Abstract
The narrative of what happened that day and in the months and years leading up to it will enthrall readers. In places, it all unfurls like a movie thriller, with chapter titles like "We Have Some Planes" and "Heroism and Horror." Osama bin Laden is portrayed as a micromanager who wanted to hit the White House and personally chose all the "muscle" hijackers. There are telling details about the lives and passions of the hijackers. For example, the 9/11 scheme nearly foundered several times over the terrorists' personal tribulations. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the plot's mastermind, became enraged when one hijacker-in-waiting flew home to Yemen after the birth of a child. Mohammed wanted him dropped from the operation, but bin Laden refused. When the wayward Nawaq Alhazmi grew lonely waiting for orders in San Diego, Mohammed allowed him to search for a wife on the Internet. Another hijacker, Ziad Samir Jarrah, left the U.S. as many as five times to visit his girlfriend in Germany in the year before 9/11. he even sent her a last love letter, the only hijacker known to have written a farewell.