's soul encompasses us all.

AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - From the Pulitzer Prize winner and best-selling author, a hilarious, sharply drawn send-up of local politics - A novel about a dark-horse candidate who risks his personal happiness for a career in the Texas House of Representatives - Required reading in these politically turbulent times.--Susan Orlean, author of On Animals

A rollicking satire . . .-- Paul Begala, The New York Times Book Review

Sonny Lamb is an affable, if floundering, rancher with the unfortunate habit of becoming a punchline in his Texas hometown. Most recently, to everyone's headshaking amusement, he bought his own bull at an auction. But when a fire breaks out at a neighbor's farm, Sonny makes headlines in another way: not waiting for help, he bolts to the farm where his heroic actions make the evening news.

Almost immediately, and seemingly out of nowhere, a handsomely dressed lobbyist from Austin arrives at his ranch door and asks if he'd like to run for his West Texas district's seat in the state legislature. Though Sonny has zero experience and doesn't consider himself political at all, the fate of his ranch--and perhaps his marriage to the lovely cowgirl Lola--hangs in the balance. With seemingly no other choice, Sonny decides to throw his hat in the ring .

As he navigates life in politics--from running a campaign to negotiating in the capitol--Sonny must learn the ropes, weighing his own ethics and environmental concerns against the pressures of veteran politicians, savvy lobbyists, and his own party. In tracing Sonny's attempt to balance his marriage and morality with an increasingly volatile professional life, Lawrence Wright has crafted an irresistibly funny and clever roller-coaster ride about one man's pursuit of goodness in the Lonestar State.

Thirty never-before collected essays--many of them profiles--by the Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling author of The Looming Tower, Going Clear, and The Plague Year. These brilliant pieces reveal the broad spectrum of Wright's cultural and political observations over the past thirty five years

Spanning more than thirty five years of Lawrence Wright's reporting for The New Yorker, Texas Monthly, Rolling Stone and other magazines, these pieces remind us what a brilliant observer Wright has been of institutions, of political maneuverings, and of people--dangerous, eccentric, or beloved.

Some of the essays included:

ORPHANS OF JONESTOWN (1993): A profile of Jim Jones' two sons. In 1978, when they left Jonestown to play in a basketball tournament, their father ordered the deaths of everyone they knew and loved, leaving them alone in a society uncomprehending of their experience.

A RAPIST'S HOMECOMING (1995): The ethical dilemma of a prison therapist, concerned that her patient--about to be released--could attack again.

A LIVING DOLL (1988): A very personal column. How the author relates to his 5-year-old daughter through her dolls and stuffed animals.

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF RICHARD BRAUTIGAN (1985): An incisive look at the 1960's and 1970's literary icon.

CAPTURED ON FILM (2006): Dissident filmmakers in Syria.

SPACE CADET (1981): How a sanitary engineer combined her expertise and career with her love of space exploration and NASA.

THE ELEPHANT IN THE COURTOOM (2022): Should animals have legal rights?

And many others: A profile of the great spitball pitcher, Gaylord Perry; a look at how a Pentecostal Texas cattle farmer and an orthodox rabbi from Jerusalem come together over the End of Days; a 2006 essays detailing an attack in Gaza that mirrors the tragedies occurring today; a profile of Jamaal Khashoggi; one of Jimmy Carter; and a group of essays that deal with Wright's life as a father.

This is an important collection that will demand attention, and a stirring overview of an extraordinary career.

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower--a timely revisiting of a diplomatic triumph between two Middle East nations and an inside look at how peace is made. - Masterly.... Magnificent.... Wright reminds us that Carter's Camp David was an act of surpassing political courage. --The New York Times Book Review

In September 1978, three world leaders--Menachem Begin of Israel, Anwar Sadat of Egypt, and U.S. president Jimmy Carter--met at Camp David to broker a peace agreement between the two Middle East nations. During the thirteen-day conference, Begin and Sadat got into screaming matches and had to be physically separated; both attempted to walk away multiple times. Yet, by the end, a treaty had been forged--one that has quietly stood for more than three decades, proving that peace in the Middle East is possible.

