Growing Up Bin Laden - fascinating book chronicling the lives of Osama bin Laden's first wife (who bore him 11 children) and his 4th son Omar. It is a chilling story of how a decent and very rich Saudi businessman, respected by all who knew him, turns into a lunatic fanatic - his charisma prevents anyone stopping him in his tracks, although he loses his Saudi citizenship and is eventually thrown out of Sudan.
His influence on his wives and children, who had to obey his every whim (including living without modern conveniences like air conditioning and electricity) was all-pervasive and cruel. His sons were forbidden to show their teeth - which of course meant they were not allowed to smile.
His wife was kept totally in seclusion and in the dark about what he was doing, and was forced to obey him, dragging her children from one country to another and into increasingly awful conditions. She finished up escaping to her family in Syria at the instigation of her son Omar - this goes against her every instinct to obey her husband at all costs - and she has to leave some of her children behind - she never learned their fate, but they were most likely to have been killed when the US bombed Afghanistan after 9/11.
Omar is totally against his father's warlike mindset and determination to create a muslim world - he wants to live in peace, and eventually escapes but has to face a struggle to make a peaceful life for himself whilst carrying the dreadewd bin Laden name.
This is a fascinating book with many insights into the life of muslem families, and of women in particular.
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