{"title":"Books by Steve Coll","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781802065206","title":"The Achilles Trap","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Achilles Trap \u003c\/i\u003emasterfully untangles the people, ploys of power and geopolitics that led to America's disastrous war with Iraq and, for the first time, details America's fundamental miscalculations during its ruinous, decades-long relationship with Saddam Hussein.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBeginning with Saddam's rise to power in 1979 and the birth of Iraq's secret nuclear weapons programme, Steve Coll traces Saddam's motives through understanding his inner circle. He brings to life the diplomats, scientists, family members and generals who had no choice but to defer to their leader - a leader directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, as well as the torture or imprisonment of many more. This was a man whose reasoning was impossible to reduce to a simple explanation, and the CIA and successive presidential administrations failed to grasp critical nuances in his paranoia, resentments and inconsistencies - even when the stakes were incredibly high.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUsing unpublished and underreported sources, interviews with surviving participants, and Saddam's own transcripts and audio files, \u003ci\u003eThe Achilles Trap \u003c\/i\u003eis a remarkable picture of a dictator who was convinced the world was out to get him and acted accordingly. A work of great historical significance, it is the definitive account of how corruptions of power, lies of diplomacy and vanity - on both sides - led to avoidable errors of statecraft: ones that would enact immeasurable human suffering and forever change our political landscape.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54926356775285,"sku":"9781802065206","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781802065206_aa9ce4be-469c-4567-8071-36ac6559786a.jpg?v=1786026889"},{"product_id":"9780141020808","title":"Ghost Wars","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe explosive, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling first-hand account of America's secret history in Afghanistan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003ePrize-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.\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Riveting ... the finest historical narrative so far on the origins of al  Qaeda in the post-Soviet rubble of Afghanistan ... provides fresh details and helps explain the motivations behind many  crucial decisions' \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A remarkable book ... the CIA itself would be hard put to beat his grasp of global events' \u003ci\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56224360464757,"sku":"9780141020808","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780141020808_967c11cf-601e-47ed-9964-d1bfc7021097.jpg?v=1786011426"},{"product_id":"9780718194499","title":"Directorate S","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWinner of the the National Book Critics Circle Award for Non-Fiction\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Spellbinding  ... a magisterial account of the great tragedy of our age ... it is a classic' \u003ci\u003eEvening Standard\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'In the finest traditions of American investigative journalism' \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Spectacular ... makes Bourne movies pale in comparison' \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the Pulitzer Prize winning of the acclaimed \u003ci\u003eGhost Wars\u003c\/i\u003e, this is the full story of America's grim involvement in the affairs of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2016. In the wake of the terrible shock of 9\/11, the C.I.A. scrambled to work  out how to destroy Bin Laden and his associates.  The C.I.A. had long  familiarity with Afghanistan and had worked closely with the Taliban to  defeat the Soviet Union there.  A tangle of assumptions, old contacts,  favours and animosities were now reactivated.  Superficially the  invasion was quick and efficient, but Bin Laden's successful escape,  together with that of much of the Taliban leadership, and a catastrophic  failure to define the limits of NATO's mission in a tough, impoverished  country the size of Texas, created a quagmire which lasted many years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt  the heart of the problem lay 'Directorate S', a highly secretive arm of  the Pakistan state which had its own views on the Taliban and  Afghanistan's place in a wider competition for influence between  Pakistan, India and China, and which assumed that the U.S.A. and its  allies would soon be leaving.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSteve Coll's remarkable new book  tells a powerful, bitter story of just how badly foreign policy  decisions can go wrong and of many lives lost.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56295120404853,"sku":"9780718194499","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780718194499_2e09515c-5c3a-4d7f-8fe7-487d78c7cb00.jpg?v=1786014656"},{"product_id":"9780718194475","title":"Private Empire","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom twice-Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Steve Coll comes \u003ci\u003ePrivate Empire\u003c\/i\u003e, winner of the FT\/GOLDMAN SACHS BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2012\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe oil giant ExxonMobil makes more money annually than the GDP of most countries; has greater sway than US embassies abroad; and spends more on lobbying than any other corporation. Yet to outsiders it is a mystery. In \u003ci\u003ePrivate Empire\u003c\/i\u003e, award-winning reporter Steve Coll tells the truth about the world's most powerful and shadowy company.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989 to the Deepwater  Horizon oil spill, via Moscow, the swamps of the Niger Delta and the halls of Congress, he reveals a story of dictators, oligarchs, civil war, blackmail, secrecy and ruthlessness. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and newly declassified documents, this is a chilling portrait of unchecked power.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReviews:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Magisterial ... a revealing history of our time' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e'Meticulous, multi-angled and valuable ... Coll's prose sweeps the earth like an Imax camera'\u003cb\u003e Dwight Garner, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Jaw-dropping reading' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'The definitive work on its subject ... at every stop there are vivid anecdotes, sharp insights and telling details' \u003cb\u003eEd Crooks, \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the author:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSteve Coll is the author of the New York Times bestseller \u003ci\u003eThe Bin Ladens\u003c\/i\u003e. He is president of the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan public policy institute headquartered in Washington, D.C., and a staff writer for The New Yorker. He won a Pulitzer prize for explanatory journalism while working at the Washingon Post. He is the author of six other books, including the bestseller \u003ci\u003eGhost Wars\u003c\/i\u003e, which won him a second Pulitzer prize. He lives in Washington and New York.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56296859566453,"sku":"9780718194475","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780718194475_8d5d2740-f28f-4624-b35b-04b79c3b9ecd.jpg?v=1786014655"},{"product_id":"the-bin-ladens","title":"The Bin Ladens","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Bin Ladens are shrouded in secrecy, living in one of the most closed, unaccountable countries on earth. Little has been known about the world that created Osama - until now.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this gripping account prizewinning journalist Steve Coll has interviewed those closest to the family who rose from Yemeni peasants to jetsetting millionaires in two generations. In doing so, he reveals a Saudi Arabia torn between religious purity and the temptations of the West, telling a story of oil, money, power, patronage and dangerous cultural extremes.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57466563985781,"sku":"9780141036489","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780141036489.jpg?v=1785654621"},{"product_id":"the-taking-of-getty-oil","title":"The Taking of Getty Oil","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA larger-than-life account of family, greed, and a courtroom showdown between Big Oil rivals from the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e–bestselling author of \u003ci\u003ePrivate Empire\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Pulitzer Prize–winning author Steve Coll is renowned for “his ability to take complicated, significant business stories and turn them into quick-reading engaging narratives” (\u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e). Coll is at the height of his talents in this “riveting” tale of one of the most spectacular—and catastrophic—corporate takeovers of all time (\u003ci\u003eNewsday\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e As the head of a sprawling oil empire, J. Paul Getty was once the world’s richest man. But by 1984, eight years after his death, Getty’s legacy was in tatters: His children were locked in a bitter feud over the family trust and the company he founded was riven by boardroom turmoil. Then Pennzoil made an agreement with Getty’s son, Gordon, to purchase Getty Oil. It was a done deal—until Texaco swooped in to claim the $10 billion prize.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e What followed was an epic legal battle that pit “good ole boy” J. Hugh Liedtke of Pennzoil against the Wall Street brokers behind Texaco’s offer. The scandalous details of the case would shock the business world and change the landscape of the oil industry forever.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e With a large cast of colorful characters and the dramatic pacing of a novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Taking of Getty Oil \u003c\/i\u003eis a “suspenseful” and “always intriguing” chronicle of one of the most fascinating chapters in American corporate history (\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57680182477173,"sku":"9781504049535","price":24.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781504049535.jpg?v=1792423365"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-steve-coll.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}