Lawrence Wright is an American writer and journalist and a staff writer for The New Yorker. His nonfiction explores Islamist terrorism, the fragility of memory, and the Church of Scientology, and he writes from the United States in English.
Wright grew up in Texas and studied at Tulane University. He then spent two years teaching English at the American University in Cairo, where he earned a master's degree in applied linguistics in 1969. In 1980 he began working for Texas Monthly and contributed to Rolling Stone, and in 1992 he joined The New Yorker. His book Remembering Satan (1994) examines a false memory case involving Paul Ingram, and in 1996 he testified at Ingram's pardon hearing.
His best-known work is The Looming Tower (2006), a account of the path to Al Qaeda and the September 11 attacks, which won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. Later he published Going Clear (2013), about Scientology, and in 2020 the thriller novel The End of October, set during a pandemic. His style blends investigative reporting with first-person narrative.
His legacy lies in the rigor of his reporting and in the screen adaptations of his work, including the documentary Going Clear, which received a Peabody Award in 2015.
Key works
- The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (2006), an account of Al Qaeda and the road to the 9/11 attacks.
- Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief (2013), an investigation of the church's history and leadership.
- Remembering Satan: A Tragic Case of Recovered Memory (1994), a study of a recovered memory case and its false accusations.
- The End of October (2020), a thriller about a pandemic.
Curiosities
A title with an echo of bin Laden
The title of The Looming Tower comes from a phrase that Osama bin Laden quoted three times in a videotaped speech, which many took to be addressed to the 9/11 hijackers.
A documentary based on his book
The documentary Going Clear, based on Wright's book, was nominated for seven Emmy Awards, won three, and received a 2015 Peabody Award.
Original Filopedia text based on Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.