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Charlie Wilson's War
- The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 20 hrs and 24 mins
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Editorial reviews
Publisher's summary
Charlie Wilson’s War is the untold story of the last battle of the Cold War and how it fueled the rise of militant Islam. Charlie Wilson, a maverick congressman from east Texas, conspired with a rogue CIA operative to launch the biggest, meanest, and most successful covert operation in the Agency’s history.
In the early 1980s, after a Houston socialite turned Wilson’s attention to the ragged Afghan freedom fighters who continued to fight the Soviet invaders despite overwhelming odds, the congressman became passionate about their cause and procured hundreds of millions of dollars to support the mujahideen. The arms were secretly procured and distributed with the help of an out-of-favor CIA operative, Gust Avrokotos, whose working-class Greek-American background made him an anomaly among the Ivy League world of American spies. Avrakotos handpicked a staff of CIA outcasts to run his operation and, with their help, continually stretched the Agency’s rules to the breaking point.
Moving from the back rooms of the Capitol, to secret chambers at Langley, to arms-dealers conventions, to the Khyber Pass, Charlie Wilson’s War is a detailed and brilliantly reported account of the inside workings of the CIA.
Critic reviews
- 2004 Audie Award Winner, Unabridged Nonfiction
"Crile, a 60 Minutes producer, offers an absorbing, thoroughly detailed look at the largest and most successful CIA operation in U.S. history: the arming of the Mujahideen in Afghanistan." (Booklist)
"An engaging, well-written, newsworthy study of practical politics and its sometimes unlikely players." (Kirkus Reviews)
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As the category of great page-to-screen storytelling continues to grow, we scoured our libraries, grilled audiophiles and cinephiles, and vetted the entire Audible catalog for the 100 greatest screen adaptations for watchers and listeners alike. These are the stories that inspired some of the greatest on-screen stories of all time, from Academy Award winners and cult classics to must-see TV. They're well worth the price of admission.
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- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 18 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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The key to understanding the calamitous Afghan war is the complex, ultimately failed relationship between the powerful, duplicitous Karzai family and the United States, brilliantly portrayed here by the former Kabul bureau chief for The Washington Post.
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Fabulous
- By Charles S. on 10-23-23
By: Joshua Partlow
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Legacy of Ashes
- The History of the CIA
- By: Tim Weiner
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 21 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the book the CIA does not want you to read. For the last 60 years, the CIA has maintained a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, never disclosing its blunders to the American public. It spun its own truth to the nation while reality lay buried in classified archives. Now, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Tim Weiner offers a stunning indictment of the CIA, a deeply flawed organization that has never deserved America's confidence.
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Flawed but Important
- By Michael on 07-18-08
By: Tim Weiner
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The Art of Betrayal
- The Secret History of MI6 - Life and Death in the British Secret Service
- By: Gordon Corera
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 17 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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From Berlin to the Congo, from Moscow to the back streets of London, these are the stories of the agents on the front lines of British intelligence. And the truth is often more remarkable than fiction.
MI6 has been cloaked in secrecy and shrouded in myth since it was created a hundred years ago. Our understanding of what it is to be a spy has been largely defined by the fictional worlds of Ian Fleming and John le Carré. Gordon Corera provides a unique and unprecedented insight into this secret world and the reality that lies behind the fiction.
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Good details but lacks thorough research
- By Unapologetic on 09-06-17
By: Gordon Corera
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War on Peace
- The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence
- By: Ronan Farrow
- Narrated by: Ronan Farrow
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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American diplomacy is under siege. Offices across the State Department sit empty while abroad, the military-industrial complex has assumed the work once undertaken by peacemakers. We're becoming a nation that shoots first and asks questions later. In an astonishing account ranging from Washington, DC, to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and North Korea in the years since 9/11, acclaimed journalist and former diplomat Ronan Farrow illuminates one of the most consequential and poorly understood changes in American history.
