SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2024

A BEST BOOK OF 2024 BY THE NEW YORKER

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling author of Ghost Wars, The Achilles Trap reveals the inside story of America's long and destructive relationship with Saddam Hussein.

The book unfolds the individuals, power schemes, and geopolitics that led to the devastating Iraq War, analyzing America's fundamental misinterpretations during its relationship with Saddam.

Beginning with Saddam’s rise to power in 1979 and the birth of Iraq’s secret nuclear program, Steve Coll captures Saddam’s motives through an understanding of his inner circle. He brings to life the diplomats, scientists, relatives, and generals who had no choice but to obey their leader—a man responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, as well as the tortured or imprisoned fate of many others.

This was a man whose logic could not be reduced to a simple explanation, and the CIA, along with successive presidential administrations, failed to understand the critical details in his paranoia, grievances, and contradictions—even when the stakes were exceedingly high.

Using anecdotes and less-reported resources, interviews with surviving participants, and Saddam’s own records and audio clips, The Achilles Trap paints a remarkable picture of a dictator who believed the world was against him and acted accordingly.

A work of great historical significance, it is the definitive account of how corruptions of power, diplomatic falsehoods, and vanity—from both sides—led to avoidable errors of statecraft: errors that would cause incalculable human suffering and forever change our political landscape.

Pages: 576, Dimensions: 16.2x16.2cm