Book

Where's Bin Laden? And Many Others...

Description

Satirical book titled Where's Bin Laden? And Many Others... with illustrations by Daniel Lalic. The book is modeled after the popular children's books Where's Waldo. The character of Osama bin Laden is depicted as hidden among dense cartoon-style illustrations representing a range of global locations.

Historical Notes

Five years before Operation Neptune Spear answered the question posed in its title and taking loose inspiration from the immensely successful Where’s Waldo children’s picture book series, Where’s Bin Laden is a tongue-in-cheek romp through a topic of intense international security concern. In an introductory note labeled “Top Secret,” the author and illustrator state that since the combination of the CIA, Interpol, the US National Security Agency, and the Defense Intelligence Agency have spent “zillions of dollars and still haven’t had any luck so far, now it’s up to us to find the world’s number-one-most wanted man.” Clues are then offered to the reader about what to look for as they travel the globe courtesy of the densely illustrated, action-packed pages that follow. Stop off points for Bin Laden and his terrorist posse include fantasized hide-outs in France, England, Spain, the Netherlands, Egypt, Bali, China, Australia, the both coasts of the USA, Canada, and Afghanistan, with recognizable landmarks and regional activities sprinkled into the mix. For instance, the New York City chapter imagines Bin Laden as plotting mayhem at the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. The book’s dark humor is clearly pitched at young adult and adult readers. Issued around the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it conveys the public’s general puzzlement over Bin Laden’s whereabouts while also highlighting some of the simplistic popular assumptions about where and how to find him.