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Well Timed and Authoritative:
- By JC on 04-24-18
By: Ronan Farrow
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Debriefing the President
- The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein
- By: John Nixon
- Narrated by: John Nixon
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
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In December 2003, after one of the largest, most aggressive manhunts in history, US military forces captured Iraqi president Saddam Hussein near his hometown of Tikrit. Beset by body-double rumors and false alarms during a nine-month search, the Bush administration needed positive identification of the prisoner before it could make the announcement that would rocket around the world. At the time John Nixon was a senior CIA leadership analyst who had spent years studying the Iraqi dictator.
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Not What You Think It Is
- By Doug on 01-10-17
By: John Nixon
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The Operators
- The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan
- By: Michael Hastings
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
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An explosive, behind-the-scenes look into the workings of the U.S. war in Afghanistan that lifts the curtain of the world stage to reveal the devastating greed, waste, and failure surrounding this unwinnable war.
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VERY INTERESTING STORY
- By Professor on 01-04-13
By: Michael Hastings
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The Accidental President
- Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World
- By: A. J. Baime
- Narrated by: Tony Messano
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The dramatic, pulse-pounding story of Harry Truman's first four months in office, when this unlikely president had to take on Germany, Japan, Stalin, and the atomic bomb, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
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Exceptional
- By Jean on 11-14-17
By: A. J. Baime
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The Brilliant Disaster
- JFK, Castro, and America's Doomed Invasion of Cuba
- By: Jim Rasenberger
- Narrated by: Bob Walter
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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The U.S.-backed military invasion of Cuba in 1961 remains one of the most ill-fated blunders in American history, with echoes of the event reverberating even today. Despite the Kennedy administration’s initial public insistence that the United States had nothing to do with the invasion, it soon became clear that the complex operation had been planned and approved by the best and brightest minds at the highest reaches of Washington, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff and President John F. Kennedy himself.
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US Government Perspective
- By Kindle Customer on 05-25-11
By: Jim Rasenberger
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The Fourth Star
- Four Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of the United States Army
- By: David Cloud, Greg Jaffe
- Narrated by: Richard McGonagle
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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They were four exceptional soldiers, a new generation asked to save an army that had been hollowed out after Vietnam. They survived the military's brutal winnowing to reach its top echelon. They became the Army's most influential generals in the crucible of Iraq. Collectively, their lives tell the story of the Army over the last four decades and illuminate the path it must travel to protect the nation over the next century.
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Learning from the Military
- By Joshua Kim on 06-10-12
By: David Cloud, and others
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The Main Enemy
- The Inside Story of the CIA's Final Showdown with the KGB
- By: Milton Bearden, James Risen
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 19 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A landmark collaboration between a thirty-year veteran of the CIA and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, The Main Enemy is the inside story of the CIA-KGB spy wars, told through the actions of the men who fought them. Based on hundreds of interviews with operatives from both sides, The Main Enemy puts us inside the heads of CIA officers as they dodge surveillance and walk into violent ambushes in Moscow. This is the story of the generation of spies who came of age in the shadow of the Cuban missile crisis and rose to run the CIA and KGB in the last days of the Cold War.
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A masterpiece of espionage history
- By kucherv on 08-21-18
By: Milton Bearden, and others
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Those Who Dared, Won!
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This is an absolute "YES" as your next read/listen
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The Blank Slate
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In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker, one of the world's leading experts on language and the mind, explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. With characteristic wit, lucidity, and insight, Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits, denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces objective analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of politics, violence, parenting, and the arts.
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Don't bother. Outdated science & poor logic...
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Alone at Dawn
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In the predawn hours of March 4, 2002, just below the 10,000-foot peak of a mountain in eastern Afghanistan, a fierce battle raged. Outnumbered by Al Qaeda fighters, Air Force Combat Controller John Chapman and a handful of SEALs struggled to take the summit in a desperate bid to find a lost teammate. Chapman, leading the charge, was gravely wounded in the initial assault. Believing he was dead, his SEAL leader ordered a retreat. Chapman regained consciousness, alone with the enemy closing in on three sides, beginning the most difficult and exceptional fight of his life.
