Excerpt from Bin Laden by Yossef Bodansky, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Osama bin Laden was one of the first Arabs to go to Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion. "I was enraged and went there at once," he said to an Arab journalist. In retrospect, bin Laden now considers the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan a turning point in his life. "The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, and the mujahideen put out an international plea for help," he explained to another interviewer. He was inspired by the plight of Muslims "in a medieval society besieged by a twentieth-century superpower. . . . In our religion, there is a special place in the hereafter for those who participate in jihad," he added. "One day in Afghanistan was like one thousand days of praying in an ordinary mosque."

Excerpted from bin Laden by Yossef Bodansky Copyright 2001 by Yossef Bodansky. Excerpted by permission of Prima Lifestyles, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.