The Siege: 68 Hours Inside the Taj Hotel
In November 2008, a ragtag band of extremely well-armed Pakistani gunmen from the Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist group fanned out across the city of Mumbai, stealthily and lethally making its way to the lavish Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.  An international symbol of elitism and opulence, the Taj catered to celebrities and CEOs, and on the night of November 26, the old six-story hotel and its adjacent modern tower were teeming with more than 600 guests and 1,600 employees.  In a barbaric reign of terror, multiple two-man teams of jihadists rampaged and ransacked the hotel, strafing anyone in sight with AK-47s, hurling grenades into banquet and guest rooms, and setting fire to the upper floors.  At the end of 68 hours, 166 were dead and dozens more critically injured.  Veteran Southeast Asia journalists Scott-Clark and Levy recreate this cataclysmic disaster with all the pulse-pumping intensity of a cinematic action thriller, recounting astonishing episodes of personal heroism while issuing a sobering indictment of the ineptitude of the government and security agencies that failed to prevent the attack and protect civilians. --Carol Haggas