Wright combines politics, scripture, and the participants' personal histories into a compelling narrative of the fragile peace process. Begin was an Orthodox Jew whose parents had perished in the Holocaust; Sadat was a pious Muslim inspired since boyhood by stories of martyrdom; Carter, who knew the Bible by heart, was driven by his faith to pursue a treaty, even as his advisers warned him of the political cost. Wright reveals an extraordinary moment of lifelong enemies working together--and the profound difficulties inherent in the process. Thirteen Days in September is a timely revisiting of this diplomatic triumph and an inside look at how peace is made.

AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - From the Pulitzer Prize winner and best-selling author, a hilarious, sharply drawn send-up of local politics - A novel about a dark-horse candidate who risks his personal happiness for a career in the Texas House of Representatives - Required reading in these politically turbulent times.--Susan Orlean, author of On Animals

A rollicking satire . . .-- Paul Begala, The New York Times Book Review

Sonny Lamb is an affable, if floundering, rancher with the unfortunate habit of becoming a punchline in his Texas hometown. Most recently, to everyone's headshaking amusement, he bought his own bull at an auction. But when a fire breaks out at a neighbor's farm, Sonny makes headlines in another way: not waiting for help, he bolts to the farm where his heroic actions make the evening news.

Almost immediately, and seemingly out of nowhere, a handsomely dressed lobbyist from Austin arrives at his ranch door and asks if he'd like to run for his West Texas district's seat in the state legislature. Though Sonny has zero experience and doesn't consider himself political at all, the fate of his ranch--and perhaps his marriage to the lovely cowgirl Lola--hangs in the balance. With seemingly no other choice, Sonny decides to throw his hat in the ring .

As he navigates life in politics--from running a campaign to negotiating in the capitol--Sonny must learn the ropes, weighing his own ethics and environmental concerns against the pressures of veteran politicians, savvy lobbyists, and his own party. In tracing Sonny's attempt to balance his marriage and morality with an increasingly volatile professional life, Lawrence Wright has crafted an irresistibly funny and clever roller-coaster ride about one man's pursuit of goodness in the Lonestar State.

Clean and Decent is a comprehensive and insightful book written by Lawrence Wright, which explores the history of the American pornography industry from the 1940s to the 1970s. The book examines the social, cultural, and political factors that shaped the industry and its impact on American society.Wright provides a detailed analysis of the various genres of pornography, including pin-up magazines, stag films, and underground pornography, and how they evolved over time. He also delves into the legal battles and censorship controversies that surrounded the industry, and the role of feminists and religious groups in shaping public perception of pornography.Throughout the book, Wright presents a nuanced and balanced view of the industry, examining both its positive and negative effects on society. He argues that while pornography can be exploitative and harmful, it can also serve as a form of sexual expression and liberation for some individuals.Clean and Decent is a well-researched and engaging read that provides a fascinating insight into the history of American pornography and its impact on society. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of sexuality, media, and culture in America.The Fascinating History Of The Bathroom And The Water Closet And Of Sundry Habits, Fashions And Accessories Of The Toilet, Principally In Great Britain, France And America.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

An up-close account of the experience of inner city New York kids--black and Latino, from ghettos and projects--who spent a summer in an Amish and Mennonite farm community in Central Pennsylvania in the late 1970s, sponsored by the Fresh Air Fund. City Chidren, Country Summer follows these children as they navigate two very different worlds, from Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.

A New York Times Notable Book for 1998

Critical acclaim for Lawrence Wright's

A Rhone-Poulenc Science Prize Finalist

This is a book about far more than twins: it is about what twins can tell us about ourselves.--The New York Times

With plenty of amazing stories about the similarities and differences of twins, Wright respectfully shows, too, how their special circumstance in life challenges our notions of individuality. A truly fascinating but sometimes spooky (Mengele's experiments with twins at Auschwitz figure among Wright's examples) study.--American Library Association

Like so much of Wright's work, this book is a pleasure to read. Because he writes so well, without pushing a particular point of view, he soon has you pondering questions you have tended to comfortably ignore.--Austin American-Statesman

Informative and entertaining . . . a provocative subject well considered by a talented journalist.--Kirkus Reviews

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower comes an intimate memoir of one man's coming-of-age, and a universal story of the American experience of two crucial decades. - A wonderfully readable, thoroughly absorbing memoir of a twenty-five-year span of wrenching change. --The Philadelphia Inquirer

We first meet Larry Wright in 1960. He is thirteen and moving with his family to Dallas, the essential city of the New World just beginning to rise across the southern rim of the United States. As we follow him through the next two decades--the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, the devastating assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr., the sexual revolution, the crisis of Watergate, and the emergence of Ronald Reagan--we relive the pivotal and shocking events of those crowded years.

