Each chapter is identified below, including its length (in pages and audio narration), a short summary, and suggested themes to help guide the creation of your presentation.
Click Below for a Digital/Printable Version of the Chapter Guide
Chapter 1: The Martyr (29 pg., 1 hr 13 min)
Summary: Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian national whose writings inspired al-Qaeda and other Sallafist-based terror groups, travels to America in the wake of World War II, is horrified by the nation he encounters and returns to Egypt further emboldened to promote an archaic vision of Islam.
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Chapter 2: The Sporting Club (31 pg., 1 hr 19 min)
Summary: The early life of Ayman Al Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor and philosopher, who turns to Radical Islam out of disgust with the Egyptian secular government and the increasing inequalities in his native country.
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Chapter 3: The Founder (28 pg., 1 hr 11 min)
Summary: The early life of Osama bin Laden and the rise of his family in relation to the emergence of Saudi Arabia as a dominant force in the Middle East and world affairs.
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Chapter 4:Change (17 pg., 42 min)
Summary: Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family who was educated in the United States, returns to Saudi Arabia to assume command of the Foreign Liaison Bureau (the Saudi intelligence service) and becomes a hero for helping to end the seizure of the Grand Mosque in 1979.
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Chapter 5: The Miracles (25 pg., 1 hr 3 min)
Summary: Saudi Arabia and Pakistan conspire to recruit Arabs from across North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula to join the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Bin Laden becomes a leader in this movement, helping to redefine the concept of jihad in a manner that promoted a Salafist view of Islam and the rest of the world.
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Chapter 6: The Base (26 pg., 1 hr 7 min)
Summary: As the Afghan war against the Soviets drags toward a close, Zawahiri uses the mujahideen recruits to create al-Jihad, a group dedicated to overthrowing the secular government in Egypt, while Bin Laden begins to envision that the Arab mujahideen could provide the basis for an Islamic army that could help destroy that major world powers who threaten Islam.
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Chapter 7:Return of the Hero (20 pg., 50 min)
Summary: Bin Laden returns to Saudi Arabia, a land of increasing social changes and political tensions. The invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990, followed by the stationing of American troops in Saudi Arabia and subsequent war against Iraq in 1991 led Bin Laden to issue verbal attacks against America and the Saudi royal family, and to finally leave the Arabian Peninsula.
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Chapter 8: Paradise (15 pg., 35 min)
Summary: The Afghan Civil War, that resulted from the withdrawal of the Soviet Union, continues while Bin Laden creates a base of operations for al-Qaeda in Sudan and America engages in humanitarian operations in Somalia.
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Chapter 9: The Silicon Valley (13 pg., 31 min)
Summary: In the wake of the (failed) 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, Zawahiri arrives in the United States to rally Muslims (and money) to al-Jihad and al-Qaeda, though increased attacks against the Egyptian government result in the marginalization of al-Jihad.
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Chapter 10: Paradise Lost (17 pg., 42 min)
Summary: The American and UN mission in Somalia quickly unravels, as al-Qaeda provides men and weapons to help support militants who attack American forces. Bin Laden faces some dissent within al-Qaeda, and deals with increasing alienation from his Saudi homeland.
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Chapter 11: The Prince of Darkness (12 pg., 29 min)
Summary: FBI agent John O’Neill works to build a counter-terrorism task force with Bin Laden as a specific target, while Bin Laden targets Saudi Arabia for its criticism of him and its relationship with America.
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Chapter 12: The Boy Spies (12 pg., 29 min)
Summary: Zawahiri increases al-Jihad’s operations against the Egyptian government and Egypt retaliates in actions that decimate al-Jihad and force it to join forces with al-Qaeda. Bin Laden’s increasing hostility toward America and its allies leads to his expulsion from Sudan.
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Chapter 13: Hijira (15 pg., 37 min)
Summary: Bin Laden seeks to find a place for al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, which has recently come under the control of the Taliban who competes with al-Qaeda in its radical vision of Islam and the world.
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Chapter 14: Going Operational (9 pg., 21 min)
Summary: O’Neill and the FBI attempt to get involved with the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, meanwhile Alec Station is established by the CIA as a joint task force on counter terrorism, but major barriers to cooperation between the agencies exist.
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Chapter 15: Bread and Water (19 pg., 47 min)
Summary: Bin Laden solidifies a relationship with the Taliban while Zawahiri leaves Afghanistan in an attempt to establish a new base for al-Jihad - only to end up in prison. He returns to Afghanistan more committed to Bin Laden. From there he directs the 1997 attacks at Luxor, Egypt.
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Chapter 16: “Now it Begins” (28 pg., 1 hr 7 min)
Summary: Bin Laden defies the Taliban’s Mullah Omar by increasing his public image through a series of interviews, and Turki uses the public dispute to put leverage on the Taliban to hand Bin Laden over to the Saudis. Meanwhile the CIA and FBI battle over plans to capture Bin Laden, while al-Qaeda carries out its first official attack on American targets: simultaneous attacks on the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
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Chapter 17: The New Millennium (15 pg., 36 min)
Summary: While Bin Laden solidifies his position in Afghanistan and builds the ranks of al-Qaeda, he fails to build a relationship with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein that would allow al-Qaeda to establish a foothold deeper inside the Middle East. O’Neill’s personal failings, meanwhile, threaten his position in the FBI, despite success in stopping attacks planned against the United States at the turn of the millennium.
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Chapter 18: Boom (36 pg., 1 hr 29 min)
Summary: Al-Qaeda launches a successful attack in Yemen, blowing up the USS Cole, leading O’Neill and the FBI into the Arabian peninsula in an effort to prevent future attacks. Meanwhile the CIA gathers intelligence from an al-Qaeda meeting in Malaysia that they refuse to share with the FBI.
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Chapter 19: The Big Wedding (32 pg., 1 hr 19 min)
Summary: Despite increasing warnings, the new Bush administration dismisses the threat of al-Qaeda, while al-Qaeda finalizes the plans for attacking the World Trade Center in New York. O’Neill is offered the role of Terrorism Czar on the National Security team, but instead quits public service, just before the attacks of September 11, 2001 occur.
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Chapter 20: Revelations (13 pg., 33 min)
Summary: In the wake of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington DC, the CIA finally reveals the information it had been withholding from the FBI, allowing for a definitive identification of al-Qaeda as the group responsible for the attacks. America launches Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, driving al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan, but not destroying it or capturing Bin Laden.
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