Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA @ richardeward.com

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
by Tim Weiner
from Anchor

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

• CIA as evil once again
  Well having an interest history and how we held the soviets back I bought the book and audio cd of Legacy OF Ashes.
  I though listened and read carefully and after taking in the entire book I am left with a bad taste.....the book really gives very little positive's to the fellows who really had little or no idea how to be spys etc. other than the fact that they were brave enough to give it go!
  The book really attacks them all as being fools who couldn't shoot straight and so on and frankly that is... more info

• Excellent discussion of the CIA
  This is a fairly comprehensive study of the CIA and its history. The author has added very extensive endnotes. It evenly covers the sixty year history of the agency and the various manifestations. The most interesting past is the beginning sections, where the author relies on recent declassified documents. The book is not without its faults the author has it's bias of the concept of "original sin" - the agency was designed poorly from the beginning and the founding fathers of the CIA laid the basis for... more info

• Questionable history and scholarship -- but very entertaining
  Please do not let this be the only book you read about the CIA before making personal judgments. Weiner's book is deliberately provocative, biased, and hostile in the extreme, and, in spite of his extensive research, is not a scholarly presentation. It is much closer to being a form of tabloid journalism than a thorough history. Because of that, it manages to soften the desultory work of good history and be both entertaining and informative. In this day-and-age, it is all about "spin," and this book spins... more info

• An amazing history of the CIA.
  This book is a real eye-opener, and I highly recommend it.
  I never expected the CIA to have world leaders on their payroll. I was shocked, for example, to find that King Hussein of Jordan was on the CIA's payroll. Some leaders in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and South American countries were also on the CIA's payroll (and some still are). Now that this book is out, how will the people of these nations feel? How do the Jordanians feel, for example, knowing that their former King worked for the CIA? One question... more info

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