Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by…

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (2007)

by Tim Weiner

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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I don't really know how to evaluate the veracity of this history. On the one hand, it appears to be very well researched and referenced; on the other, the CIA has made arguments to refute it in its book review. To the extent that I've read about the CIA, this appears to coordinate generally with other accounts. (

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OshoOsho | Mar 30, 2013 |

Damning history of the CIA and its failures in both foreign and domestic involvement. Some areas still obscure and lack context, but overall cohesiveness of the book does not suffer too greatly for it. (

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HadriantheBlind | Mar 29, 2013 |

Exhaustive history of the Central Intelligence Agency, tracing its ups and downs and its few successes and many failures. The allegations of political interference by virtually every presidential administration are highly disturbing, as are the tales of field agents running their own covert operations without the knowledge of the director.
It's a depressing story which ends without much hope (

)

dickmanikowski | Aug 17, 2011 |

It was full of interesting reading, but I fear there was a clear bias to showing the failures of the CIA. While there are plenty of references I found myself annoyed at the authors constant colorizations of events.

jcopenha | Dec 26, 2010 |

To summarize, an intelligence-gathering agency composed of civilians was formed following the end of World War II in order to inform the U.S. president of world events and threats, only to develop into a militarized and eventually privatized entity. One may feel a good deal of shame seeing the underbelly of one's country, but the truth must be known. (

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enoerew | Jun 25, 2010 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Tim Weiner	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Berg, Corrie van den	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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Series (with order)

Canonical title

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

Original title

Alternative titles

Legacy of Ashes

Original publication date

2007

People/Characters

Omar Abdel Rahman

Dean Acheson

Heinie Aderholt (Brigadier General)

Charles Allen, CIA analyst

George W. Allen

(show all 71 items)

Important places

Central Intellligence Agency

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

National Book Award (Nonfiction, 2007)

New York Times Notable Book of the Year (Non-Fiction, 2007)

Los Angeles Times Book Prize (2007.05|History, 2007)

National Book Critics Circle Award finalist (Nonfiction, 2007)

Time Magazine's Best Books of the Year (2007.7|Non-fiction (4), 2007)

(show all 9 items)

Epigraph

Dedication

For Kate, Emma, and Ruby

First words

All Harry Truman wanted was a newspaper.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Full title (2007): Legacy of ashes : the history of the CIA / Tim Weiner.

Publisher's editors

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Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0307389006, Paperback)

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.

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:57:42 -0500)

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▾Library descriptions

Here is the hidden history of the CIA: why eleven presidents and three generations of CIA officers have been unable to understand the world; why nearly every CIA director has left the agency in worse shape than he found it; and how these failures have profoundly jeopardized our national security. For sixty years, the CIA has managed to maintain a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, burying its blunders in top-secret archives. Its mission was to know the world--when it did not succeed, it set out to change the world instead. Now Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Weiner offers the first definitive history of the CIA, based on more than 50,000 documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA itself, and hundreds of interviews with CIA veterans, including ten Directors of Central Intelligence.--From publisher description.… (more)

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