Anatomy of Terror

From the Death of bin Laden to the Rise of the Islamic State

By: Ali Soufan

Narrated by: Aaron Abano

Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

A compelling, definitive account of how and why bin Laden's ideology keeps rising from the dead.

In early 2011, the heart of the Muslim world roiled in protest, consumed with the upheaval of the Arab Spring. The governments of Tunisia and Egypt had already fallen; those of Libya and Yemen would soon follow. Watching the chaos from his hideout in Pakistan, Osama bin Laden saw a historic opportunity: "The next stage," he declared, "will be the reinstating of the rule of the caliphate."

Within weeks, bin Laden was dead, shot in the dark by a US Navy SEAL. Commentators around the world began to prophesy al-Qaeda's imminent demise. But six years later, the reality is the reverse. The group's affiliates have swollen, and the Islamic State - al-Qaeda's most brutal spinoff to date - proclaims itself the reborn caliphate bin Laden foretold in his final weeks.

In Anatomy of Terror, former FBI special agent and New York Times best-selling author Ali Soufan dissects bin Laden's brand of jihadi terrorism and its major offshoots, revealing how these organizations were formed, how they operate, their strengths, and - crucially - their weaknesses. This riveting account examines the new Islamic radicalism through the eyes of its flag-bearers, including a Jordanian former drug dealer whose cruelties shocked even his fellow militants, an Air Force colonel who once served Saddam Hussein, and a provincial bookworm who declared himself caliph of all Muslims. We meet Ayman al-Zawahiri, titular head of al-Qaeda; Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian ex-soldier who faked his own death to become the group's security chief; and bin Laden's own beloved son Hamza, a prime candidate to lead the organization his late father founded.

To eliminate the scourge of terrorism, we must first know who the enemy actually is, and what his motivations are. Anatomy of Terror lays bare the psychology and inner workings of al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, and their spawn, and shows how the spread of terror can be stopped.

©2017 Ali Soufan (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

A great listen a lot of information

this book is great for understanding the links history of terrorist groups in the middle east. The last part of the book would hope our government would listen too and see as a better way forward.

a deap dive in to the minds of terror

loved it it took me a day to get through narrator is a bit dry at times

Eye Opening Discussion of Islamic Terrorism

I purchased this book right after the recent Manchester bombing to try to wrap my head around this Issue. I found this book quite detailed and extremely interesting. The author takes us from 9/11 up to the end of 2016. I agree with the reviewer that commented that they needed to start a Carrie-like (Homeland) string org chart on their living room wall to track these characters. The bottom line is that a handful of bad guys have caused thousands of deaths and massive destruction.

I certainly wish the solution was as simple as the peace accord that resolved the issues in Northern Ireland as the author suggests, but I have my doubts. Our grandchildren will be dealing with these problems.

Listen to the book and get educated. The last 16 years have not brought a resolution to this problem.

What an incredible work! Top shelf .

The book read like a novel , but was a crash course in terrorism today.

excellent book that fills in gaps.

I listened to it during a long drive. It is interesting enough to keep you engaged the whole time. I would have liked more conclusions and steps forward.

This book is a great beggining

to understand the global and regional conflicts related to middle east and the rest of the world

Very insightful and capturing book

Very well written book. The facts and very nicely laid down into a story that can be smoothly followed from Bin Laden to ISIS. Must read /listen to anyone who's interested in the Islamist terrorism history anx prospective history.


The only negative, as an Arabic speaker, I was very challenging to follow what the narrator was saying. It would have been very nice to have am arabic sepakimg narrator or a bit of practice or consulting into those key words sentences that were important enough to be read in Arabic. This was a consistent annoyance throughout the book.

Good book; good reader; bad accent

The book is good, but not great. Good to go over details of Al-Queda and IS operations though not much that was a surprise. The reader butchered the Arabic words so badly that it was painful to listen (I would listen to another book read by him, but only if it had no foreign words!)

Comprehensive look at terrorism underpinnings

I was impressed with the extent of knowledge about all the myriad figures participating in the jihadi movement. I was especially impressed the historical and analytical analysis from Chapter 6 to the Conclusion sry end. A wonderful contribution to the topic of terrorism in our times and what must be done to combat it.

What every human on the planet needs to know!

I knew terrorism was a problem, but I had no idea how nutty crazy it really was until I listened to this audio book. This should be required reading in high school.