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Product Description
Product Description
The news-breaking book that has sent schockwaves through the White House, Ghost Wars is the most accurate and revealing account yet of the CIA's secret involvement in al-Qaeada's evolution.
Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll has spent years reporting from the Middle East, accessed previously classified government files and interviewed senior US officials and foreign spymasters. Here he gives the full inside story of the CIA's covert funding of an Islamic jihad against Soviet forces in Afghanistan, explores how this sowed the seeds of bn Laden's rise, traces how he built his global network and brings to life the dramatic battles within the US government over national security. Above all, he lays bare American intelligence's continual failure to grasp the rising threat of terrrorism in the years leading to 9/11 - and its devastating consequences.
About the Author
Steve Coll, winner of a 1990 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism, has been managing editor of the Washington Post since 1998 and covered Afghanistan as the Post's South Asia bureau chief between 1989 and 1992. Coll is the author of four books, including On the Grand Trunk Road and The Taking of Getty Oil.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
IT WAS A SMALL RIOT in a year of upheavals, a passing thunderclap disgorged by racing skies. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
IT WAS A SMALL RIOT in a year of upheavals, a passing thunderclap disgorged by racing skies. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
.
`Ghost Wars' is a well researched book with abundant footnotes supporting every detail. With so many Arab figures, the author wisely provides a list to allow the reader to keep track of who is who -- though a complicated read it is easy to follow. He exposes the CIAs failures in the days leading up to 9/11, while on the other hand, he eradicates many misconceptions of the CIA including rumors it often works for the enemy. This is an open and honest book of what is for the most part a closed and clandestine organization. Bravo!
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA is an appropriate partner for this book as it defines the environment it operates in. Another well researched book by a former CIA agent Murder in the Vatican: The CIA and the Bolshevik Pontiff does a riveting job explaining why the anti-American Pope who preceded the Polish Pope survived only 33 days in the Vatican.
Get `Ghost Wars' in hardcover for your permanent collection.
`Ghost Wars' is a well researched book with abundant footnotes supporting every detail. With so many Arab figures, the author wisely provides a list to allow the reader to keep track of who is who -- though a complicated read it is easy to follow. He exposes the CIAs failures in the days leading up to 9/11, while on the other hand, he eradicates many misconceptions of the CIA including rumors it often works for the enemy. This is an open and honest book of what is for the most part a closed and clandestine organization. Bravo!
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA is an appropriate partner for this book as it defines the environment it operates in. Another well researched book by a former CIA agent Murder in the Vatican: The CIA and the Bolshevik Pontiff does a riveting job explaining why the anti-American Pope who preceded the Polish Pope survived only 33 days in the Vatican.
Get `Ghost Wars' in hardcover for your permanent collection.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This literary masterpiece from Pulitzer prize winning author Steve Coll will blow your mind.The apparent relentless and exhaustive research that made this book shows Colls dedication to bringing the full story to the reader.Beginning with the US support of the Afghan fighters during the Soviet invasion and finishing just days before the attacks on 9/11 Coll will take you on a mind boggling journey encompassing delicate matters such as:the US support of the taliban,the CIA attempts to buy back Stinger missiles it had given to the Mujaheddin for $150,000 apiece!! hare brained and expensive attempts to remove Osama Bin Laden and constant policy changes and in-fighting within the CIA.Throw in the main characters:an impeached president,a president with no clue on foriegn policy,tribal leaders more concerned with personal enrichment than the liberation of their people and radical jihadists like Osama the world hide and seek champion!!Add to this mix the ineptitude of the CIA and you have an extremely interesting plot.Read this book for the story and you will become more informed on the origins of al-Qaeda,the history of Afghanistan and the entanglement of the US government.Study this book and you will see layer upon layer of CIA incompetence,could 9/11 have been prevented?
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I like spy non-fiction and selected this book after finding out that Barack Obama read this during his presidential campaign. The book is beyond expectations, with a complete overview and seemingly a true account of what happened in Afghanistan during the 80's and 90's. The book is very well written and the details brought about by Steve Coll are fantastic.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
skullduggery indeed!
cant think of a better book than this! exposes the cia in all its bungling glory. very informative it takes you on a crazy journey! well worth a read
Published 5 months ago by matt regan
Kindle more expensive than paperback
Downloaded the sample to my Kindle and enjoyed it. When I went to buy the book, discovered it was cheaper in paperback. Off to the bookstore.
Published 11 months ago by Aproprose
A Fine Example of Research
The author grasps the attention of the scholar with his narrative and analyses backed by key sources. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Panagiotis Dimitrakis
Amazingly Informative and swept up.
I managed to get hold of a pre-publication proof copy (Is that the CIA I hear knocking at my door?) It is full of information and relatively fluid. Read more
Published 19 months ago by A. S. Edwards
Poor digitisation
This is a wonderful book and fully worthy of five stars. However, and this is an irritating however, the publisher has been extremely sloppy with the digitisation. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Ageing Rocker
Can't Imagine this Subject Covered Better Than This
Superb book. In a genre which attracts too many opportunistic third hand accounts, I was looking for an authoritive, well referenced work on this important chapter in recent... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Brian S. Meredith
Outstanding
I do not have much to add to what has already been written about this book, suffice to say that it is an outstanding education on the events involving the CIA taking place in... Read more
Published on 26 May 2010 by Marmaduke Gentle
Hard work but worth it
Make no mistake this is a dense book, thoroughly researched and well deserving its Pullitzer. Not for the faint hearted it has a cast of characters worthy of a Hollywood... Read more
Published on 10 April 2010 by Biffo Twang
A Good Read
An excellent read if a little dated now.
But it gives the reader an insight into the 'Twighlight' world of the CIA etc.
But it gives the reader an insight into the 'Twighlight' world of the CIA etc.
Published on 4 Mar 2010 by P. Waller
A must read
One of the best books I have read in a long time. Using first hand accounts the author pieces together the complex history and the relationsips between the US/Pakistan and... Read more
Published on 30 Nov 2008 by Mr Mojo
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