Author Guide · Investigative Journalism
Books Written by
Ghost Wars ends on 10 September 2001, the day before the attacks it sets out to explain. Steve Coll, born in Washington, D.C. in 1958, wrote it after twenty years at The Washington Post, where he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1990 for reporting on the Securities and Exchange Commission, ran the South Asia bureau from New Delhi and became managing editor. The book won him a second Pulitzer. Since then he has been a staff writer at The New Yorker, president of the think tank New America and dean of the Columbia Journalism School, and has kept writing long histories of power: a family, an oil company, two spy agencies, a dictator. This guide covers his nine key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 9 key books · 1986–2024 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Steve Coll has written nine books. The best known is Ghost Wars (2004), which won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction; the others include The Bin Ladens (2008), Private Empire (2012), Directorate S (2018) and The Achilles Trap (2024). Start with Ghost Wars, then read Directorate S, which carries the same story from 2001 to 2016.
Where to Start with Steve Coll
If you want his defining book
→ Ghost Wars (2004) — the CIA in Afghanistan up to 10 September 2001.
If you want the sequel
→ Directorate S (2018) — America and Pakistan’s spy service in Afghanistan, 2001–2016.
If you want a business book
→ Private Empire (2012) — ExxonMobil as a power in its own right.
If you want his most recent book
→ The Achilles Trap (2024) — Saddam Hussein and the road to the Iraq war.
9 Steve Coll Books, in Order
The Deal of the Century
His first book tells how the American government’s antitrust case against AT&T ended in the settlement that broke up the Bell telephone system in 1984. It follows the lawyers, executives and officials on both sides.
The Taking of Getty Oil
The fight over Getty Oil after the death of J. Paul Getty: the family feud over the company, the takeover by Texaco in 1984, and the lawsuit by Pennzoil, which said it had already agreed to buy Getty first and won a jury verdict of more than ten billion dollars.
Eagle on the Street
Written with his Washington Post colleague David A. Vise and based on their reporting on the Securities and Exchange Commission in the 1980s, which won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism. It follows the agency’s attempts to police Wall Street during the decade of insider-trading scandals.
On the Grand Trunk Road
A book from his years as the Post’s South Asia bureau chief in New Delhi, from 1989 to 1995. Using the old road across the subcontinent as a thread, he reports from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal at a time of insurgency, ethnic violence and economic change.
Ghost Wars
The history of the CIA’s secret involvement in Afghanistan, from the covert war against the Soviet army in the 1980s through the rise of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden to the American efforts to find him before 11 September 2001. It draws on interviews with American and foreign government, intelligence and military officials. It won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 2005, as well as the Lionel Gelber Prize and the Arthur Ross Book Award.
The Bin Ladens
A history of the family Osama bin Laden came from: his father Mohammed, who built a construction empire in Saudi Arabia close to the royal family, and the dozens of children who inherited it and moved between Jeddah, Europe and the United States. It was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for biography.
Private Empire
ExxonMobil from the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 to the early 2010s, under its chief executives Lee Raymond and Rex Tillerson: a corporation with its own foreign policy, operating in countries from Chad to Indonesia and lobbying in Washington on climate change. It won the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year award for 2012 and was a National Book Critics Circle finalist.
Directorate S
The sequel to Ghost Wars, covering 2001 to 2016. Directorate S is the covert action wing of Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI, which backed militant groups in Afghanistan and India and helped the Taliban return to the battlefield against the United States. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction.
The Achilles Trap
The relationship between Saddam Hussein and the United States from 1979 to the invasion of 2003, told partly from Saddam’s side through records and recordings of his meetings captured after the war. It was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing and won the Arthur Ross Book Award in 2025.
In What Order to Read Steve Coll
Coll’s books stand alone, with one exception: Directorate S picks up where Ghost Wars stops, so read those two in order. The Bin Ladens fills in the family behind the man at the centre of Ghost Wars, and The Achilles Trap turns to Iraq, the other war of the same years.
The first four books come from his newspaper years: two corporate histories, a book on the SEC written with David A. Vise, and a travel book from South Asia. They are less known today, but On the Grand Trunk Road shows where his interest in Afghanistan and Pakistan began.
A reading path
1. Ghost Wars (2004)
2. The Bin Ladens (2008)
3. Directorate S (2018)
4. Private Empire (2012)
5. The Achilles Trap (2024)
The years · 1958–2024
Quick facts about Steve Coll
- Known for
- Steve Coll is known for long, deeply sourced histories of American power abroad, above all the CIA’s secret wars in Afghanistan.
