James Jesus Angleton was an enigma, a secretive man whose power was at its peak during the height of the Cold War. Founder of U.S. counter-intelligence, hunter of moles and foes of America, his name has become synonymous with skulduggery and subterfuge. Angleton pursued his enemies, real and imagined, with a cool, calculating intelligence. Eventually convinced that there was a turncoat within the highest reaches of the U.S. government, Angleton turned all of his considerable skills to finding and exposing him. The result was a near-victory for U.S. Intelligence-and total defeat for himself. A brilliant re-creation of a world that included Soviet defectors, the infamous traitors Burgess, MacLean, and Philby, and American presidents from Truman to Carter, Spytime traces the making-and unmaking-of a man without a peer and, at the end, a man without a country to serve.
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
This fictional account of the life of James Jesus Angleton, founder of the American counterintelligence establishment, will make readers wish for the humor and high jinks of Blackie Oakes, William F. Buckley Jr.'s much more engaging fictional spy. As the novel opens, Angleton is being summarily locked out of the halls of power and plotting his final act: the unmasking of the famed Fifth Man involved in the scandals that rocked England when Guy Burgess, Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, and Anthony Blount were unmasked as traitors. But before he lets the reader in on the identity of the Fifth Man, Buckley traces Angleton's career through his involvement in a number of espionage cases, all rooted in the cold war and apparently chosen to illustrate Buckley's ongoing (and already decided) battle with his favorite nemesis, Soviet communism.
Angleton's lifelong obsession with Philby is the engine that drives Spytime, but there are too many miles on it to make what passes for a plot hold the reader's interest. On the brighter side, Buckley's erudition puts a fine polish on the chassis. Cold Warrior, Tom Mangold's fine biography of Angleton, is a more evenhanded treatment of the life of this complicated man, but Buckley's is more fun to take to the beach. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Author of the best-selling "Blackford Oakes" series, Buckley here takes on the core of spying--recruiting, training, and deceit. Many former spies make cameo appearances in this profile of James Jesus Angleton, a real spymaster who ran the counterintelligence operations of the CIA for decades after World War II. The introduction of young agents gives Buckley a lot of room for sexy interludes, professorial expositions, and energetic episodes. Throughout the book, the intellectual appeal of espionage separates this from the usual cloak-and-dagger story. Sure to be a favorite, this novel successfully explores the enigmatic life of a Cold Warrior. For all popular fiction collections.
---Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
---Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
William Buckley has in his later years developed a surprising talent for fiction, and he couldn't have picked a more intriguing subject to focus it on with this book than James Angleton. How does one portray a man like Angleton? The spy novel genre, as epitomized by writers like John Le Carre, tends towards heavily convoluted plots, language, and characterizations in the effort to force the literary vehicle itself into a representation of the dark and twisted ethos of espionage. And one might have expected Angleton, as the quintessential cold-war spymaster, to have inspired just such a brooding study. However, Buckley will have none of that with his book, and taking the opposite tack, he crafts his novel with the same crisp lucidity that animates his political commentary. Employing spare sentence structure, sprightly characterization and fast-paced narrative, he draws a portrait of Angleton that has nothing sinister or even particularly mysterious about it. The legendary CIA counterintelligence chief emerges from this as entirely human - flawed and quirky, but brilliant, loyal to friends and motivated by a sincere patriotism. Underlying the story, however, is a kind of sad commentary by Buckley on the tragic nature of espionage as a profession. Much like a good cop corrupted by the violence of a high-crime neighborhood, Angleton by the end of his career seems helpless against the pressures driving him into a paranoid pathology. Frustrated by his failures to detect genuine traitors in his own ranks, Angleton becomes suspicious of everyone and begins voicing reckless accusations. This being historical fiction, of course, we all know how the story ends. When the CIA comes under hostile scrutiny during the post-Watergate period, Angleton has few friends left able or willing to defend him from his detractors, and he is sacked from the Agency he had devoted his life to. In what must have been the bitterest of ironies for him, attacks on his own loyalty are among the charges that doom him. Buckley touches on all this only very lightly at the end of this short work, but the simple brushstrokes paint a poignant picture. Spytime is a very good book and I recommend it.
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Ms. Jane Adams is off the mark on Spytime-in fact, I'm not sure we read the same book. The novel's well-written-as we expect: this is Buckley, after all, good at everything but sex descriptions (he writes of a woman's "malleable vulva"! , memorable phrasing, but, gosh!); it's nicely paced, an absorbing fictional portrait. Angleton's obsession with Kim Philby is not, as Ms. Adams has it, "the engine that drives Spytime." Rather the book starts at the moment of undoing which marks the end of Angleton's career, and which comes because his superiors feel a need to sacrifice someone to the Church Committee. The Fifth Man is on Angleton's mind at that moment-he believes he knows who it is. We then get a flashback tour of Angleton's career in counter-espionage, an important reminder of the Soviets' use of disinformation and misinformation against the US, and of the moves and counter-moves of the Cold War. Angleton's belief in the identity of the Fifth Man was a surprise to me, and I think it will be to most readers.
What Buckley does in this book, as in its predecessor Redhunter, is to tell the story of a flawed hero in an extraordinary time. These are not adventure stories like Day of the Jackal or Red Storm Rising, or the Blackford Oakes novels, but they are adventure stories nonetheless: unusual novels of the real people who helped shape and guide our country's life during the most dangerous period in history. If some of the excitement seems gone from these tellings, it's only because we think we know how the story ended. This is not a great book, nor one of Buckley's best (my list includes Unmaking of a Mayor; Cruising Speed; Stained Glass; Airborne, etc.--books which broke new ground); but it's an important book, a chronicle of a time unlike any other in history, and a very satisfying read. The oddest thing about it, given its grave subject matter, is that it's also a fun, fast read-I read it in a day-that lingers in the mind afterward. The only thing I wished when I put it down was that there was an epilogue, to tell me what happened to the people afterward. My CD edition of the Britannica doesn't give the rest of the story-perhaps Buckley can put that into the paperback edition.