Lawrence Wright has written the autobiography of a generation, giving back to us with stunning force the feelings of those turbulent times when the euphoria of Kennedy's America would come to its shocking end.

The Fascinating History Of The Bathroom And The Water Closet And Of Sundry Habits, Fashions And Accessories Of The Toilet, Principally In Great Britain, France And America.

In this fascinating work of historical fiction, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright captures all the gripping drama and black humor of Panama during the final, nerve-racking days of its legendary dictator, Manuel Antonio Noriega.

It is Christmas 1989, and Tony Noriega's demons are finally beginning to catch up with him. A former friend of President Bush, Fidel Castro, and Oliver North, this universally reviled strongman is on the run from the U.S. Congress, the Justice Department, the Colombian mob, and a host of political rivals. In his desperation, he seeks salvation from any and all quarters -- God, Satan, a voodoo priest, even the spirits of his murdered enemies. But with a million-dollar price on his head and 20,000 American soldiers on his trail, Noriega is fast running out of options.

Drawn from a historical record more dramatic than even the most artful spy novel, God's Favorite is a riveting and darkly comic fictional account of the events that occurred in Panama from 1985 to the dictator's capture in 1989. With an award-winning journalist's eye for detail, Lawrence Wright leads the reader toward a dramatic face-off in the Vatican embassy, where Noriega confronts his psychological match in the papal nuncio.

A New York Times Notable Book for 1998

Critical acclaim for Lawrence Wright's

A Rhone-Poulenc Science Prize Finalist

This is a book about far more than twins: it is about what twins can tell us about ourselves.--The New York Times

With plenty of amazing stories about the similarities and differences of twins, Wright respectfully shows, too, how their special circumstance in life challenges our notions of individuality. A truly fascinating but sometimes spooky (Mengele's experiments with twins at Auschwitz figure among Wright's examples) study.--American Library Association

Like so much of Wright's work, this book is a pleasure to read. Because he writes so well, without pushing a particular point of view, he soon has you pondering questions you have tended to comfortably ignore.--Austin American-Statesman

Informative and entertaining . . . a provocative subject well considered by a talented journalist.--Kirkus Reviews

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower--a riveting thriller and all-too-convincing chronicle of science, espionage, action and speculation (The Wall Street Journal).

At an internment camp in Indonesia, forty-seven people are pronounced dead with acute hemorrhagic fever. When epidemiologist Henry Parsons travels there on behalf of the World Health Organization to investigate, what he finds will have staggering repercussions. Halfway across the globe, the deputy director of U.S. Homeland Security scrambles to mount a response to the rapidly spreading pandemic leapfrogging around the world, which she believes may be the result of an act of biowarfare. And a rogue experimenter in man-made diseases is preparing his own terrifying solution.

As already-fraying global relations begin to snap, the virus slashes across the United States, dismantling institutions and decimating the population. With his own wife and children facing diminishing odds of survival, Henry travels from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia to his home base at the CDC in Atlanta, searching for a cure and for the origins of this seemingly unknowable disease. The End of October is a one-of-a-kind thriller steeped in real-life political and scientific implications, filled with the insight that has been the hallmark of Wright's acclaimed nonfiction and the full-tilt narrative suspense that only the best fiction can offer.

Uno de los mejores libros del Siglo XXI según el New York Times

Veinte años después del 11-S, y diez de la muerte de Osama bin Laden, La torre elevada sigue siendo la mejor obra escrito sobre el auge del fundamentalismo islámico, la creación de al-Qaeda y los fallos de los servicios de inteligencia que culminaron en el atentado de las Torres Gemelas.

Obra ganadora del Premio Pulitzer.

«Literatura como verdad. --Antonio Muñoz Molina

La torre elevada narra la increíble historia de varios hombres cuyos destinos se entrecruzan y confluyen de forma dramática el 11 de septiembre de 2001. Con una precisión poco común, sustentada en más de quinientas entrevistas realizadas a lo largo de cinco años, nos describe el auge del fundamentalismo islámico, la creación de al-Qaeda y los errores cometidos por los confiados servicios de inteligencia que culminaron en el atentado de las Torres Gemelas.

