Woodrow alum Lawrence Wright (1965) is one of the most decorated of the school’s graduates, outside of football players Davey O’Brien and Tim Brown, of course. Wright is an author and screenplay writer; one of his screenplays turned into The Siege, a movie starring Bruce Willis, Denzel Washington and Annette Bening. Last night, Wright’s latest work was on HBO; the documentary based on Wright’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, aired last night on the cable network (thanks to Back Talk reader Steve Lazewski for the heads-up on the show). I didn’t get a chance to watch it, but according to program notes and an accompanying interview on NPR’s Fresh Air program, Wright interviewed more than 600 people while trying to determine what was behind the 9/11 bombers’ willingness to commit suicide while striking at America. His conclusion: Lives of general hopelessness in many Arab countries leaves young people hopeless, impressionable and vulnerable to some twisted ideas. Wright was selected to be in Woodrow’s Hall of Fame last year.