I highly recommend it.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
SPYTIME is a fictional story which covers such historical events as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of Mussolini and the capture of Che Guevara in Bolivia. Many of the book's characters are real. In spite of its title the novel is not a spy story in the traditional sense but is actually written more in the style of an expose of the inner workings of the CIA.
Jim Angleton remains in the background throughout much of the story while the bulk of the spy action is handled by his young protege, Tony Crespi, who is stationed in Beirut. Angleton's main obsession as Director of Counterintelligence is the search for the infamous Fifth Man who collaborated with Burgess, Maclean, Blunt and Philby.
SPYTIME is an intriguing book for anyone who is interested in the Cold War and the CIA. Buckley writes with some authority about these subjects. The novel's greatest weakness is its lack of suspense and the ending is also a bit of a dud.
Jim Angleton remains in the background throughout much of the story while the bulk of the spy action is handled by his young protege, Tony Crespi, who is stationed in Beirut. Angleton's main obsession as Director of Counterintelligence is the search for the infamous Fifth Man who collaborated with Burgess, Maclean, Blunt and Philby.
SPYTIME is an intriguing book for anyone who is interested in the Cold War and the CIA. Buckley writes with some authority about these subjects. The novel's greatest weakness is its lack of suspense and the ending is also a bit of a dud.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Spy Character study
James Jesus Angleton, former head of counterintelligence with the CIA, was quite an enigma. I recall two interviews with two former heads of the CIA. Read more
Published 4 months ago by mason scott osborne
A good solid novel of Cold War espionage
"Spytime" is a good solid novel of Cold War espionage, which deals mostly with the life of the famous James Jesus Angleton -- the CIA's long-time Chief of Counter-Intelligence. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Roger J. Buffington
Fine period piece, recreating the life of James J. Angleton
William F. Buckley's novels all intrigue me. This one is no different. His fictionalization of the life of CIA counterspy chief James Jesus Angleton recreates fateful times from... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Daniel Berger
Not as good as his usual
As a fan of WFB's fiction, a lover of LeCarre novels, and a true spy follower, I found this novel a disappointment. Read more
Published 18 months ago by mystery reader from schenectady
The Spy Who Was Forced Into The Cold
With a brilliant crafting of words and overview of the most famous - and infamous - individuals within the Cold War, William F. Buckley, Jr. Read more
Published on April 22, 2008 by Bicycle Day
Look Elsewhere
This fictional story about James Angleton is terribly boring, and doesn't make a good spy novel.
Published on February 20, 2008 by Posaune
Buckley at his best
For those who consider Wm Buckley as just the arch-conservative, this read is a must. This is one of the best renditions of the uncovering of the mole in US intelligence that has... Read more
Published on October 18, 2007 by William R. Patton
Erudite and Eloquent:The Way I Like It
For me the appeal of this book was twofold, the writing of William F. Buckley Jr (as I have previously enjoyed his spy fiction) and the subject of James Jesus Angleton (that I... Read more
Published on October 1, 2007 by Erika Blaire
Angleton {perhaps aka "Sasha"}: Lush, Dupe, and/or Mole?
Was James Jesus Angleton, in addition to being a "high bottom" lush, and Philby/Golitsyn dupe, also a Soviet Mole at the highest level of the Central Intelligence Agency, e.g. Read more
Published on June 14, 2007 by Michael A. KIRK-DUGGAN
The spoof that came in from the cold
I do not believe that William F. Buckley, Jr. wrote this book. He may have given an outline to someone and consulted on the background and the plot, but he would never have made... Read more
Published on January 2, 2007 by Michael J. Taylor
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
How is it I came by such a name, you might wonder? Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
covert agent Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Tony Crespi, Soviet Union, James Angleton, Hugo Esterhazy, Casa Nogales, New York, Kim Philby, Abdullah Saadah, Jim Angleton, Allen Dulles, Fort Meade, Gabriela Semenenko, Bay of Pigs, Fifth Man, American University, Foreign Service, Nicola Paone, United States, Chief of Counterintelligence, Melinda Carrothers, Sam Brewer, White House, Buffalo Bill, Colonel Valerio, James Jesus Angleton New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
How is it I came by such a name, you might wonder? Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
covert agent Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Tony Crespi, Soviet Union, James Angleton, Hugo Esterhazy, Casa Nogales, New York, Kim Philby, Abdullah Saadah, Jim Angleton, Allen Dulles, Fort Meade, Gabriela Semenenko, Bay of Pigs, Fifth Man, American University, Foreign Service, Nicola Paone, United States, Chief of Counterintelligence, Melinda Carrothers, Sam Brewer, White House, Buffalo Bill, Colonel Valerio, James Jesus Angleton New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 26
books:
See all 26 books this book cites
3
books
cite this book:
- My Silent War: The Autobiography of a Spy by Kim Philby in Front Matter, and page 286
- Wilderness of Mirrors by David C. Martin in Front Matter
- Vita Sackville-West: Selected Writings by Mary Ann Caws on page 46
- Sweet Bird of Youth - Acting Edition by Tennessee Williams on page 125
- Right Reason by William F. Buckley in Front Matter
See all 26 books this book cites
- TSOG: The Thing That Ate The Constitution by Robert Anton Wilson on page 37
- Getting It Right: A Novel by William F. Buckley in Front Matter
- The Fall of the Berlin Wall by William F Buckley Jr. in Front Matter
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