Home | Lawrence Wright

Author of The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and named one of Time’s Top 100 Books of all time.
Staff writer for The New Yorker and winner of the 2012 National Magazine Award for his profile of Paul Haggis, the basis of new book Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief.
“There is no more careful reporter in the world than [Wright], and no one who is as thorough and as indefatigable.”
—Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic

“Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief”

A clear-sighted revelation, a deep penetration into the world of Scientology by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower, the now-classic study of al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attack. Lawrence Wright uses his extraordinary investigative ability to uncover for us the inner workings of the Church of Scientology.

At the book’s center, two men whom Wright brings vividly to life, showing how they have made Scientology what it is today: The darkly brilliant science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, whose restless, expansive mind invented a new religion. And his successor, David Miscavige — tough and driven, with the unenviable task of preserving the church after the death of Hubbard.

Read an excerpt of Going Clear →

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“Powerful... essential reading.”
—Cover of The New York Times Book Review

“An utterly necessary story.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“Wright brings a clear-eyed, investigative fearlessness to Scientology and the result is a rollicking, if deeply creepy, narrative ride, evidence that truth can be stranger even than science fiction.”
—Washington Post

“The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11”

A gripping narrative that spans five decades, The Looming Tower explains in unprecedented detail the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, the rise of al-Qaeda, and the intelligence failures that culminated in the attacks on the World Trade Center. Lawrence Wright re-creates firsthand the transformation of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri from incompetent and idealistic soldiers in Afghanistan to leaders of the most successful terrorist group in history. He follows FBI counterterrorism chief John O’Neill as he uncovers the emerging danger from al-Qaeda in the 1990s and struggles to track this new threat. Packed with new information and a deep historical perspective, The Looming Tower is the definitive history of the long road to September 11. More about The Looming Tower →

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“A searing view of the tragic events of September 11, 2001... a narrative history that possesses all the immediacy and emotional power of a novel.”
—Michiko Kakatuni, The New York Times

“Comprehensive and compelling… Wright has written what must be considered a definitive work on the antecedents to 9/11.”
—Starred Kirkus review

“My Trip to Al Qaeda” now available on Netflix streaming

My Trip to Al-Qaeda takes a harrowing tour through the world of Islamic terrorism, as acclaimed author Lawrence Wright strains to understand the roots of hatred and violence that led to 9/11. Based on Wright’s one-man play, itself adapted from his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Looming Tower: al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, the film combines elements of first-person narrative with gripping documentary footage.

Stream: Netflix | amazon Purchase: amazon

“Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief”

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“The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11”

“My Trip to Al Qaeda” now available on Netflix streaming