Tim Weiner

Traces the history of the CIA from the end of World War II to Iraq, in a study that condemns the organization for its record, its inability to understand world affairs, the violence it has unleashed, and its undermining of American politics.

The History of the CIA

Legacy of Ashes

Patrick Book

If anyone thinks government/bureaucracies can actually pull off complex conspiracies this should put that to rest. This is probably one of the more remarkable things I’ve ever read. There can be few institutions perceived to work so well that are in reality so terrifically dysfunctional. Astoundingly well-documented, impeccably sourced, and impossibly on-the-record!

Bob Simone

This was awesome, I really enjoyed reading and also learned a lot about the history of intelligence collection in the US after world war II. In some ways it feels like we were destined to never be very good at it because we don't have a police state built around intelligence like the Soviets did, and so we would have been better off just not doing this kind of bonkers stuff that goes against our values... but that's from the point of view of someone who benefited from some of the things that were done, so maybe it's not so easy to say we just shouldn't have done this stuff cause it played an uncertain sized role in our survival and thriving. Lots of food for thought.

Fan 

All-powerful, brilliant, decisive, ruthlessly effective ... this is the image of the CIA as portrayed in countless films and novels. It is wrong. This shocking book, based on thousands of declassified documents and interviews with agents at all levels, shows the reality behind the glamorous myth: a blundering, chaotic and dangerously incompetent organization, so ineffective it was nicknamed ‘Can’t Identify Anything’ by Nato forces. In a story of botched coups, missed targets, lost operatives and fatal errors, Tim Weiner shows how the CIA now poses a threat not only to the security of the US, but the world.

Kerri Miller

Sahi K

A New York Times reporter offers a powerful indictment of the CIA and its intelligence-gathering capabilities as he traces the history of the organization from the end of World War II to Iraq, in a study that condemns the CIA for its record, its inability to understand world affairs, the violence it has unleashed, and its undermining of American politics. Reprint. 150,000 first printing.

Legacy of Ashes The History of the CIA

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