Book cover of The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq

Book description

“Excellent . . . A more intimate picture of the dictator’s thinking about world politics, local power and his relationship to the United States than has been seen before.” —The New York Times

“Another triumph from one of our best journalists.” —The Washington Post

"Voluminously researched and compulsively readable." —Air…

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1 author picked The Achilles Trap as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Steve Coll is known for writing masterful nonfiction books about the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy. This one is no exception. It provides a gripping look into the history of Saddam Hussein's relation with the United States. Relying on American and Iraqi original documents, Coll explains how Saddam Hussein became America's enemy number one after 1990. In addition to brilliantly describing the geopolitical environment, Coll provides the reader with a detailed account of Saddam's personality and mindset. He paints the mesmerizing picture of a brutal dictator who used chemical weapons against his own population and attacked neighbors, and was…

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Book cover of Why the European Union Failed in Afghanistan

Why the European Union Failed in Afghanistan by Oz Hassan,

Selected by the Association of University Presses as one of the most important books of 2024, Why the European Union Failed in Afghanistan offers a groundbreaking account of the EU’s most significant foreign policy failure to date.

Drawing on fifteen years of fieldwork, interviews with senior EU officials, and the…

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