New Releases by Lawrence WRIGHT

When Academy Award winning writer and director Paul Haggis (Million Dollar Baby, Crash) left the Church of Scientology after three decades of loyal service, the organisation suffered a crushing blow. Alongside Tom Cruise and John Travolta, Haggis was one of the church''s Hollywood trophies. But Haggis'' personal investigation of the church to which he had pledged his faith uncovered a litany of horrors, including physical abuse, forced abortions, slavery and imprisonment of its members. With his belief shattered, Haggis resigned from Scientology and here u for the first time u he speaks out about his experiences. Prisoners of Faith explores the roots of Scientology, from the life of its eccentric founder, L. Ron Hubbard, to the practices of its current leader David Miscavige. Encompassing flashes of brilliance and insanity, we discover the appeal of Scientology through Haggis'' eyes, especially to talented and ambitious members of the entertainment industry. This is the most profound reckoning to date with the powerful and secretive organisation that dominates celebrity headlines. It is also a moving human story of the lure of extreme faith and the price of leaving it.

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower comes a fascinating book about religion in America, about the passions, triumphs, and failures of the life of faith, revealing stories of grace and despair, sexual scandal and attempted murder. • "Insightful...vivid...beautifully rendered stories." —Chicago Tribune Lawrence Wright''s Saints and Sinners are Jimmy Swaggart, who preached a hellfire gospel with rock ''n'' roll abandon before he was caught with a, prostitute in a seedy motel; Anton LaVey, the kitsch-loving, gleefully fraudulent founder of the First Church of Satan; Madalyn Murray O''Hair, whose litigious atheism sometimes resembled a brand of faith; Matthew Fox, the Dominican priest who has aroused the fury of the Vatican for dismissing the doctrine of original sin and denouncing the church as a dysfunctional family; Walker Railey, the rising star of Dallas''s Methodist church, who, at the pinnacle of his success, was suspected of attempting to murder his wife; and Will Campbell, the eccentric liberal Southern Baptist preacher whose challenges to established ways of thinking have made him a legend in his own time.

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower comes "the most powerful and disturbing true crime narrative to appear since Truman Capote''s In Cold Blood" (TIME)—a case that destroyed a family, engulfed a small town, and captivated an America obsessed by rumors of a satanic underground. In 1988 Ericka and Julie Ingram began making a series of accusations of sexual abuse against their father, Paul Ingram, who was a respected deputy sheriff in Olympia, Washington. At first the accusations were confined to molestations in their childhood, but they grew to include torture and rape as recently as the month before. At a time when reported incidents of "recovered memories" had become widespread, these accusations were not unusual. What captured national attention in this case is that, under questioning, Ingram appeared to remember participating in bizarre satanic rites involving his whole family and other members of the sheriff''s department. As Remembering Satan follows the increasingly bizarre accusations and confessions, the claims and counterclaims of police, FBI investigators, and mental health professionals, it gives us what is at once a psychological detective story and a domestic tragedy about what happens when modern science is subsumed by our most archaic fears.

In einer packenden Erzählung schildert der Journalist Lawrence Wright erstmals umfassend die Vorgeschichte des 11. September. Vier Männer stehen im Mittelpunkt: Osama Bin Laden und seine Nummer zwei, Aiman al-Sawahiri, der FBI-Mann John O’Neill und der saudische Geheimdienstchef Turki al-Faisal. Meisterhaft verknüpft Wright ihre Lebenswege zu einem Gesamtbild der Ereignisse, Wendepunkte, Versäumnisse und Fehleinschätzungen, die den Anschlägen vorangingen. »Wo ihr auch sein mögt, der Tod wird euch finden, und wäret ihr im hohen Turm.« Mit diesen dem Koran entlehnten Worten mahnte Osama Bin Laden seine Kämpfer, furchtlos dem Tod entgegenzusehen. Im Rückblick lassen sie sich auch als düstere Warnung an den Feind lesen, dessen Hochhaustürme in New York zum Angriffsziel wurden. Osama Bin Ladens Aufstieg zum bekanntesten Terroristen des 21. Jahrhunderts bildet einen der Erzählstränge in der bislang vollständigsten Rekonstruktion der Vorgeschichte des 11. September durch den Journalisten Lawrence Wright. Daneben verfolgt Wright, der jahrelang recherchierte und Hunderte von Interviews führte, den Werdegang des al-Qaida-Mitstreiters Aiman al-Sawahiri, des obersten Terroristenfahnders des FBI, John O’Neill, der ausgerechnet in den Trümmern des World Trade Centers starb, sowie des saudischen Königssohns Turki al-Faisal, der als Geheimdienstchef seines Landes zwischen beiden Welten wandelte. Zu einer fesselnden Erzählung verwoben, erhellen die Lebensgeschichten zugleich die Hintergründe des Anschlags: die wachsende Radikalisierung der Islamisten, die Zerrissenheit arabischer Staaten, die widersprüchliche Haltung des Westens. Eine unglaublich spannende und gewinnbringende Lektüre. • Ein tiefer Einblick in Denken und Handeln der al-Qaida-Führer und ihrer wichtigsten Kontrahenten • Eines der besten Bücher des Jahres 2006 in Großbritannien und Amerika, Pulitzer-Preis 2007

