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Spymasters: Ten CIA Officers in Their Own Words
 
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Spymasters: Ten CIA Officers in Their Own Words [Paperback]

Ralph E. Weber (Editor)
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Book Description

0842027157 978-0842027151 January 1, 2002
Spymasters is a collection of interviews revealing enlightening perspectives on the covert operations of this powerful, secretive arm of the U.S. government. Here former top-ranking CIA officials shed light on some of the most sensitive issues and practices in American foreign intelligence to date. These men disclose information about:

  • President Harry S. Truman's demands for a centralized intelligence agency and the stubborn resistance of James F. Byrnes, J. Edgar Hoover, and the military services

  • the tumultuous early stages of the National Security Council

  • the failed Bay of Pigs invasion

  • the confusion surrounding the Kennedy assassination

  • Khrushchev's ousting

  • Operation MONGOOSE

  • the Gulf of Tonkin incident

  • The interviews are especially valuable for their portrayal of the relationships between the agency's directors and the presidents during the most anxious and threatening decades of the Cold War. The CIA's successes and failures are recounted and carefully evaluated by the men who were there, often times issuing the orders.

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    Editorial Reviews

    Review

    To comprehend the CIA one must understand those who made it work in its formative years. Professor Weber's singular collection of engaging, entertaining, often humorous interviews of some of its most honorable men in service during that time takes a major step toward this goal. Historians, their students, and even those with reflexive animus toward the CIA will find it of enormous value. Spymasters is a powerful oral history of the realities of Agency collection operations and their analysis. (Hayden B. Peake )

    Spymasters is a collection of fascinating and insightful interviews... Provides intriguing perspectives and information about American intelligence activities during the Cold War. (The Bloomsbury Review )

    An exciting collection of fresh, stimulating, informed, and very readable conversations with top U.S. intelligence officials. (Thomas F. Troy )

    No historian understands more about the organization of American intelligence, from its beginnings during the Revolution to the present day, than Ralph E. Weber. When leading figures in the Central Intelligence Agency appraise their own work they almost necessarily throw light on dark corners. It is hardly necessary to add that during the Cold War the policy of the United States was made not merely by the Department of State but by covert CIA actions, and that any student of the years after World War II needs to know about this essential second dimension. (Robert H. Ferrell )

    Ralph Weber has had the brilliant idea of finding and collecting hidden interviews with leaders of the intelligence community. He thereby renders a signal contribution to intelligence historians by making available a book not only valuable, but fascinating. (David Kahn )

    An outstanding collection of oral histories. (The Nation )

    About the Author

    Ralph E. Weber is professor of history at Marquette University and a former scholar in residence at the Central Intelligence Agency as well as the National Security Agency.

    Product Details

    • Paperback: 356 pages
    • Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (January 1, 2002)
    • Language: English
    • ISBN-10: 0842027157
    • ISBN-13: 978-0842027151
    • Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
    • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
    • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
    • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #539,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

     

    Customer Reviews

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    Most Helpful Customer Reviews

    29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
    2.0 out of 5 stars CIA Bosses, not Field Officers !!, April 1, 2001
    By 
    Sam Jones "RoninExec" (Enghien les Bains France) - See all my reviews
    And this is the whole point of this book, nevertheless interesting and well written : Interviewed are only CIA former Directors. So it's really the Bosses pont of view rather than the field operative's one. Mislead by the title, I was not that impressed by the book content. Most of the stories are already old news (some interviews have been published at length), about overtold events such as JFK's assassination or the Bay Of Pigs. If you wanna hear it from the guys doing the actual work, stay away.

    I wouldn't have bought it if I had seen it on a shelf. But I guess it's one of the risks of online purchasing.

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    6 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
    4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting!, May 9, 2000
    This review is from: Spymasters: Ten CIA Officers in Their Own Words (Paperback)
    I suppose all I have ever thought of the CIA is the mysterious "wet ops" assassination stuff. This book certainly gave me a LOT more insight!
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