Despite the saturation of global media coverage, Osama bin Laden’s own writings have been curiously absent from analysis of the “war on terror.” Over the last ten years, bin Laden has issued a series of carefully tailored public statements, from interviews with Western and Arabic journalists to faxes and video recordings. These texts supply evidence crucial to an understanding of the bizarre mix of Quranic scholarship, CIA training, punctual interventions in Gulf politics and messianic anti-imperialism that has formed the programmatic core of Al Qaeda.

In bringing together the various statements issued under bin Laden’s name since 1994, this volume forms part of a growing discourse that seeks to demythologize the terrorist network. Newly translated from the Arabic, annotated with a critical introduction by Islamic scholar Bruce Lawrence, this collection places the statements in their religious, historical and political context. It shows how bin Laden’s views draw on and differ from other strands of radical Islamic thought; it also demonstrates how his arguments vary in degrees of consistency, and how his evasions concerning the true nature and extent of his own group, and over his own role in terrorist attacks, have contributed to the perpetuation of his personal mythology.

Long before his death in 1988, Robert A. Heinlein had expressed the desire to have a selection of his letters published, after he was gone, and entitled 'Grumbles from the Grave'.

But increasing pressure from his work and a series of major illnesses made it impossible for him to undertake the job of editing this himself. Now his wife, Virginia Heinlein, has taken on the labor of fulfilling his wish.

A selection of the letters of Robert Heinlein from 1939 to 1970. This collection offers a fascinating glimpse into the mind of one of the most influential science fiction authors of the 20th century.