Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America's Secret Campaign Against Al Qaeda Audiobook

Quotes

• Should appeal to anyone who wants to understand the parameters of the ongoing fight against terrorism.

  — Publishers Weekly

• “Insightful…Counterstrike…is not just another book about Sept. 11, Iraq or Afghanistan. Rather, it focuses on the various military and civilian agency responses to terrorism [with a] strong portrayal of the many unheralded United States victories…Americans should take comfort in this book’s reminder that their government can adapt to meet threats as they change, keeping them safer—if not necessarily safe—from terrorism.”

  — New York Times

• "Counterstrike’ provides a detailed look at the changes that have occurred and the personalities behind those decisions, as well as the complicated global chessboard of terror networks and sympathetic governments that made adaptation so vital.”

  — Boston Globe

• “This eye-opening account of how the US government has vastly upgraded its counterterrorism efforts since Sept. 11 reminds readers that while the threat from al-Qaeda and its affiliates persists, so does the American will to strike back.”

  — Washington Times

• “In Counterstrike, Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker, reporters for the New York Times, warn that another catastrophic terrorist event is inevitable, but their behind-the-scenes account of the evolution of US counterterrorism strategy gives officials the highest marks…Counterstrike is a glowing portrayal of the American intelligence community.”

  — San Francisco Chronicle

• “A remarkable detective story by two of the nation’s best reporters. With meticulous research and fine storytelling, Counterstrike reveals who, what, when, where, and why in describing the long campaign by the United States government to demolish al-Qaeda and ultimately to kill Osama bin Laden.”

  — Rick Atkinson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of An Army at Dawn

• "Counterstrike lays bare the provocative new ideas that are driving the war on terrorism. Generals often talk about changing the hearts and minds of people in faraway lands, but Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker reveal the importance of changing the hearts and minds of America’s defense strategists. This is a groundbreaking intellectual history that is also a great read.”

  — Jessica Stern, author of Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill

• "New York Times correspondents Schmitt and Shanker review events after 9/11, focusing on government and military counterterrorism experts who convinced administration ideologues to switch gears…[A] reassuring argument that, after an expensive and massive effort, terrorism seems on the decline.”

  — Kirkus Reviews