Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
by Tim Weiner
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Book Summary Information
Author: Tim WeinerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-05-20
ISBN: 0307389006
Number of pages: 848
Publisher: Anchor
Book Reviews of Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
Book Review: 500-page Journalistic Attack on the CIA
Summary: 2 Stars
Tim Weiner's "Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA" is a well-documented but one-sided account of the CIA over the past 60 years. One of his criticisms is that the CIA has been too focused on covert operations and not enough on information-gathering, and that it has failed in its mission to protect America because it hasn't been focused enough on intelligence and analysis.
Weiner, a reporter for the New York Times, relates interesting stories and vignettes, and the book is very well-written and readable. His book is based on countless in-depth interviews with former CIA agents and officials and includes a large amount of gripping and well-sourced material.
Although gripping and well-written, this book suffers from one serious flaw: it is a hack job aimed only at tearing down the CIA and is far from a truthful or balanced history of the CIA. Weiner relates story after story after story of failed CIA operations and institutional mismanagement. He goes out of his way to criticize the CIA for every misstep and to downplay the very few successes he even mentions. For example, he blames the CIA for the Gulf of Tonkin incident, despite the fact that his narrative describes how the NSA buried information that led Johnson to launch airstrikes on North Vietnam and escalate the Vietnam War. In another, when describing an immensely successful CIA operation to sabotage a Soviet natural gas pipeline (which he doesn't claim caused any casualties), he concludes, "Had the tables been turned, it could have been seen as an act of terror."
While an interesting and easy read, this book fails as an institutional history because it is full of vignettes and doesn't portray the full history of the CIA. It is also so anti-CIA that, while Weiner's conclusions may be true, his book is so one-sided that he has little credibility. I don't feel enlightened or more knowledgeable about the CIA's role in American foreign policy over the last 60 years. If you do decide to read this book, don't expect an even-handed or full history of the CIA.
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