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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29358.Charlie_Wilson_s_War?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Charlie Wilson's War" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1168021400m/29358.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29358.Charlie_Wilson_s_War?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Charlie Wilson's War</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16477.George_Crile">George Crile</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20744521?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 2 of 5 stars<br/>If I were able to go halvsies on the ratings I'd give it a 2 & 1/2. The beginning makes it very hard to put down and it was refreshing for once to hear people praising the culture that in this world of contemporary political analysis and unconventional warfare we have come to fear and despise, but you quickly get past that when you realize that this ethnocentric hatred is really just being diverted to the at-the-time "Evil Empire" Soviets. Eventually this visceral hatred of the Soviets really gets old and becomes somewhat of a broken record. 
<br/>As it goes this one ends up being such a "great white hope" that paints Afghan people as being barely above the intellect and capabilities of stray dogs; equally absurd and obnoxious.
<br/>
<br/>This book reels you in by reading like a best selling Tom Clancy without making the reader feel guilty and stupid for reading a Tom Clancy novel. Then it turns into such patriotic drivel that makes me go a big rubbery one sometime around the sixty-third occurence a sentence begins and/or ends with an approximation of "This is the biggest covert opperation in the history of man...." blah blah blah. The momentum doesn't change one bit during the entire 500+ page bout, which makes it remarkably predictable and several of the subplots are simply repeats from 75 pages earlier involving different characters. If you're interested in reading it, stop at page 300 and skip to the epilogue (which has its own set of mildy gag-worthy and regurgitated proselytizations) which does little to account for the "unintended consequences" but serves its purpose to end the book, I suppose.
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/864051?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Mike's review
rating:
recommended for: People who really like white people, preferably Americans

If I were able to go halvsies on the ratings I'd give it a 2 & 1/2. The beginning makes it very hard to put down and it was refreshing for once to hear people praising the culture that in this world of contemporary political analysis and unconventional warfare we have come to fear and despise, but you quickly get past that when you realize that this ethnocentric hatred is really just being diverted to the at-the-time "Evil Empire" Soviets. Eventually this visceral hatred of the Soviets really gets old and becomes somewhat of a broken record.
As it goes this one ends up being such a "great white hope" that paints Afghan people as being barely above the intellect and capabilities of stray dogs; equally absurd and obnoxious.

This book reels you in by reading like a best selling Tom Clancy without making the reader feel guilty and stupid for reading a Tom Clancy novel. Then it turns into such patriotic drivel that makes me go a big rubbery one sometime around t...more

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