The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine and the Bi,

Description: About this productProduct InformationOn November 20, 1979, worldwide attention was focused on Tehran, where the Iranian hostage crisis was entering its third week. The same morningthe first of a new Muslim centuryhundreds of gunmen stunned the world by seizing Islam's holiest shrine, the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Armed with rifles that they had smuggled inside coffins, these men came from more than a dozen countries, launching the first operation of global jihad in modern times. Led by a Saudi preacher named Juhayman al Uteybi, they believed that the Saudi royal family had become a craven servant of American infidels, and sought a return to the glory of uncompromising Islam. With nearly 100,000 worshippers trapped inside the holy compound, Mecca's bloody siege lasted two weeks, inflaming Muslim rage against the United States and causing hundreds of deaths. Despite U.S. assistance, the Saudi royal family proved haplessly incapable of dislodging the occupier, whose ranks included American converts to Islam. In Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini blamed the Great Satanthe United States for defiling the shrine, prompting mobs to storm and torch American embassies in Pakistan and Libya. The desperate Saudis finally enlisted the help of French commandos led by tough-as-nails Captain Paul Barril, who prepared the final assault and supplied poison gas that knocked out the insurgents. Though most captured gunmen were quickly beheaded, the Saudi royal family responded to this unprecedented challenge by compromising with the rebels' supporters among the kingdom's most senior clerics, helping them nurture and export Juhayman's violent brand of Islam around the world. This dramatic and immensely consequential story was barely covered in the press in the pre-CNN, preAl Jazeera days, as Saudi Arabia imposed an information blackout and kept foreign correspondents away. Yaroslav Trofimov now penetrates this veil of silence, interviewing for the first time scores of direct participants in the siege, including former terrorists, and drawing on hundreds of documents that had been declassified on his request. Written with the pacing, detail, and suspense of a real-life thriller,The Siege of Meccareveals how Saudi reaction to the uprising in Mecca set free the forces that produced the attacks of 9/11, and the harrowing circumstances that surround us today.Product IdentifiersPublisherKnopf Doubleday Publishing GroupISBN-100385519257ISBN-139780385519250eBay Product ID (ePID)59070797Product Key FeaturesBook TitleSiege of Mecca : the Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine and the Birth of Al QaedaAuthorYaroslav TrofimovFormatHardcoverLanguageEnglishTopicIslamic Studies, Islam / General, Middle East / Arabian Peninsula, Middle East / GeneralPublication Year2007GenreReligion, History, Social ScienceNumber of Pages320 PagesDimensionsItem Length9.5in.Item Height1in.Item Width6.4in.Item Weight21.3 OzAdditional Product FeaturesLc Classification NumberDs248.M4t76 2007ReviewsAdvance Praise forThe Siege of Mecca "Yaroslav Trofimov has written a spellbinding thriller. Packed with vivid, previously undisclosed details, it illuminates a little-known hostage crisis in the closed-off heart of the Muslim world that helped give rise to Al Qaeda. Once I started reading, I couldn't put the book down." -Rajiv Chandrasekaran, author ofImperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone "As Yaroslav Trofimov amply and skillfully demonstrates, the most radioactive particle in the world today is not North Korea, Iran, or, for that matter, the United States. It is, rather, the terrifying bundle of contradictions otherwise known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The most formative event in the modern history of this secretive and at times morally disgusting petrocracy is vivisected by Trofimov to unsettling effect, and he reminds us of why anything that has happened or will happen there is a matter of great concern to the world." -Tom Bissell, author ofGod Lives in St. PetersburgandThe Father of All ThingsCopyright Date2007Target AudienceTradeLccn2007-007520Dewey Decimal953.805/3Dewey Edition22IllustratedYes

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