Quando achávamos que o fim da Guerra Fria marcava o "fim da história" e a humanidade enfim viveria em paz, o atentado terrorista de 11/9 - o maior de todos os tempos - mergulhava o mundo em perplexidade. De repente, tomamos conhecimento de entidades e personagens até então desconhecidos: a Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, os campos de treinamento de terroristas no Afeganistão. Mas o que é a Al-Qaeda? Como surgiu? Aonde pretende chegar? Qual sua ideologia? Qual o papel dos serviços de inteligência americanos no caso? São estas perguntas que Lawrence Wright, através de um monumental trabalho de jornalismo investigativo (cinco anos de pesquisas e centenas de entrevistas no Oriente Médio, África, Europa e Estados Unidos), procura esclarecer neste livro exemplar. - 10 semanas na lista de best-sellers do New York Times;- Finalista do National Book Award 2006;- Segundo melhor livro de 2006 - Revista Time;- Um dos cinco melhores livros de não-ficção de 2006 - The New York Times Sunday Book ReviewEste e-book não contém as imagens presentes na edição impressa.

Couronnée par le prix Pulitzer 2007, voici l''enquête la plus approfondie écrite à ce jour sur l''histoire du terrorisme islamiste. Sait-on que la naissance du fondamentalisme islamiste est tout autant liée à la création d''Israël en 1948 qu''au séjour malheureux aux Etats-Unis, la même année, d''un certain Sayyid Qutb ? Que le nom d''Oussama Ben Loden a émergé pour la première fois dans les fichiers de la CIA en 1993 ? Que dans les camps d''entraînement terroristes, on a beau haïr les Etats-Unis, on se délecte quotidiennement des films de Schwarzenegger ? Que les organisateurs du 11 Septembre avaient presque renoncé à leur projet après s''être rendu compte qu''ils manquaient de soldats capables de se faire passer pour des musulmans occidentalisés ? Que la CIA connaissait de longue date la présence des pirates de l''air sur le sol américain ? La Guerre cachée est un livre d''histoire terrible et qui se lit comme un roman. Lawrence Wright nous captive en nous livrant dans ce récit minutieux, et par moments émouvant, le résultat brûlant de cinq années d''investigation et de centaines d''entretiens réalisés en Egypte, Arabie Saoudite, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Soudan, Royaume-Uni, France, Allemagne, Espagne et Etats-Unis... L''articulation dramatique des événements et la personnalité des acteurs apparaissent ici avec une réalité saisissante. Et l''on comprend les nuances et les enjeux d''un conflit dont on parle beaucoup sans le connaître vraiment. Un conflit dont l''existence continue de menacer l''équilibre de la planète.

Explores both the American and Arab sides of the September 11th terrorist attacks in an account of the people, ideas, events, and intelligence failures that led to the attacks.

The United States government abduction of a suspected terrorist leads to a wave of terrorist attacks in New York that lead to the declaration of martial law.

General Manuel Noriega's incredible rise to power led him to believe he was above all judgment, even God's. This ruthless dictator had an insatiable appetite for women, money and power that drove him to sell secrets to Cuba, make millions from drug deals, and slaughter his enemies, all while on the payroll of the U.S. Army and the CIA.