Following the devastating terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States found itself searching for answers and revenge against those who had caused this atrocity. The attack , compared to that of Pearl-Harbor, has elevated the tracking and collection of terrorist acts from a mere priority to a priority on the American radar. I honestly believe that terrorism as the number 1 priority is destined to remain top of mind for the foreseeable future elementary of almost all American minds after the attacks were who had the strength and ability to be able to carry out such an attack against a country with the strongest military in the world and what led them to focus on attacking the United States: in short, who attacked us, and why do they hate us? The United States formed a bipartisan 9/11 Commission to trace the roots of Al-Qa'ida, investigate the history of the 19 hijackers, examine the opportunities missed by the forces of order to avert disaster and make recommendations to clean up the flawed and inconsistent intelligence-gathering operation. The more than 500 pages of the 9/11 Commission Report contained thirteen chapters of historical narratives, analyzes and recommendations. All ten members of the bipartisan commission signed the report, which has likely become a national historic document. Just as the 9/11 Commission was created to find answers and recommend the necessary steps to ensure history does not repeat itself, Lawrence Wright sought answers as to why 3,000 American lives were lost in the September 11 attacks. An experienced traveler in the region, Lawrence Wright has attempted to conduct an investigative study of the history, ideology and circumstances behind this great… medium of paper… I had misunderstood, or rather ignored, the Muslim Brotherhood that materialized in Egypt and later took root and inspired others elsewhere. If Wright's analysis is correct, and I suspect it is in this abundantly documented and well-written book, it began as an opposition to colonialism and its nationalist/socialist/modernist/capitalist alternatives. It seemed that for Sayyid Qutb and other defining figures of the Brotherhood, Islam was an all-encompassing system for reshaping the postcolonial world. Qutb, who actually spent time studying in the United States, returned in the late 1940s outraged and radicalized. Qutb absorbed our alleged corruption and viewed the United States as supporting regimes that the majority in the Middle East disliked, as well as being a good friend of Israel and opposed to Islam, issues that are still a common complaint heard today..