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Wasted chance to honor a hero.
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What listeners say about Charlie Wilson's War
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Dale
- 08-24-04
The REAL Story of the Middle East and the CIA
This book is a complex story which will grab your attention and keep it. After reading or listening to it you will have a much better insight into why we are where we are today in the Middle East. You will also learn that Ronald Reagan DIDN'T defeat the Russians (much to my disappointment, since I am a Reagan supporter)despite what anyone says.
You will learn how our government REALLY works, particularly Congress. Trading favors regardless of political party or whether your representativr is a conservative or a liberal.
You will learn more about why the CIA wasn't there when 9/11 occurred than you ever will from the sanitized 9/11 Commission Report.
You will learn that Reagan bet on the wrong horse (Nicaragua amd the Contras) to beat the Russians while the long shot (the Afghans and Pakistan) won the race and toppled the Russians with the help of a Texas Democrat who was everything that Muslims hate about America, a drunken womanizer. His fight to unite Pakistanis, Afghans, Israelis, Saudis, Egyptians, Swiss and more into one of the most rag-tag coalitions in history all in the single goal of defeating and destroying the Red Giant. And succeeding better than anyone could have imagined.
When you read or listen to this book you will not believe your eyes or ears. You will not regret the time you spend with this vook but if you don't read it, you will miss one of the most straightforward honestly written books ever. Having read thousands of books in my life, this is something I have never said about any other book I have ever read. IT will really open ypur eyes, no matter what your political beliefs may be.
I know that I will be recommending it to all of my friends and relatives, which is something else I never do.
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64 people found this helpful
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Overall
- William Lorenzen
- 08-10-04
The Afghan War:Last Nail in the Soviet Coffin
Charlie Wilson's War is an enormously entertaining and informative history of the secret war that put the final nail in the Soviet coffin, leaving behind a vacuum into which stepped the Taliban and Al Queda. This is a truly great narrative of how we arrived in this post Cold War world with it's new terrorist wars.
(Another great book that addresses some of the same questions is, "All the Shah's Men" by Stephen Kinzer)
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40 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- JustBob
- 05-25-05
Is it real or is it Memorx?
This book sat on my wish list for a long time before I listened to it. I guess I?ve always kept a jaundiced eye on books about the CIA. I mean, if it?s true, it?s secret, and if you tell, well, it?s not much of a secret anymore, is it?
The book is written, as I found out later, by a CBS 60-minutes producer. I?ve had personal problems with some of the stories that have appeared on 60 Minutes. Let?s just say they show you what they want you to see.
The book uses several techniques used by the TV program, the most evident is the appearance of presenting the information in chronological order. Well, things jump around in time and place, and it gets hard to follow who?s where and when.
The book mentions a documentary about the Afghan fighters created by several of the players. Neither a Google or IMDB search returned any information on said program. That was one of several issues I had with this book, which led me to develop a credibility problem.
The congressman is just too stereotyped. Alcoholic, but connected with all the necessary players. The junkets. The women. The deals. It?s all too?.
The book mentions, but glosses over (in true 60 Minutes style) the failures of the Carter administration in foreign policy. The Regan administration is mentioned, but exists only in the background of the story. Oliver North pops in, but is derided as an idiot with a group of conservative wackos. Again, more 60 Minutes modus operandi.
If the book is true, then it is an incredible story of the growth of the CIA Afghan program from a hole in the wall operation to the largest covert operation in history. This was made possible mostly on the part of a well-placed and connected congressman.
Worth the read? Yes. I figure maybe 50-60% is fact, and the rest is conjecture if not outright fiction. But don?t look at it as an expose of the intelligence operation. Rather, look at it as a story about a debauched congressman with a personal mission against communism.
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- BostonLady
- 07-31-04
Awesome Book!
I read this last summer before it came out on audio; loved it because it sucks you right in, like a good book should! I have gone on to read other books about that period.