Lawrence Wright recrea de modo excepcional la transformación de Osama bin Laden y Ayman al-Zawahiri de combatientes idealistas e incompetentes en Afganistán a líderes del grupo terrorista más temido de la historia; y sigue de cerca a John O'Neil, jefe de la sección de contraterrorismo del FBI y uno de los pocos agentes estadounidenses que comprendió, ya en los años noventa, la magnitud de la amenaza que representaba dicha organización.

Lleno de información, con una profunda perspectiva histórica, este es el mejor libro escrito sobre los orígenes de al-Qaeda y la muerte de Bin-Laden.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

One of the New York Times's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

The Pulitzer Prize winner book that inspired the Hulu series starring Peter Sarsgaard, Jeff Daniels, and Tahar Rahim.

A gripping narrative that spans five decades, The Looming Tower explains in unprecedented detail the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, the rise of al-Qaeda, and the intelligence failures that culminated in the attacks on the World Trade Center. Lawrence Wright re-creates firsthand the transformation of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri from incompetent and idealistic soldiers in Afghanistan to leaders of the most successful terrorist group in history. He follows FBI counterterrorism chief John O'Neill as he uncovers the emerging danger from al-Qaeda in the 1990s and struggles to track this new threat. Packed with new information and a deep historical perspective, The Looming Tower is the definitive history of the long road to September 11.

National Book Award Finalist
Updated and with a New Afterword

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower, and the pandemic novel The End of October: an unprecedented, momentous account of Covid-19--its origins, its wide-ranging repercussions, and the ongoing global fight to contain it

A book of panoramic breadth ... managing to surprise us about even those episodes we ... thought we knew well ... [With] lively exchanges about spike proteins and nonpharmaceutical interventions and disease waves, Wright's storytelling dexterity makes all this come alive. --The New York Times Book Review

From the fateful first moments of the outbreak in China to the storming of the U.S. Capitol to the extraordinary vaccine rollout, Lawrence Wright's The Plague Year tells the story of Covid-19 in authoritative, galvanizing detail and with the full drama of events on both a global and intimate scale, illuminating the medical, economic, political, and social ramifications of the pandemic.

Wright takes us inside the CDC, where a first round of faulty test kits lost America precious time . . . inside the halls of the White House, where Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Pottinger's early alarm about the virus was met with confounding and drastically costly skepticism . . . into a Covid ward in a Charlottesville hospital, with an idealistic young woman doctor from the town of Little Africa, South Carolina . . . into the precincts of prediction specialists at Goldman Sachs . . . into Broadway's darkened theaters and Austin's struggling music venues . . . inside the human body, diving deep into the science of how the virus and vaccines function--with an eye-opening detour into the history of vaccination and of the modern anti-vaccination movement. And in this full accounting, Wright makes clear that the medical professionals around the country who've risked their lives to fight the virus reveal and embody an America in all its vulnerability, courage, and potential.

In turns steely-eyed, sympathetic, infuriated, unexpectedly comical, and always precise, Lawrence Wright is a formidable guide, slicing through the dense fog of misinformation to give us a 360-degree portrait of the catastrophe we thought we knew.

Originally published in 1983, this book is about the way we see things - or think we do, which is by no means the same - and about the ways in which we have tried to reproduce that visual concept in diagrams, pictures, photographs, films and television. Whatever the medium, if any degree of realism is intended, some use of perspective is inevitable, and some understanding of it can aid the appreciation of the result. But here the technicalities of perspective geometry are treated as far as possible non-technically, by a common-sense approach. Students, would-be artists or architects, are warned in the Preface that they will travel second-class in the author's train of thought (the 'general reader' coming first), but they may well find the journey worthwhile in that it provides a background to a subsequent, more detailed studies.

Lawrence Wright shows that every form of perspective representation has some innate falsity, but that most such forms offer an adequate makeshift; that rules of geometry often need to be bent; that labour-saving dodges and shortcuts exist. As he says, perspective drawing, like politics, is an art of the possible. In reading this book, beginners may find it all simpler than they had supposed, though the established expert may in some interesting respects find just the opposite. The general reader may thereafter find himself seeing things - and representations of them - in a new light.