Manhunt

The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden - from 9-11 to Abbottabad

By: Peter L. Bergen

Narrated by: Mark Deakins

Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

From the author of the New York Times best-selling Holy War, Inc., this is the definitive account of the decade-long manhunt for the world’s most wanted man, Osama bin Laden.

Al Qaeda expert and CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen paints a multidimensional picture of the hunt for bin Laden over the past decade, including the operation that killed him. Other key elements of the book include:

• A careful account of President Obama’s decision-making process as the raid was planned
• The fascinating story of a group of CIA analysts—largely women—who never gave up assembling the tiniest clues about OBL’s whereabouts
• The untold and action-packed history of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and the SEALs
• An analysis of what the death of OBL means for al Qaeda, and for Obama’s legacy.

Just as Too Big to Fail captured, in riveting detail, the anatomy of this decade’s financial disaster, so too is Manhunt one of the key stories of this decade: the authoritative, immersive account of the operation that killed the man who organized the largest mass murder in American history.

©2012 Peter L. Bergen (P)2012 Random House

Critic reviews

"In Manhunt, Peter Bergen has produced a page-turner rich with new information and insight into the search for Bin Laden and his killing. Only Bergen, America's foremost counterterrorism writer, could have produced a book of such energy and authority - a triumph." (Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001)
"Ten years of grit, intelligent hard work, and daring led to Operation Neptune Spear, and Bergen captures it all in a story that is both a riveting page turner and a definitive history. Revealing details of bin Laden's last years in self-imposed prison, the debates of the CIA analysts who tracked him, and the training of the SEALs who killed him, Manhunt is essential reading for anyone who wants to know the real story of how the world's most wanted terrorist was finally brought to justice." (Eric Greitens, author of The Heart and The Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL)
"With masterly reporting, Peter Bergen takes us where we've never been: behind the high walls of Osama bin Laden's last hideout and behind the scenes of the heroic and painstaking hunt for the Al Qaeda mastermind. Manhunt is a thrilling read." (Anderson Cooper, CNN anchor)

Very thorough research. Very interesting.

Would you consider the audio edition of Manhunt to be better than the print version?

Uhhhh. Sure.

What about Mark Deakins’s performance did you like?

He does a pretty good George W. Bush and Obama impression.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

That Al Qaeda wasn't very powerful or organized at all. They got lucky with the 9/11 attacks and others like it. Now they are all dead.

Good read

What did you love best about Manhunt?

The book itself was very good but the second half was outstanding.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

Narrator is clear and easy to follow.

What does Mark Deakins bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He made the events more real.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The second half of the book was outstanding. The information that led up to finding Ben Laden and the plans and decisions that went on behind the scenes was captivating.

Great book!

Where does Manhunt rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the best I have ever heard

What was one of the most memorable moments of Manhunt?

The whole book, if you want to know everything about how the Us missed oportunities to
kill OSB this is the book. Also how the Us worked and worked to get intel on the terrorist.

Fascinating! Don't miss this one.

This is great storytelling, with just the right amount of detail and well told. I hadn't really realized how interesting each part of it would be, peeking behind the scenes at every stage of the process. I found the coverage balanced, not favouring any particular outlook or presidency. It IS a great success of the Obama presidency and, even though I don't support him overall, we all can celebrate successes by any president, hopefully. After all, we're all Americans! (I'm actually Canadian, but you know what I mean).

Women especially, haven't you wondered how his wives fit into all of this, what kind of people they were, how they lived? In this book, you find out.

In the epilogue of the book, he relates the other threats of militant Islam besides Al Qaida, which by this point in time, after he wrote the book, have proved to be very troubling indeed. Bergen doesn't see the whole movement as a threat overall to the West, comparable to Communism or Nazism, and I hope he's right. Time only will tell. I think it's better to take it seriously though and I think the real story is NOT that Bush screwed up in Iraq and Afghanistan, but that there aren't easy answers to this threat and no president would likely have been able to 'fix' it. I think it should be clear it's a long struggle, dating perhaps from 1979, and obviously still with us.

But this book is a riveting account of every stage of this particular mission and for anyone even slightly interested, a very enjoyable book!

good but raid details were very wrong

What did you like best about Manhunt? What did you like least?

From an intelligence standpoint it seems solid but it appears the raid details came from cable news rather people with real info. It's very disappointing that he would publish information such as the targets that were shot were unarmed or that the blackhawk crashed, both untrue. It makes me wonder what other information wasn't vetted.

Was Manhunt worth the listening time?

it's good if you want to know more about washington's perspective but if you want raid facts read "mark owen's" book "no easy day"

Packed with information making it a short read

This book is ten years of terrorist information pack in a 384 page book, so it moves along quickly. I read Holy War Inc., so I thought I would give this a listen. Who doesn't like a good manhunt anyway. The author looks to lean left, which is ok as President Obama and CIA made a decision to go without seeing UBL at the compound. The author says the POTUS deserved the Noble Peace prize for his extraordinary efforts. Really (extraordinary)Bergin?
All in all a good book and praise to the Seals, CIA, and administration for the successful mission. The US government was not looking anywhere else for UBL at this time. They had no other leads at all after Tora Bora. No plan B, no other site. So it was all or nothing in Abbottabad.

A look behind the scenes

This is a great book if your interested in what it took to hunt down UBL. Everyone from the CIA, to the military, the presidents cabinet and the President himself

Exhilarating

Great in depth discussion of intelligence and operations that went into hunt for UBL.
Thanks

fact is better than fiction

What did you like about this audiobook?

I thought this book might get slow or or be slanted one way or the other.

How has the book increased your interest in the subject matter?

It's just the facts. It really gets into how the terrorists work and how the CIA works.

Does the author present information in a way that is interesting and insightful, and if so, how does he achieve this?

Just how the structure of both the terrorists and the CIA are so different than anything you read in fiction.

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

How risky the hit on Bin Ladin's compound was. There were a number of other outcomes from that situation that could have spun US foreign relations in vastly different directions.

Do you have any additional comments?

I'm not much for politics but this was a quick read and a great look in at how decisions, for good or bad, are really made with regard to foreign policy, as well as the role the president played in everything.

Extraordinary and Intensely Informative

What made the experience of listening to Manhunt the most enjoyable?

The facts and the insight.

What did you like best about this story?

Behind the scenes insights and reasoning for the actions being taken.

Which character – as performed by Mark Deakins – was your favorite?

I could not choose. His vocal changes for each character made listening much easier.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I wanted to, however, I travel and my listening experiences are limited to the road.

Any additional comments?

I rarely listen to books of this nature. I was intrigued to know more about why Bin Laden had evaded the most technologically and militarily advanced country on the planet. Now I know. Great book!