Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

Tim Weiner

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, May 20, 2008 - Political Science - 848 pages

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.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - GlennBell - LibraryThing

This is a facinating account of the history of the CIA. I learned a lot about actions of the US government over the past 60 years. It is a sad account of our intelligence agency and our executive ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - grandpahobo - LibraryThing

This is an incredibly detailed history of the CIA, from its inception as the reincarnation of the OSS until 2007. The book is dense and detailed, but the story is very compelling. The author does an excellent job of telling the story of the CIA, as disturbing as it is, objectively and honestly.

Contents

• PART TWO A Strange Kind of Genius: 81
• BoMB REPEAT BoMB: 106
• AND THEN well HAVE A stor M: 120
• we RAN IT IN A DIFFERENT way: 133
• wish FUL BLINDNEssº 14: 141
• HAMHANDED oper ATIONs of ALL KINDs: 157
• A WERY STRANGE WAR: 164
• HE WAS LYING DOWN AND HE WAS LYING UP 1 79: 190
• PART THREE Lost Causes The CIA Under Kennedy and Johnson 1961 to 1968: 195
• NOBODY KNEW WHAT TO DO: 197
• WE HAD ALSO FOOLED OURSELVES: 218
• WED BE DELIGHTED TO TRADE THOSE MISSILES: 229
• HEY Boss we DID A Good JoB DIDNT WE2: 242
• I THOUGHT IT WAS A CONSPIRACY: 256
• AN OMINOUS DRIFT: 272
• MORE COURAGE THAN WISDOM: 281
• THE BEGINNING OF A LONG SLIDE DOWNWARDS: 287
• WE KNEW THEN THAT WE COULD NOT WIN THE WAR: 305
• A POLITICAL HBOMB: 311
• TRACK DOWN THE FOREIGN COMMUNISTS 229: 329
• PART FOUR Get Rid of the Clowns The CIA Under Nixon and Ford 1968 to 1977: 335
• WHAT THE HELL DO THOSE CLOWNS DO OUT THERE IN LANGLEY2: 337
• USG WANTS A MILITARY SOLUTION 3 54: 354
• WE ARE GOING TO CATCH A LOT OF HELL: 368
• TO CHANGE THE CONCEPT OF A SECRET SERVICE: 376
• A CLASSIC FASCIST IDEAL 38 2: 382
• THE CIA WOULD BE DESTROYED: 388
• SAIGON SIGNING OFF: 394
• INEFFECTIVE AND SCARED: 401
• PART FIVE Victory Without Joy The CIA Under Carter Reagan and George H W Bush 1977 to 1993: 411
• HE SOUGHT TO OVERTHROW THEIR SYSTEM: 413
• WE WERE JUST PLAIN ASLEEP: 426
• A FREELANCE Buccane ER: 434
• INA DANGEROUs way: 449
• To THINK THE UNTHINKABLE: 478
• what ARE we GoING To Do when THE WALL comes Down?: 489
• PART SIX The Reckoning: 505
• why IN THE world DIDNT we KNow?: 517
• weRE IN TRouBLE: 524
• THE THREAT could Not Be MoRE REAL: 539
• THE DARK side: 551
• A GRAVE MISTAKE: 562
• THE BURIAL CEREMONY: 575
• AFTERWORD: 595
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: 603
• INDEX: 779

About the author

Tim Weiner, a reporter for The New York Times, has filed stories from inside the CIA and around the world for twenty years. He is a past winner of the Pulitzer Prize for covering national security. This is his third book.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
• Author: Tim Weiner
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2008
• ISBN: 0307455629, 9780307455628
• Length: 848 pages
• Subjects: History / Military / United States; History / United States / General; Political Science / Security (National & International)