Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981-1987 [Paperback]

Bob Woodward (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2005

Veil is the story of the covert wars that were waged in Central America, Iran and Libya in a secretive atmosphere and became the centerpieces and eventual time bombs of American foreign policy in the 1980s.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Woodward's books on Watergate, the Supreme Court, and John Belushi were not so controversial as Veil. His deathbed visit to William Casey, former CIA head, has been disputed by Casey's wife. What Woodward knew about Casey's Iran-contra role was apparently withheld from Congress. All this smoke has drawn attention from the fire. Woodward's tale of attempted murders, payoffs to foreign leaders, covert contra aid, covert aid to Britain in the Falklands War, and anti-terrorist squads is formidable. He presents Casey's CIA as a dangerously illegal loose cannon on the deck of U.S. foreign policy. Richard B. Finnegan, Stonehill Coll., North Easton, Mass.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Woodward has established himself as the best reporter of our time. He may be the best reporter of all time."

-- Bob Schieffer,CBS News Face the Nation

"Bob Woodward, the master chronicler of Washington's deepest secrets, has produced an investigative record of the CIA's turbulent years under the late William Casey....Veil plows more new ground than a dozen tractors in Iowa."

-- U.S. News & World Report

"Veil lays bare, in a way that no reportage has done before, the power struggle between contending factions -- both inside and outside the CIA -- for control over the nation's foreign intelligence apparatus...."

-- The Washington Times

"To read Veil is to be astonished at the access Woodward achieved....The reader is invited to understand Casey. The author dared open himself to Casey's charm, to Casey's rationale...."

-- New York Daily News

"Fifteen years after he unraveled Watergate as little more than a policebeat reporter, Woodward has lost none of his edge as one of the finest journalistic investigators of our time....Woodward has succeeded brilliantly in cracking state secrets...."

-- Los Angeles Times Book Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (July 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743274032
• ISBN-13: 978-0743274036
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #98 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > True Accounts > Espionage

More About the Author

In the last 36 years, Woodward has authored or coauthored 15 books, all of which have been national non-fiction bestsellers. Eleven have been #1 national bestsellers -- more than any contemporary non-fiction author.

Photos, a Q&A, and additional materials are available at Woodward's website, www.bobwoodward.com

His most recent book, Obama's Wars, is being published by Simon & Schuster on September 27, 2010.

Since 1971 Bob Woodward has worked for The Washington Post, where he is currently an associate editor. He and Carl Bernstein were the main reporters on the Watergate scandal for which the Post won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Woodward was the lead reporter for the Post's articles on the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks that won the National Affairs Pulitzer Prize in 2002.

In 2004, Bob Schieffer of CBS News said, "Woodward has established himself as the best reporter of our time. He may be the best reporter of all time."

In a lengthy 2008 book review, Jill Abramson, the managing editor of The New York Times, said that Woodward's four books on President Bush "may be the best record we will ever get of the events they cover . . . . They stand as the fullest story yet of the Bush presidency and the war that is likely to be its most important legacy."

Woodward was born March 26, 1943 in Illinois. He graduated from Yale University in 1965 and served five years as a communications officer in the United States Navy before beginning his journalism career at the Montgomery County (Maryland) Sentinel, where he was a reporter for one year before joining the Post.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Superficial, but readable, September 18, 2002

By 

P. J Lambert "pjlambert" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA 1981-1987 (Hardcover)

Anyone interested in the Iran-Contra issue should have read this book. But the title, is a bit misleading. Woodward focuses too much on the Iran-Contra issue (and superficially at that) to the detriment of other CIA and DoD paramilitary/covert activities during the era of the 80s.
Furthermore, the way Woodward wove himself into the storyline would lead one to believe that he was a key character in the whole Casey-era saga. Fortunately, this is hardly the case.
Nevertheless, the book is a good review of the key players at the macro-level who were creating policy. Of note, the interaction between Goldwater and Casey is enlightening.
If you really want to get to the meat of CIA/DoD secret activities during this era, Steve Emerson's "Secret Warriors" will provide far more insight into the covert activities of the 80s.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Always An Interesting Author, April 13, 2002

By 

John G. Hilliard (Toronto Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA 1981-1987 (Hardcover)

I am a big fair of Woodward, so much so that I would even consider reading his shopping list. With that said I will give him a little slack on the Casey deathbed revelations. I think if the author would have know the level of scorn he has received concerning the "Casey confession" he may have used a tape recorder.

Overall this book gives the reader some very interesting stories about the Regan years and his use of the CIA. The reader of any book covering a review of a set of government policies that had a very firm stamp of approval or even the direction of the President will always fall on side or another on if the book is a truthful and "shocking" exposé or a "political bias hatchet job". I think that is one of the fun things about this book, no matter what side of the argument you are on; you will experience some emotion while reading this book. If you are also very interested in this subject it is interesting to go back into time and read his review and then compare it to some of the new facts on the subject.

Overall, this is another Woodward book, well written and constructed, very detailed and full of a lot of conversations that make you feel that you are involved, not just page after page of monotone lecturing. I wish he spent a little more time on footnotes so that the reader could be a better judge to the research he puts into the book and the sources used. If you like Woodward, you will love this book. If you have leanings to the left then you will have a lot of "you see" stories to tell, and if you are a strong Reaganite then you will be happy with the strong effort described in the book to defeat the USSR.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Veil...dive into the secret world of William Casey's CIA, May 30, 2007

By 

Iain Gallacher (Nagoya, Japan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981-1987 (Paperback)

This is an excellent read where Bob Woodward with his astonishing access to sources deep inside the White House and CIA reveals the secret wars conducted by the CIA led by William Casey (1981-1987) during the Regan years. From Nicaragua to Afghanistan to the Iran-contra scandal Casey was involved in and controlled it all. The repercussions of his feverishly misguided policies and the secrets he kept from the U.S. Congress would have drastic effects on future generations of Americans and the world. One of Woodward's best!