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Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (Unabridged) | 
 enlarge | Author: Tim Weiner
Publisher: audible.com
Category: Book
List Price: $44.95
Buy New: $23.60
You Save: $21.35 (47%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  136 reviews
Media: Audio Download
ASIN: B000TD15NE
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Product Description
With shocking revelations that made headlines in papers across the country, Pulitzer-Prize-winner Tim Weiner gets at the truth behind the CIA and uncovers here why nearly every CIA Director has left the agency in worse shape than when he found it; and how these profound failures jeopardize our national security.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 131 more reviews...
 CIA as evil once again November 12, 2008
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 not correct.
My suggestion would be to read some of the other books out there on the CIA and really see how hard it was to foil the soviets as they were brutal and vilolent and we as Americans really didnt know how to deal with what we know now and they new then as EVIL!!!!
The agents for Russia stopped at nothing to steal secrets from the US as well as convience hundreds of Americans that the soviet union was a pleasant carefree workers paradise , when in fact it was Stalin's sandbox that he ruled with an iron fist! The terror of 1938 read about it as it will open your eyes to the mesery of the soviet union ; punishing those who disagreed with him or he imagined disagreed etc. The truth as we know it is Socialism is Evil in all its forms ...the powerfull use it to control the many !Think about it horror was living under communist rule in the 1920's to the 1980's the fench in Berlin wasnt put up to keep everybody out but to keep everyone in!
Thank God we had brave men such as Frank Wisner,Tracy Barnes,Richard Bissel and Desmond FitzGerald all of them served and worked hard toward the goal of protecting all us from the soviets.Richard Bissel who in the nineteen fifties developed the U2 spyplane with Kelly Johnson ( Lockheed )absolutely saved many lives with our ability to capture pictures inside russia as the soviets lied about everything from number of warheads to the number of tanks ,Bissel and Johnson then went on to create the SR-71 Blackbird which still holds the speed record for a jet propelled aircraft; both were designed and built prior to computers being used in design and creation of aircraft etc. ...these folks are hero's they did it quickly and correctly and under budget with a slide rule!I also wish to mention the work of Dr.Edwin Land who developed the camera used in the U2 and the Blackbird with out his genius the planes could never have taken any pictures at heights in excess of 60,000 feet up!
Each man listed did there job to the best of thier abilities.... they as well as thier families suffered , wondering if the men ever would return from the lastest mission. The years spent in the company of thieves and murderer's took its toll on everyone not just the CIA men themselves.
Did everything that the CIA do become a success? no it did not but I will tell you ...read all the books about the history of the CIA and then judge for yourself...I did and I am better off for it. I wish to say thank you to all of them for keeping myself and my family safe during there lifetime.
James
 Excellent discussion of the CIA October 28, 2008
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 future disaster. This is an arguable premise, but the author attacks with a little too much zeal. He is also sometimes a bit sympathetic for the more modern CIA staff and directors - remember that he has spent 20 years covering the CIA as a journalist, and he starts relying more on interviews of Tenet, etc. Despite this, it deserves a five star rating and should be on the list of recent required reading.
Questionable history and scholarship -- but very entertaining October 24, 2008
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 like an angry top. If you insulate yourself with that knowledge, however, you will be able to glean insights that official histories will not give.
An amazing history of the CIA. October 17, 2008
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 with a self-answer goes through my mind: Do leaders govern for the good of their people or for their self-interest and preservation?
Since its creation in 1947, the CIA stood as an elite force representing the power of the United States. But according to the author, this is an illusion. This book will demonstrate that in fact the CIA failed in most of its goals, and did not live up to its mandate. According to the book, the CIA has been incompetent, naive, chaotic, and a danger to American interests. For example, the CIA was unable to foresee the fall of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War, the fall of the Shah of Iran and the coming of the ayatollah Khomeini, and more recently, the Indian nuclear tests, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the events of 9/11. The CIA also gave wrong information to the Bush administration in 2001 and 2002, claiming that Iraq was an imminent threat to the US and that it possessed weapons of mass destruction. This information led to an unjustified and chaotic invasion of Iraq. According to the author, the CIA is a blundering and incapable organization. This will come as a surprise to many.
The author has read over 15,000 declassified materials in order to write this book. His book is factual and very well written. It reads like a Le Care novel. This is one of the most interesting and self-absorbing books I have read in a very long time. If you are interested in world politics and history, read this book!
The book is divided into six parts.
Part one discusses the CIA under Truman, 1945 to 1953. This is the story of the beginning of the CIA when they still knew nothing about espionage. Most missions undertaken by the CIA during those years were suicide missions. All, yes all, undercover CIA agents were either killed or captured during those years. This came as a surprise to me. I never imagined the CIA to have failed so miserably.
Part two discusses the CIA under Eisenhower, 1953 to 1963. Those were the years the CIA suddenly realized that it had no plan. With its agents dead, it suddenly realized that it had traitors in its midst. Those were the years the CIA learnt to topple regimes, and started meddling in the affairs of other countries. In those days, the CIA operated outside the law, and it thought it could continue to do so indefinitely.
Part three discusses the CIA under Kennedy and Johnson, 1961 to 1968. Those were the years the CIA had more courage than wisdom, and the beginning of its long slide downwards. The chapter on the Cuban missile crisis was extremely interesting, and new information is revealed from newly declassified documents. Who had motives to kill president Kennedy? Read the book to find possible explanations.
Part four discusses the CIA under Nixon and Ford, 1968 to 1977. Those were the years the CIA decided to change the concept of a secret service, and was almost destroyed. Those were also the years the CIA caught a lot of hell. The CIA proved to be very ineffective.
Part five discusses the CIA under Carter, Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, 1977 to 1993. The CIA was very distrusted during those years. They were in fact asleep at the helm! They had no idea what to do when the Berlin Wall finally comes down.
Part six discusses the CIA under Clinton and George W. Bush, 1993 to 2007. Those were the years the CIA could not gather ant useful facts. Clinton read the news in newspapers before the CIA had any clue what was going on. The CIA made grave mistakes.
A Wealth of information October 9, 2008
This book is extremely well-written and includes a wealth of previously unknown information. Basically it starts with the creation of the CIA and continues to the present. It provides details that pretty well shows how the leaders of the CIA operated mostly on what they believed was wanted of the CIA versus what was actually wanted. And, in many cases, the CIA operated on only what it's leaders wanted. I am completely amazed at the intricacy of operations between our Government and other countries.
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