The Siege of Mecca
  • Published: 18 August 2008
  • ISBN: 9780141034065
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $24.99

The Siege of Mecca

The Forgotten Uprising in Islam's Holiest Shrine

Formats & editions
EBook
7 Aug 2008
Paperback
18 Aug 2008
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The Birth of al-Qaeda

20 November 1979: as morning prayers began, hundreds of hardline Islamist gunmen, armed with rifles smuggled in coffins, stormed the Grand Mosque in Mecca. With thousands of terrified worshippers trapped inside, the result was a bloody siege that lasted two weeks, caused hundreds of deaths, prompted an international diplomatic crisis and unleashed forces that would eventually lead to the rise of al Qaeda.

Journalist Yaroslav Trofimov takes us day-by-day through one of the most momentous – and heavily censored – events in recent history, interviewing many direct participants in the siege and drawing on secret documents to reveal the truth about the first operation of modern global jihad.
  • Published: 18 August 2008
  • ISBN: 9780141034065
  • Imprint: Penguin Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $24.99
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Praise for The Siege of Mecca

A thriller-like account of an event largely hushed up

The Times

Riveting

Sunday Times

A thriller-like account of an event largely hushed up

The Times

A gripping, highly informed narrative

Financial Times

The first detailed account of the event … brilliantly researched and eye-opening … this is undoubtedly a book of international significance

Herald

A gripping and revealing account of this brutal uprising … The Siege of Mecca is a marvel of investigative journalism … Trofimov's viciously gory account unfolds with a sharp eye for detail and accuracy

Ziauddin Sardar, New Statesman

Trofimov tells this tale with considerable verve and authority. He has interviewed many of the surviving witnesses and participants in a country suffused with fear and paranoia, and sets the siege within a wider historical context

Michael Burleigh, Literary Review
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