Lawrence Wright
AGE: 59
OCCUPATION: Author, screenwriter
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 0
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 0
PRO: New Yorker staff writer and author of The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11—often referenced as a must-read for background on the 9/11 attacks.
CON: Some would argue that a fundamental understanding of al-Qaeda would have been more relevant before 9/11. Now Wright is just one among many analysts and historians.