Here are 2 books that Unsettling the West fans have personally recommended if you like
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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 always strongly anti-American and anti-Semitic. At the same time, Coll demonstrates convincingly the shortcomings of U.S. policy toward Iraq that eventually led to George W. Bush's fateful decision to invade that country in 2003.
“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 Mail
From bestselling and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Steve Coll, the definitive story of the decades-long relationship between the United States and Saddam Hussein, and a deeply researched and news-breaking investigation into how human error, cultural miscommunication, and hubris led to one of the costliest geopolitical conflicts of our time
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
That is a great history book about a poorly known topic. Robert B. Rakove provides a minutious description of the intricacies of U.S. policy toward Afghanistan from the Second World War prior to the Soviet military intervention in that country in 1979. I really enjoyed how his narrative seamlessly weaves together the aspirations and actions of a multitude of American and Afghan actors, large and small. Relying on many new archives, Rakove’s book tells a unique story of Soviet and American competition in one of the border states of the Cold War, also highlighting Afghan agency in playing one superpower against the other.
Long before the 1979 Soviet invasion, the United States was closely concerned with Afghanistan. For much of the twentieth century, American diplomats, policy makers, businesspeople, and experts took part in the Afghan struggle to modernize, delivered vital aid, and involved themselves in Kabul's conflicts with its neighbors. For their own part, many Afghans embraced the potential benefits of political and commercial ties with the United States. Yet these relationships ultimately helped make the country a Cold War battleground.
Robert B. Rakove sheds new light on the little-known and often surprising history of U.S. engagement in Afghanistan from the 1920s to…