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- Tammy
- 11-03-07
One of the few
I must be one of the few who did not like this book. It couldn't seem to capture my attention. I found myself wincing at the swearing every couple of seconds in the book. Although, the person may have been quoting someone, I found it totally distracting. I couldn't listen to even two hours of this book. It seemed to me to be more about womanizing, swearing, backstabbing, drinking parties, etc.
I have downloaded and listened to more than 60 non-fiction books and by far this one of the worst. If the author would have stuck to the plot more cohesively and left out most of the swearing and how many women the guy(s) slept with, drinking parties, etc, maybe I could've stuck it out.
I did not like it at all.
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- Max
- 02-22-08
A great follow up to the film adaptation
Many people have commented favourably about this book and I will throw my hat into the ring in this regard. Growing up I never learned anything about Afganistan and the Soviet occupation--if anything, my knowledge of this era was formed by watching Rambo III. Now, not to discredit the Rambo franchiase, but providing an accurate historical accounts is not Sly's strength.
Charlie Wilson's War is a great introduction to this whole topic. It gives a compelling snapshot of Afganistan, the CIA, the Soviet occupation and the root causes of Islamic fundamentalism in Afganistan and how this was the root cause of 9/11. Essentially, the book makes the point that the CIA's covert war in Afganistan planted the seeds for the 9/11 attacks.
The audio book is perfectly narrated, has compelling characters, and is much much more informative than the movie of the same name. I watched the movie before reading the book, and purchased the book becuase I had the sense that there was so much detail cut out to fit the book into a 95 minute Hollywood film.
The best thing about this book is the sheer research that must have gone into it. The research is understated, but the comments the author collects from the players in this drama and then weaves into the book is impressive.
Highly recommended--no doubt in my top 5 of Audible listens.
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- Suzanne
- 01-08-08
Everything IS a conspiracy!
Typically, I avoid political books, non-fiction or fiction. But, before I saw the anticipated movie, I wanted to listen to this book. It is well read. It reads like an intriguing novel and I kept reminding myself that this is supposed to be real-life. Every once in a while, the footnotes help keep this in perspective. I loved this book. The character development of each of the key players made them real with nuances of good and bad, of strengths and weaknesses. Then, the author tied each of the characters into their relationships with Charlie Wilson and what their impact was on him and his dream effort. The surprising fact coming out of this book is the fact that there is an extreme amount of money and goals that happens without Americans ever knowing what is going on. I lived through the extensive media coverage of the "crimes" of Oliver North. Just imagine what the media could have done with what Charlie Wilson did had they known. So, in my mind, I believe that one should be skeptical of the news media, that conspiracies happen all the time in the "background" of the government, and there must be a lot of "fall guys" to purge the real issues from the public. Bottom line - even for people who don't like politics or political novels or books - this is THE book to read. It's more lively than history, especially since we lived these days. It is every bit as colorful as a full featured epic. Oh, yes, someone thought that it would make a good movie, too.
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- Dan
- 09-22-07
Must read if there ever was one
This book is a must read for every American. It could not have been written as fiction because nobody would believe it. The incredible truth is that it really happened. After reading this book it is easier to understand many of the problems America faces in the world today.
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- Andrew
- 01-30-05
had me on the edge of my seat
The editor's synopsis makes this book seem like a dry account of one of the many battles of the cold war. In reality, this book is about a number of things: the inner workings and culture of the CIA and US Congress, the comical account of an "upwardly failing" alcoholic congressman, the incredible backdoor dealings of millionaire Texas socialites and foreign military dictators and lobbyists. I was absolutely captivated from beginning to end. I listened to this during the course of two roadtrips and would actually reduce my car speed so I could finish the book more quickly. There is a reason why this book is among the most popular books on Audible. You won't regret reading it -- while it is a non-fiction book, the story reads like complete fiction. You'll love it.
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- Anonymous User
- 08-30-08
Charlie Wilson's War
This book was well written but has so much detail it becomes boring after the second part. I felt I was reading the same material in a different city or country. The description was the same-I did not finish it which is rare for me. I could not recommend this book.
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