# Lawrence Wright

Lawrence Wright (born August 2, 1947) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, screenwriter, staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, and fellow at the Center for Law and Security at the New York University School of Law. Wright is best known as the author of the 2006 nonfiction book, The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. He is a graduate of Tulane University.

## Quotes

* The most worrisome development in the evolution of Al Qaeda’s influence since 9/11 is the growth of pockets of Islamist radicalism in Western populations.
** Wright, Lawrence (September 20, 2010). "The Talk of the Town: Comment: Intolerance". The New Yorker 86 (28): 47–48.
* The best ally in the struggle against violent Islamism is moderate Islam.
** Wright, Lawrence (September 20, 2010). "The Talk of the Town: Comment: Intolerance". The New Yorker 86 (28): 47–48.
* The tug-of-war between Scientologists and anti-Scientologists over Hubbard’s legacy has created two swollen archetypes: the most important person who ever lived and the world’s greatest con man. Hubbard was certainly grandiose, but to label him merely a fraud is to ignore the complexity of his character.
** Wright, Lawrence (February 14, 2011). "The Apostate, Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology". The New Yorker.
* In response to nearly a thousand queries, the Scientology delegation handed over forty-eight binders of supporting material, stretching nearly seven linear feet.
** Wright, Lawrence (February 14, 2011). "The Apostate, Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology". The New Yorker.
* Listen, bin Laden is - you know, he's not irrelevant. He was important all along. Just the fact that he was able to elude capture or being killed for nearly a decade, actually more than a decade if you go back to the embassy bombings in 1998 when we first went after him. He's been a symbol of resistance and also of the failure of American policy to reach out and stop this kind of terror. It emboldened other imitators all around the globe. So getting bin Laden is immeasurably important.
** Terry Gross (May 2, 2011). "Lawrence Wright : Bin Laden's Death 'Long In Coming'". Fresh Air (National Public Radio).
* Bin Laden is dead. Al-Qaida eventually will die. But the model that al-Qaida has created of an asymmetric terror group that has enormous consequences in the world well beyond the size of the group, that's going to endure. Other groups are going to try to follow that model.
** Terry Gross (May 2, 2011). "Lawrence Wright : Bin Laden's Death 'Long In Coming'". Fresh Air (National Public Radio).
* People are always asking me if I'm frightened, hanging out with al Qaeda, but usually those encounters are one-on-one interviews. I'm talking to people whose views I don't agree with, but that happens all the time.
** Barbara Hoffman (September 26, 2010). "In my library … Lawrence Wright". New York Post: p. 32.
* I’ve studied Jonestown, radical Islam. They’re oftentimes good-hearted people, idealistic, but full of a kind of crushing certainty that eliminates doubt.
** From documentary movie "Going Clear," directed by Alex Gibney

## About

* When I heard the news that Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan, I had a lot of questions. And one of the people I wanted to talk to was Lawrence Wright. He's joined us several times on the show. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his 2006 book The Looming Tower: Al-Qaida and the Road to 9/11, which is based in part on more than 500 interviews, including interviews with friends and relatives of bin Laden.
** Terry Gross (May 2, 2011). "Lawrence Wright : Bin Laden's Death 'Long In Coming'". Fresh Air (National Public Radio).

## See also

* Pulitzer Prize winners
* Nicholas D. Kristof
* William Safire
* Bob Woodward
* Journalism

## External links

* Wright on NPR
* The Looming Tower Reviews at Metacritic
* AuthorViews video interview about The Looming Tower
* Audio of Paul Ingram Pardon Hearing
* Biography at lawrencewright.com
* Lawrence Wright articles at Byliner
* Lawrence Wright Interview: Conversations with History; Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley
* Reporting The Bin Laden Beat, Journalist Lawrence Wright Knows More About Al Qaeda's Leader Than Many CIA Operatives AUSTIN Sept. 9, 2007