The Osama bin Laden I Know by Peter L. Bergen

The Osama bin Laden I Know (Hardcover in Illustrated Dust Jacket)

An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader, Drawn from Peter Bergen's Interviews with Those Who Knew Him

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader
• Author: Peter L. Bergen
• Publisher: Free Press, New York
• Publication Date: 2006
• ISBN-13: 9780743278911
• ISBN-10: 0743278917
• Edition Details: Free Press, New York, 2006. Hardcover trade edition with the publisher's number line 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2.
• Binding: Publisher's black paper-covered boards with red cloth spine, in the original illustrated dust jacket.
• Physical Format: Octavo hardcover, approximately 235 x 155 mm, 444 pages.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good Plus (VG+)
• Exterior / Boards: The black paper-covered boards and red cloth spine are clean, with no visible wear or marks apart from one tiny red speck on the spine near the board edge. The top and fore-edges are lightly toned.
• Interior: The text block is clean and tight, with evenly cream-toned pages and a few small dark specks on the fore-edge region. There is a small crease to the top right corner of the title page. No writing, markings or ex-library stamps.
• The Dust Jacket: Present. The glossy illustrated jacket with its mosaic portrait design is clean and bright, with slight rubbing and a small bump at the head of the spine. Unpriced, with a barcode sticker to the rear. Protected in a durable archival-type plastic cover.

Synopsis & Historical Value

First published in 2006, The Osama bin Laden I Know is an oral history of the man who built al Qaeda. Rather than offering a single authorial verdict, Peter Bergen assembles the voices of people who knew bin Laden personally, from his high school teacher to a former bodyguard and an early al Qaeda member who later became a US informant.

The book follows bin Laden's rise through his years in Sudan and Afghanistan and the founding of al Qaeda, with those who knew him recounting his personal habits, beliefs and the growth of the organisation. The result is a close, human portrait that sits alongside the wider record of the so-called war on terror.

The book was named one of the best non-fiction books of 2006 by the Washington Post, and Richard Clarke called it a go-to resource. It was translated into French, Spanish and Polish, and inspired the CNN documentary In the Footsteps of bin Laden. A useful, well-regarded primary-source title for collectors of modern conflict history.

Author Profile: Peter L. Bergen

Peter L. Bergen is a journalist, documentary producer and CNN national security analyst, born in Minneapolis. He holds a degree in Modern History from New College, Oxford. In 1997 he produced the first television interview with Osama bin Laden.

His other works include Holy War, Inc. (2001), The Longest War (2011) and The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden (2021). He is the author of three New York Times bestsellers.

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