- 1958
- Born in Washington, D.C.
- 1990
- Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the SEC
- 2004
- Ghost Wars
- 2013
- Dean of the Columbia Journalism School
- Born
- 8 October 1958, Washington, D.C.
- Education
- Occidental College, B.A. in English and history, 1980
- Newspaper
- The Washington Post, 1985–2005; managing editor 1998–2004
- Magazine
- Staff writer at The New Yorker, 2005–2023; editor at The Economist since 2024
- Institutions
- President of New America, 2007–2012; dean of the Columbia Journalism School, 2013–2022
- Prizes
- Two Pulitzer Prizes: Explanatory Journalism (1990) and General Nonfiction (2005)
The red mark is 2004: Ghost Wars, his history of the CIA in Afghanistan, which won the Pulitzer Prize.
How Steve Coll Writes: History from the Inside of Institutions
Coll writes about institutions rather than single heroes: AT&T, the SEC, the CIA, ExxonMobil, Pakistan’s ISI. Each book is built on hundreds of interviews with the officials inside them, often on both sides of a conflict, and on documents, so that a decision in Langley, Islamabad or Kandahar can be followed from several rooms at once.
His books are long and chronological. Ghost Wars covers about twenty years and Directorate S fifteen, and both move year by year, so that the reader sees what each side knew at the moment it acted rather than with hindsight. That is also why Ghost Wars stops on 10 September 2001.
He keeps himself out of the story and avoids conclusions the record cannot support, and in The Achilles Trap he goes a step further by using Saddam Hussein’s own recorded meetings to tell part of the story from the Iraqi side. The method comes from twenty years in a newsroom, where he worked as a foreign correspondent, an investigative reporter and an editor.
Watch
Steve Coll on The Achilles Trap
John Milewski talks with Coll for the Wilson Center’s Wilson Center NOW in 2024 about Saddam Hussein, the CIA and the origins of the Iraq war.
Frequently asked questions about Steve Coll’s books
How many books has Steve Coll written?
Nine, from The Deal of the Century (1986) to The Achilles Trap (2024). One of them, Eagle on the Street (1991), was written with David A. Vise.
What are Steve Coll’s books in order?
The Deal of the Century (1986), The Taking of Getty Oil (1987), Eagle on the Street (1991), On the Grand Trunk Road (1993), Ghost Wars (2004), The Bin Ladens (2008), Private Empire (2012), Directorate S (2018) and The Achilles Trap (2024).
Where should I start with Steve Coll?
With Ghost Wars (2004), his history of the CIA in Afghanistan up to 10 September 2001. If you prefer business history, start with Private Empire.
What is Steve Coll’s most famous book?
Ghost Wars, which won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 2005 and became a New York Times bestseller.
Should I read Ghost Wars before Directorate S?
Yes. Directorate S (2018) is a sequel that starts where Ghost Wars ends, in 2001, and runs to 2016. Each can be read alone, but together they cover nearly forty years of the American involvement in Afghanistan.
How many Pulitzer Prizes has Steve Coll won?
Two: the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism, shared with David A. Vise for their Washington Post reporting on the SEC, and the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for Ghost Wars.
What is Directorate S?
The covert action wing of Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI. Coll’s book of that name follows the CIA, the ISI and the war in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2016; it won the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction.
What is The Achilles Trap about?
The relationship between Saddam Hussein and the United States from 1979 to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, drawing on records and recordings of Saddam’s meetings captured after the war. It won the Arthur Ross Book Award in 2025.
Is Steve Coll still alive?
Yes. He was born on 8 October 1958 in Washington, D.C., and has been an editor at The Economist since 2024.
Where has Steve Coll worked?
At The Washington Post from 1985 to 2005, including as managing editor; as a staff writer at The New Yorker from 2005 to 2023; as president of New America from 2007 to 2012; and as dean of the Columbia Journalism School from 2013 to 2022.
Footnotes
- Steve Coll — Wikipedia
- Steve Coll — Columbia Journalism School
- Ghost Wars — Penguin Random House
- Steve Coll dives into Pakistan’s spy agency — NPR via NHPR, 2018
- The Achilles Trap — Wilson Center, 2024
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Pakistanis have been deceptive, and they’ve also been cooperative.”
— Steve Coll, interview with NPR about Directorate S (2018)
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