Ghost Wars

The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001

By: Steve Coll

Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner

The explosive first-hand account of America's secret history in Afghanistan

With the publication of Ghost Wars, Steve Coll became not only a Pulitzer Prize winner, but also the expert on the rise of the Taliban, the emergence of Bin Laden, and the secret efforts by CIA officers and their agents to capture or kill Bin Laden in Afghanistan after 1998.

Critic reviews

“Certainly the finest historical narrative so far on the origins of al Qaeda in the post-Soviet rubble of Afghanistan . . . Ghost Wars provides fresh details and helps explain the motivations behind many crucial decisions.” —The New York Times Book Review

“The CIA itself would be hard put to beat his grasp of global events . . . Deeply satisfying.” —The New York Review of Books

“A well written, authoritative, high-altitude drama with few heroes, many villains, bags of cash, and a tragic ending—one that may not have been inevitable.” —The Washington Post

great book, minor recording/narrating flaws

What made the experience of listening to Ghost Wars the most enjoyable?

great story telling, accurate and abundant information, unbiased reporting.

What aspect of Malcolm Hillgartner’s performance would you have changed?

the russian helicopter in the book is a Mil-17, through out the read, he reads it as an MiG 17. for someone with a decent military hardware background, it drove me nuts. couple of other similar misuse of technical terms.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no

Any additional comments?

glitches in the recording, skipped lines and sentences. could be a bad burn to CD...

Terrible editing

The editing in this is very poorly done. The last sentence of each chapter is cut off. Other than that though the story is fantastic

A good historical account...

Any additional comments?

Packed with a lot of substance, I kept trying to take notes on those things that were new to me. I certainly learned a lot about these decades. This book contravenes some well rooted myths about the CIA, Taliban and other actors. The CIA did a heroic job in Astan. The only drawback for me was organization and some redundancy in the material, although I didn't mind too much.

Great book, poor recording.

This book is an excellent, thorough, and unbiased assessment of American involvement in the middle east from the 1970s to September 10, 2001. The only flaws were present in the recording, where there were often words or sentences partially cut out of the recording.

Amazing and Enlighting

Absolutely required reading.

Narrated perfectly.

Don't think about it another second, just listen.

*This includes the updates from the 9/11 Commission released after the original book was published.