|
|
|
R E S O L U T I O N
|
|
WHEREAS, The noted Austin writer Lawrence Wright has added |
|
another accomplishment to his extraordinary career by winning the |
|
Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction for his book The Looming Tower: |
|
Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11; and |
|
WHEREAS, A graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas, |
|
Mr. Wright attended Tulane University in New Orleans and the |
|
American University in Cairo, Egypt, where he taught English and |
|
earned a master's degree in applied linguistics; and |
|
WHEREAS, Returning to the United States in 1971, Mr. Wright |
|
quickly distinguished himself as a journalist; in 1980 he returned |
|
to Texas to write for Texas Monthly; he also worked as a |
|
contributing editor for Rolling Stone, and since 1992 he has been a |
|
staff writer for the New Yorker; and |
|
WHEREAS, In his six previous books Mr. Wright has |
|
demonstrated his keen intelligence and wide range of interests, |
|
taking on subjects from the lives of modern-day religious figures |
|
in Saints and Sinners to the controversy over "recovered memory" in |
|
Remembering Satan to the life of Latin American dictator Manuel |
|
Noriega in the novel God's Favorite; and |
|
WHEREAS, A talented screenwriter as well, Mr. Wright is the |
|
coauthor of the film The Siege, about the American response to |
|
Islamic terrorism, and he wrote the script for the Showtime |
|
production of his novel God's Favorite; he is also very likely the |
|
only member of the Council on Foreign Relations who has performed as |
|
a blues keyboardist at Stubb's Bar-B-Que in Austin, as a member of |
|
the Austin band WhoDo; and |
|
WHEREAS, A comprehensive and gripping account of the |
|
background of the attacks on America on September 11, 2001, his |
|
latest book, The Looming Tower, tells two interwoven stories, |
|
juxtaposing the rise of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda with |
|
the attempts of American intelligence and law enforcement officials |
|
to track the terrorist threat; Mr. Wright began work on the book on |
|
the afternoon of 9/11 and continued his efforts over the next five |
|
years; and |
|
WHEREAS, The subject of excellent reviews worldwide, The |
|
Looming Tower was a New York Times bestseller for eight weeks; in |
|
addition to receiving the Pulitzer, the book has been recognized |
|
with the Lionel Gelber Award for nonfiction and the J. Anthony Lukas |
|
Book Prize and was nominated for the National Book Award; and |
|
WHEREAS, Author Wright's remarkable and varied career has |
|
long been celebrated for its many successes, and it is fitting that |
|
The Looming Tower has been recognized with the premier American |
|
award for nonfiction, not only for the skill and elegance with which |
|
Mr. Wright tells his story, but for the insight the book provides at |
|
a crucial time in our nation's history; now, therefore, be it |
|
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 80th Texas |
|
Legislature hereby congratulate Lawrence Wright on winning the |
|
Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction for The Looming Tower and extend to |
|
him best wishes for his continued success; and, be it further |
|
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
|
prepared for Mr. Wright as an expression of high regard by the Texas |
|
House of Representatives. |