Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times

Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times
by George Crile

Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times
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Book Summary Information

Author: George Crile
Edition: Paperback
Published: 2004-04-22
ISBN: 0802141242
Number of pages: 560
Publisher: Grove Press

Book Reviews of Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times

Book Review: This Book Kept My Interests
Summary: 4 Stars

Unreliable story of the CIA involvement in the Afghan War. Lots of insight of the secret in and out of our clandestine service. Interesting read but at the same time lots of grandstanding by the author toward the subject of the book which sometime seem a bit hard to believe. Recommended reading for anyone who is a history buff and would like to expand his/her detailed knowledge of the downfall of Communism and the last military action of the cold war. Don't bother to compare the movie; like most of the time, is the book according to Hollywood re writers. The movie is definitely not worth the money unless you receive it as a gift.

Summary of Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times

Charlie Wilson's War was a publishing sensation and a New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times bestseller. In the early 1980s, a Houston socialite turned the attention of maverick Texas congressman Charlie Wilson to the ragged band of Afghan "freedom fighters" who continued, despite overwhelming odds, to fight the Soviet invaders. Wilson, who sat on the all-powerful House Appropriations Committee, managed to procure 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, this book presents an astonishing chapter of our recent past, and the key to understanding what helped trigger the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union and ultimately led to the emergence of a brand-new foe in the form of radical Islam.

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