Zacarias Moussaoui: Making Of A Terrorist, The

Description: Zacarias Moussaoui was arrested in the United States in August 2001. He is currently in a federal prison in Virginia, charged with "conspiring with Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda to murder thousands of innocent people in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania". Zacarias Moussaoui, who trained to be a pilot in Oklahoma, admits to being a member of Al-Qaeda but denies involvement in the events of September 11th 2001. He has opted to defend himself. Written by his brother, this book tells the story of Zac's life from birth to the time in 1996 when he broke contact with his family and became deeply involved with Muslim fundamentalists. It is a unique document about what it is to grow up a Muslim in modern Western Europe, and how an extremist is made. Of particular interest to a British reader are the chapters in the book where Zacarias comes under the influence of Muslim fundamentalists in London where he lived from 1992 until his "disappearance".

Review: 'with its pain and its humanity brings a stark answer to a fundamental question: how does one become a terrorist?' L'Humanite; 'A very courageous book that takes to task... a sectarian, violent strand of Islamic thought' La Tribune