Osama bin Laden has presented himself to the world as a zealous freedom fighter and a deeply pious man, a de facto paragon for Muslims everywhere. Telling a far different story, this authoritative new biography lifts bin Laden’s mask of moral purity as it recounts his transformation from dissolute rich kid into terrorist mastermind and delineates his long campaign to bring jihad to the United States.

Based on reliable information provided by members of bin Laden’s family and extensive independent research, Adam Robinson opens a window onto a privileged childhood riven by jealousies, family politics, and the early death of his father, and depicts the young bin Laden desperately seeking attention and acceptance. Documenting the teenager’s excesses in the Beirut nightclub world of hedonism, sex, and alcohol, he traces the steps that led to bin Laden’s transformation, via the Soviet-Afghan war and Operation Desert Storm--and with no small amount of media manipulation--into an icon in the Islamic fundamentalist world. The author shows how bin Laden’s business skills shaped Al-Qaeda into a kind of Terrorism, Inc., and recounts in detail the increasingly violent stages of his decade-long war against the United States, right up to the attacks of September 11, 2001, and their aftermath.

At the same time he underscores the contradictions and fanaticism of a would-be Islamic hero who claims moral superiority while profiting from the opium trade, which has abetted the spread of HIV and AIDS among fellow Muslims; whose past is littered with alcohol and prostitutes; who courts publicity and seeks adulation within the Muslim world while staging modesty; who inspires his followers to commit murder in the name of a peace-loving religion; and who would go to any lengths to achieve his goal of a global Islamic fundamentalist revolution.

In researching this book, the author traveled to Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Bahrain, Oman, Libya, and Pakistan. Bringing a thorough knowledge of Middle Eastern politics and society to the story, he provides insight into the character of the terrorist and offers a sobering portrait of the real Osama bin Laden.