With yesterday's anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, it's no surprise that authors, like many, are venting anger over the event.

What's surprising is that the anger is directed at the American government, not al-Qaida.

Among the books released this month are two that vehemently contend the attacks could have been prevented: Gerald Posner's Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11 , (Random House, $24.95) and Peter Lange's 1000 Years For Revenge: International Terrorism and the FBI: The Untold Story (ReganBooks, $27.95).

Both well-respected authors claim to have found smoking guns that prove the FBI had information long before 9-11 that could have thwarted the tragedy. Lance indicates that, as early as 1991, Osama bin Laden had established an al-Qaida terror cell in New York City, controlled by Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman. And as early as 1992, an intimate of the Sheikh's, employed by a "highly secure" NYC agency, obtained blueprints of the World Trade Center.

Posner uncovers evidence that the U.S. missed several chances to kill or capture bin Laden and that the CIA tracked - and then lost - two of the hijackers when they entered the United States, more than 20 months before the attack.

There's much more. And for those who have the stomach to relive the mistakes that led to such misery, both books promise eye-opening revelations.

For those who don't, well, there's always We Will Prevail: President George W. Bush on War, Terrorism, and Freedom (Continuum, $24.95). A compendium of speeches Bush has given since the attack, the book is filled with the president's forceful reassurance: "The net is closing," he said of terrorist networks just months after the attack.

In light of the other two books, though, one can't help but pray that this net isn't still riddled with holes.

Patti Thorn, books editor