Thread by @tobyharnden

THREAD: Every author stands on shoulders of those who've gone b4. I'm no exception. I’d like to highlight books I drew on for “First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA Mission to Avenge 9/11." Select Bibliography includes 136 books + 150 more here tobyharnden.com/bibliography-f… - 1

For “First Casualty,” I interviewed every surviving member of Team Alpha, 93 people on record, many others off, & logged 327 hours of interviews. + diaries, emails, documents (some classified). BUT published books + articles were huge resource. As my chaotic shelves attest - 2

I owe particular debt to five foundational books: @DougStantonBook's Horse Soldiers, an outstanding account of the Green Berets in N.Afghanistan; @SteveCollNY's Ghost Wars & Directorate S, magisterial works on @CIA in Afghanistan & Pakistan -3

4 & 5 foundational -
.@BrianGlynWillms’s The Last Warlord, the definitive biography of Abdul Rashid Dostum; & Charles Briscoe, Richard Kiper, James Schroder, & Kalev Sepp’s Weapon of Choice, the official history of US Army Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan - 4

Memoirs were invaluable – “First In” by Gary Schroen, “Jawbreaker” by Gary Berntsen, “Foxtrot in Kandahar” by Duane Evans, “At the Center of the Storm” by George Tenet, “The Art of Intelligence,” by Hank Crumpton. These books are coffee stained and full of scrawled notes - 5

More invaluable memoirs: @CIA - 88 Days to Kandahar” by Bob Grenier, “The Great War of Our Time” by @MichaelJMorell, DoD - American Soldier” by Tommy Franks, “Known & Unknown” by Donald Rumsfeld, “War & Decision” by Doug Feith; "Inside CENTCOM" by Mike DeLong - 6

Important works for me were: “Bloody Heroes,” by @authordlewism, on the SBS; “My Heart Became Attached” by Mark Kukis, on John Walker Lindh; and Richard Mahoney’s “Getting Away with Murder.” The research and writings of Bill Knarr were an essential resource. - 7

I drew on work of dozens of journalists who braved Afghanistan in fall 2001 while I reported from comfort of US. Among outstanding accounts were those by @lukeharding1968, @carlottagall, @PerryAlexJ, @RYP__ , @Mcinparis, @justinhuggler, @CMSennott Some wrote books - 8

Which author thinking about & researching Afghanistan could do without the work of Ahmed Rashid, my former @Telegraph colleague? Not me - 9

As well as his war reporting for @nytimes - among very best of last 20 years - @cjchivers wrote two great books “The Gun” & “The Fighters.” The latter gave me poignant material on Capt. Paul Syverson KIA Iraq 2004 - 10

Getting into broader influences now, but fantastic books from @tomricks1 - building on his @washingtonpost reporting, & buttressing his ongoing fearless analyses of & insights into what US has done wrong. “The Generals” & esp. “Fiasco,” on Iraq, were groundbreaking - 11

Staying broad, I was heavily influenced by the late George Crile’s “Charlie Wilson’s War” - incredible characters - & @MarkBowdenwrite’s seminal “Black Hawk Down” - unmatchable accounts of combat - 12

I’ve always felt that the story of Flight 93 was an inspiration to so many of post 9/11 generation, including Team Alpha. Paul Greengrass movie incredible - also, these books “Among the Heroes” by Jere Longman & “Let’s Roll” by Todd Beamer’s widow Lisa Beamer - 13

Bob Woodward’s reporting has been incredible for decades. His access gets him stuff few can dream of - & he uses it. “Bush at War” - amazing. But have you heard of “102 Days of War” by Yaniv Barzilay? It’s fantastic, & so useful to me for “First Casualty” - 14

Broad again. “The Good Soldiers” by David Finkel & “”The Forever War” by Dexter Filkins. How could these two books be bettered? What’s their secret? Maybe a hint for authors is that neither appears to be on Twitter! - 15

Other great Iraq war books - “To Start a War” by @DraperRobert, just brilliant on how it happened (& covers period of “First Casualty), “In a Time of War” by @BillMurphyJr & “Black Hearts” - the dark underbelly of war - by the late Jim Frederick. Please excuse dog intruding - 15

It’s nerve-racking when great books come out just before yours. I really benefited from reading The Hardest Place” (clever, connects so many dots) by @wesleysmorgan & “Eagle Down” by @jessdonati (brill on SF) before “First Casualty” went to print - 16

Other great books on Afghanistan that provided material and/or made me think more deeply - “Our Man” by George Packer, “No Good Men…” by @Anand_Gopal_ , “The Spy Masters” by @ccwhip, “Only Thing Worth Dying For” by @EricBlehm & “How We Missed The Story” by @Roy_Gutman - 17

Amazing thing abt being @littlebrown author is u find yourself in company like this. “The Outpost” by @jaketapper - one of standout war books of mod. times -“Surprise, Kill, Vanish” by @AnnieJacobsen - startling material - “War on Peace” by @RonanFarrow - deep dive on Dostum - 18

This could go on forever. I’m sure I’ve missed important books out - there are nearly 300 in “First Casualty” bibliography + more in endnotes. Here’s a shelf of espionage books downstairs - 19

Another @littlebrown author is Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. It’s essential reading. David Tyson, Team Alpha member, who killed many AQ at close quarters & is haunted, has read his works - 20

A trilogy of 9/11 books I drew on for “First Casualty” - the still essential Commission report (so well written), “Inside 9-11” by @derspiegel reporters, & @vermontgmg’s superb, peerless “The Only Plane in the Sky” - 21

So many books, so much reporting. Hope this a reminder that no author is an island. Alm. every book contains something valuable. I learned so much fm reading broadly & deeply when researching “First Casualty.” Final pic shows some of my shelves are neat - ish! - 22 ENDS THREAD