Somebody left this a one star review, asking if it's "morally right" to publish a book like this. What a dumb question, of course it is morally right.
As in the description about the book. I am totally satisfied.
Product arrived on time and as advertised. It is important to use primary sources when studying a subject.
If you want to know what Usama bin Laden has said....check this book out.
This item never arrived. I have given it 3 stars because I suspect that the problem is not with the vendor.
This book was a book of 3 choices in my government class. I had to write a "reaction paper" on this book.
However readers might dispute the validity of the claims made in Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin-Laden, they will no longer be able to claim ignorance regarding the intentions of the Saudi-born Islamic radical. Presented together in their entirety for the first time, the twenty-four essays and transcripts comprise the body of public messages bin-Laden released during the ten year period from 1994 to 2004, a decade during which relations between the West and the Muslim world underwent dramatic changes.
"Messages to the World" contains interviews with the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, and various statements attributed to him. I'm not sure whether it's really permissible to publish a book like this one, but I guess you could see it as "know thy enemy".
Osama Bin Laden's statements have been widely covered in TV and radio in bits and pieces; but they haven't been gathered together under one cover before; so to receive a unified presentation of all his admonitions, turn to MESSAGES TO THE WORLD: THE STATEMENTS OF OSAMA BIN LADEN. Statements issued in his name over the last ten years are here newly translated from the Arabic and annotated with a critical introduction by editor Lawrence, an Islamic scholar, which adds historical, political and religious context to the statements.
As someone who has been critical of US foreign policy through a variety of administrations, it may seem inevitable that I would be drawn to someone like bin Laden. Having read my share of writings by sociopaths such as Hitler, Mao, and even Kaczynski, my only compliment for bin Laden would be that his thoughts aren't nearly as fractured and self-contradictory as others I've read.
Bruce Lawrence (the compiler) points out that while occasional fragments of bin Laden's words are cited, official pressures have ensured that, for the most part, his voice has been tacitly censured - as though too dangerous to hear. This collection of 24 items include interviews with Arab and Western journalists, handwritten letters, and video recordings.
This book pretends to open our eyes to the logic of Bin Laden's message by showing us his writings and speeches in their entirety rather than the 'sound bites' we hear in the western media. Supposedly the sound bites give us only a negative stereotype of Bin Laden who is actually a quite intelligent, just, freedom loving, women's rights crusader only 'opposing American policies'.
How can any of us put the "war on terror" into context if we don't know what the leader of the other side is saying? Bin Laden knows why he has organized his threat against the USA and he tells us.
Is it morally right and tactically wise to publish such a book? It is possible to say that bin Laden does not need a forum, and that his messages are eagerly transmitted by his followers to one another through all modern technical means, including the 'Internet'.
Osama Bin Laden's statements have been widely covered in TV and radio in bits and pieces; but they haven't been gathered together under one cover before; so to receive a unified presentation of all his admonitions, turn to Messages To The World: The Statements Of Osama Bin Laden. Statements issued in his name over the last ten years are here newly translated from the Arabic and annotated with a critical introduction by editor Lawrence, an Islamic scholar, which adds historical, political and religious context to the statements.
