Few people had likely heard of this book and its story until the recent release of the movie by the same name starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman. It is the story of Charlie Wilson, a Texas Congressman, brash and reckless in his personal life who quietly garnered millions of dollars in funding for the Afghans’ struggle against the invading Soviet Union in the 1980s. His partner and eventual friend in this struggle is CIA agent Gust Avrakotos. His interest in the Afghan cause is sparked by the attentions of a beautiful, wealthy socialite Joanne Herring, an animosity toward Communism, and a lifelong desire to do something Churchillian. Wilson’s relentless support of the Afghan cause stymied the Soviets in Afghanistan and helped bleed the Soviets literally and monetarily as the USSR staggered near collapse toward the end of the Cold War. Yet, until Crile’s book and, even more so, with the movie starring Tom Hanks, directed by Mike Nichols, no one knew much about this story. In the 1980s, the media concentrated on the CIA’s involvement and the Reagan Administration’s missions in battling communism in Nicaragua. While the Afghan invasion received media attention, Charlie Wilson’s war barely registered a blip on the radar screen. Crile blows the whole thing open in a narrative that reads like a novel. The personalities of the people involved make this novel approach to a chapter in history possible. Wilson is a dichotomy of noble instincts hampered by alcohol-soaked womanizing, a sense of wanting to play James Bond mixed with a desire to fight Russians and help the Afghans. Wilson is only one of the larger-than-life characters in a cast filled with bizarre individuals and wild situations. If this were fiction, many would find the story implausible, but Crile takes the facts, people, and events and presents them in a manner that allows readers to better understand how all of this was possible. If readers need a comparison, “Charlie Wilson’s War” is something like a politically charged, international version of “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” “Charlie Wilson’s War” has just as many, if not more, intriguing characters who find themselves in incredible situations and relationships. “Charlie Wilson’s War” is a war worth fighting and a book worth reading.