Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001

Hotel Resource Book Store 

 Store Home / Books / Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001

Hotel Industry Books 

Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
by Steve Coll
from Penguin (Non-Classics)

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

• Highly Informative, Not Well-Constructed, and Unfortunately Biased
  I recommend this book, in spite of its flaws, because it is a very useful history of CIA involvement in Afghanistan, from the end of the Carter administration until the day before the 9/11 attacks.
  The book is divided into three parts, focusing on the Soviet occupation and mujahideen resistance, the Afghan Civil War, and the Taliban era, respectively. Coll commands a truly impressive list of source-interviews, and has clearly devoted considerable research time and effort. I suspect that few authors... more info

• Fascinating and well-researched history
  Though Osama Bin Laden became a household name after the 9-11 attacks, few people know the background of Afghanistan and the mujahideen fighters that birthed these radical groups. This book gives a well-researched, in-depth look into the interplay of the Cold War, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the radical groups that have made Afghanistan such a key region in the modern world. Though not a quick read, I would recommend it to anyone looking for more information beyond the 10-second sound bytes and... more info

• A well edited reality show
  It was a pleasure reading this very well written and researched book. As an Indian, I grew up reading about the defeat of Russians in newspapers. The subsequent battle for Afghanistan between the communist government and the mujahedin entered my consciousness through snatches of news on the radio. So, it was great to get the stories and personalities around people like Masooud.
  However, as I reached to the end of the book, I realized that clearly the author was not telling the whole story. Some gaping... more info

• bordering on fraudulent
  well, not this book actually, but a related book by Coll's colleague Parag Khanna titled The Second World.
  Some of the various, and numerous, factual errors that riddle the book are relatively trivial, but suggest serious sloppiness and disregard for getting facts right. For example, Yugoslavia was not part of Warsaw pact, as Khanna states. Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov was appointed to office in 1992 by Boris Yeltsin, and not by Vladimir Putin. Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia and Albania are not all... more info

Similar Products:

Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress... by George Crile (Paperback)

First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in... by Gary Schroen (Mass Market Paperback) - Usually ships in 24 hours

See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism by Robert Baer (Hardcover)

Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia by Ahmed Rashid (Hardcover)

Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude by Robert Baer (Paperback) - Usually ships in 7 to 11 days