From the Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author of Ghost Wars, this is the inside story of America's long and ruinous relationship with Saddam Hussein.

The Achilles Trap masterfully untangles the people, ploys of power and geopolitics that led to America's disastrous war with Iraq and, for the first time, details America's fundamental miscalculations during its ruinous, decades-long relationship with Saddam Hussein.

Beginning with Saddam's rise to power in 1979 and the birth of Iraq's secret nuclear weapons programme, Steve Coll traces Saddam's motives through understanding his inner circle. He brings to life the diplomats, scientists, family members and generals who had no choice but to defer to their leader - a leader directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, as well as the torture or imprisonment of many more. This was a man whose reasoning was impossible to reduce to a simple explanation, and the CIA and successive presidential administrations failed to grasp critical nuances in his paranoia, resentments and inconsistencies - even when the stakes were incredibly high.

Using unpublished and underreported sources, interviews with surviving participants, and Saddam's own transcripts and audio files, The Achilles Trap is a remarkable picture of a dictator who was convinced the world was out to get him and acted accordingly. A work of great historical significance, it is the definitive account of how corruptions of power, lies of diplomacy and vanity - on both sides - led to avoidable errors of statecraft: ones that would enact immeasurable human suffering and forever change our political landscape.

Winner of the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction Longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award for Nonfiction From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ghost Wars, the epic and enthralling story of America's intelligence, military, and diplomatic efforts to defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 9/11 Prior to 9/11, the United States had been carrying out small-scale covert operations in Afghanistan, ostensibly in cooperation, although often in direct opposition, with I.S.I., the Pakistani intelligence agency. While the US was trying to quell extremists, a highly secretive and compartmentalized wing of I.S.I., known as "Directorate S," was covertly training, arming, and seeking to legitimize the Taliban, in order to enlarge Pakistan's sphere of influence. After 9/11, when fifty-nine countries, led by the U. S., deployed troops or provided aid to Afghanistan in an effort to flush out the Taliban and Al Qaeda, the U.S. was set on an invisible slow-motion collision course with Pakistan. Today we know that the war in Afghanistan would falter badly because of military hubris at the highest levels of the Pentagon, the drain on resources and provocation in the Muslim world caused by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and corruption. But more than anything, as Coll makes painfully clear, the war in Afghanistan was doomed because of the failure of the United States to apprehend the motivations and intentions of I.S.I.'s "Directorate S". This was a swirling and shadowy struggle of historic proportions, which endured over a decade and across both the Bush and Obama administrations, involving multiple secret intelligence agencies, a litany of incongruous strategies and tactics, and dozens of players, including some of the most prominent military and political figures. A sprawling American tragedy, the war was an open clash of arms but also a covert melee of ideas, secrets, and subterranean violence. Coll excavates this grand battle, which took place away from the gaze of the American public. With unsurpassed expertise, original research, and attention to detail, he brings to life a narrative at once vast and intricate, local and global, propulsive and painstaking. This is the definitive explanation of how America came to be so badly ensnared in an elaborate, factional, and seemingly interminable conflict in South Asia. Nothing less than a forensic examination of the personal and political forces that shape world history, Directorate S is a complete masterpiece of both investigative and narrative journalism.

A larger-than-life account of family, greed, and a courtroom showdown between Big Oil rivals from the New York Times-bestselling author of Private Empire. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Steve Coll is renowned for "his ability to take complicated, significant business stories and turn them into quick-reading engaging narratives" (Chicago Tribune). Coll is at the height of his talents in this "riveting" tale of one of the most spectacular-and catastrophic-corporate takeovers of all time (Newsday). As the head of a sprawling oil empire, J. Paul Getty was once the world's richest man. But by 1984, eight years after his death, Getty's legacy was in tatters: His children were locked in a bitter feud over the family trust and the company he founded was riven by boardroom turmoil. Then Pennzoil made an agreement with Getty's son, Gordon, to purchase Getty Oil. It was a done deal-until Texaco swooped in to claim the $10 billion prize. What followed was an epic legal battle that pit "good ole boy" J. Hugh Liedtke of Pennzoil against the Wall Street brokers behind Texaco's offer. The scandalous details of the case would shock the business world and change the landscape of the oil industry forever. With a large cast of colorful characters and the dramatic pacing of a novel, The Taking of Getty Oil is a "suspenseful" and "always intriguing" chronicle of one of the most fascinating chapters in American corporate history (Publishers Weekly).

From twice-Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Steve Coll comes Private Empire, winner of the FT/GOLDMAN SACHS BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2012 The oil giant ExxonMobil makes more money annually than the GDP of most countries; has greater sway than US embassies abroad; and spends more on lobbying than any other corporation. Yet to outsiders it is a mystery. In Private Empire, award-winning reporter Steve Coll tells the truth about the world's most powerful and shadowy company. From the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989 to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, via Moscow, the swamps of the Niger Delta and the halls of Congress, he reveals a story of dictators, oligarchs, civil war, blackmail, secrecy and ruthlessness. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and newly declassified documents, this is a chilling portrait of unchecked power. Reviews: 'Magisterial ... a revealing history of our time' New York Review of Books 'Meticulous, multi-angled and valuable ... Coll's prose sweeps the earth like an Imax camera' Dwight Garner, The New York Times 'Jaw-dropping reading' Kirkus Reviews 'The definitive work on its subject ... at every stop there are vivid anecdotes, sharp insights and telling details' Ed Crooks, Financial Times About the author: Steve Coll is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Bin Ladens. He is president of the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan public policy institute headquartered in Washington, D.C., and a staff writer for The New Yorker. He won a Pulitzer prize for explanatory journalism while working at the Washingon Post. He is the author of six other books, including the bestseller Ghost Wars, which won him a second Pulitzer prize. He lives in Washington and New York.

Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize The explosive, New York Times bestselling first-hand account of America's secret history in Afghanistan Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll has spent years reporting from the Middle East, accessed previously classified government files and interviewed senior US officials and foreign spymasters. Here he gives the full inside story of the CIA's covert funding of an Islamic jihad against Soviet forces in Afghanistan, explores how this sowed the seeds of bn Laden's rise, traces how he built his global network and brings to life the dramatic battles within the US government over national security. Above all, he lays bare American intelligence's continual failure to grasp the rising threat of terrrorism in the years leading to 9/11 - and its devastating consequences. 'Riveting ... the finest historical narrative so far on the origins of al Qaeda in the post-Soviet rubble of Afghanistan ... provides fresh details and helps explain the motivations behind many crucial decisions' The New York Times Book Review 'A remarkable book ... the CIA itself would be hard put to beat his grasp of global events' New York Review of Books

This title provides accountants and auditors with easy to follow and well structured guidance on the preparation of group accounts in line with UK GAAP. Group accounts must be prepared, by law, for medium-sized and large groups. Listed companies are required to prepare their accounts in line with International Financial Reporting Standards but larger unlisted companies can prepare their statements using UK GAAP. Groups are very common in the UK and are likely to become even more common when corporation tax rates increase in the future as there are various tax advantages to operating under a group structure. Group structures can vary (e.g. horizontal, vertical, hybrid, D-shaped|) and preparing financial accurate financial statements can be complex as a result. While there is a lot of guidance on producing accounts under IFRS, there is every little in evidence dealing with the UK GAAP rules. This title addresses this gap. The commentary identifies the differences between IFRS and UK GAAP in the treatment of group accounts. The differences between accounts produced pre and post Brexit are also covered. All commentary is supported throughout by the inclusion of worked practical examples based on the authors experience dealing with clients and running training courses.

Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize
The explosive first-hand account of America's secret history in Afghanistan
With the publication of "Ghost Wars," Steve Coll became not only a Pulitzer Prize winner, but also the expert on the rise of the Taliban, the emergence of Bin Laden, and the secret efforts by CIA officers and their agents to capture or kill Bin Laden in Afghanistan after 1998.

Available for the first time in paperback, Steve Coll's trek across a socially and politically damaged South Asia
Bestselling author Steve Coll is one of the preeminent journalists of the twenty-first century. His last two books, the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Ghost Wars" and "New York Times" bestseller "The Bin Ladens," have been praised for their creative insight and complex yet compelling narratives-and have put him on par with journalists such as the legendary Bob Woodward. Now, for the first time ever, the paperback edition of "On the Grand Trunk Road" is finally available, revised and updated with new material. Focusing on Coll's journeys in conflict-ridden India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Afghanistan as a bureau chief for "The Washington Post, On the Grand Trunk Road" reveals a little-seen area of the world where violence, corruption, and greed have had devastating effects on South Asians from all walks of life.

Written by an experienced auditor this practical guide will help auditors plan their procedures in accordance with current auditing standards and other forms of regulation. The advice provided allows readers to get to grips with what the ISAs (UK) strive to achieve and what can - and typically does - go wrong during the execution of an audit procedure. All chapters are clearly structured so that the reader can understand what they are trying to achieve during each step of the process, how they achieve those objectives, and the pitfalls to avoid. Also available as part of our online service Financial Reporting for Smaller Companies , topics covered include: Accepting an Audit Client, Planning the Audit, Group Audit and Quality Management. This title is included in Bloomsbury Professional's Financial Reporting for Smaller Companies online service.

Winner of the the National Book Critics Circle Award for Non-Fiction 'Spellbinding ... a magisterial account of the great tragedy of our age ... it is a classic' Evening Standard 'In the finest traditions of American investigative journalism' The Times 'Spectacular ... makes Bourne movies pale in comparison' Financial Times From the Pulitzer Prize winning of the acclaimed Ghost Wars, this is the full story of America's grim involvement in the affairs of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2016. In the wake of the terrible shock of 9/11, the C.I.A. scrambled to work out how to destroy Bin Laden and his associates. The C.I.A. had long familiarity with Afghanistan and had worked closely with the Taliban to defeat the Soviet Union there. A tangle of assumptions, old contacts, favours and animosities were now reactivated. Superficially the invasion was quick and efficient, but Bin Laden's successful escape, together with that of much of the Taliban leadership, and a catastrophic failure to define the limits of NATO's mission in a tough, impoverished country the size of Texas, created a quagmire which lasted many years. At the heart of the problem lay 'Directorate S', a highly secretive arm of the Pakistan state which had its own views on the Taliban and Afghanistan's place in a wider competition for influence between Pakistan, India and China, and which assumed that the U.S.A. and its allies would soon be leaving. Steve Coll's remarkable new book tells a powerful, bitter story of just how badly foreign policy decisions can go wrong and of many lives lost.

In "The Bin Ladens," two- time Pulitzer Prize-winner Steve Coll continues where "Ghost Wars" left off, shedding new light on one of the most elusive families of the twenty-first century. Rising from a famine-stricken desert into luxury, private compounds, and even business deals with Hollywood celebrities, the Bin Ladens have benefited from the tensions and contradictions in a country founded on extreme religious purity, suddenly thrust into a world awash in oil, money, and the temptations of the West. But what do these incongruities mean for globalization, the War on Terror, and America's place in the Middle East? Meticulously researched, "The Bin Ladens" is the story of a remarkably varied and often dangerous family that has used money, mobility, and technology to dramatically different ends.