A Very Thin Line: The Iran-Contra Affairs [Paperback]

Theodore Draper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1992

Despite the publicity given to the Iran-Contra Affair, most of the story has never been told--until now. This fully documented, often bizarre tale of sheer incompetence and conspiratorial malfeasance affords insights into how the government actually works for.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Draper includes congressional testimony, private depositions and a new afterword in this authoritative account of how a handful of officials took over U.S. foreign policy. This was a History Book Club alternate in cloth.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Veteran writer Draper has reconstructed from the voluminous documentary records the Washington connection that linked the arms sales to Khomeini's Iran with the support of the anti-Sandinista forces in Nicaragua. With keen analytical insight, he seeks out "a very thin line" that "separates" the legitimate from the illegitimate exercise of power in our government" and portrays these tangled events as "symptomatic of a far deeper disorder in the American body politic," a disorder based on the assumption of "a president almighty in foreign policy." While Stephen Kinzer's Blood of Brothers ( LJ 3/15/91) and Joseph P. Persico's The Lives and Secrets of William J. Casey: from the OSS to the CIA ( LJ 10/1/90) cover specific aspects of these events, Draper's work will stand as the definitive source on the constitutional consequences of the Iran-Contra affairs for decades to come. Highly recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/91.
- James Rhodes, Luther Coll., Decorah, Ia.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone (June 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671778145
• ISBN-13: 978-0671778149
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.8 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #933,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific book, August 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Very Thin Line: The Iran-Contra Affairs (Paperback)

I read this book in college and gave my copy to my history prof when I left school. If I had known how difficult it would be to try and get another copy, I might not have left it. (just kidding Proffessor Gill) This is perhaps the best book I have read since Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich as far as bringing a dense and complicated seiries of events together in an easily understandable, fascinating read. I followed the Iran-Contra "affair" very closely as it happened, and read many books on it before this; but only after reading this book did I feel as if I actually understood what went on. A keeper for anyone's non-fiction library.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is How Government Works, May 10, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: A Very Thin Line: The Iran-Contra Affairs (Hardcover)

"A Very Thin Line" tells the bizarre story of a cabal of White House ideologues who hijacked foreign policy from the State Department and the Pentagon. The results were disastrous: terrorists were empowered and America's global image was left in tatters. It might sound like the book is about the Bush Administration and Iraq -- but it is actually about the Reagan Administration and Iran/Contra. Plumbing the documentary record compiled by Congressional investigators and federal prosecutors, Draper recreates this sordid and hilarious episode from the 1980s in painstaking detail. His book is smart and readable. Anyone who was surprised by the intelligence and policy failures in Iraq should read "A Very Thin Line" for a reminder of how Washington really works. (I'm a State Department official.)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent chronology of a complicated affair, June 20, 2006

By 

JoeV "Reader" (Arlington Hts, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Very Thin Line: The Iran-Contra Affairs (Paperback)

In a nutshell the author has reviewed the voluminous data, (transcripts, interviews, personal logs and diaries, etc.) and has written a coherent and engaging book documenting an extremely convoluted and complicated foreign policy initiative, (actually several initiatives) during the Reagan presidency. Aid to the contras, weapons sold to Iran and the diversion of funds from those weapons sales are tracked from inception to implementation to the exposure of these "affairs". This includes all the high hopes and noble causes, the "zeal" of the Americans involved, the greed and corruption of the middlemen used for the transactions, and at times the sheer incompetence which led to the inevitable exposure of what was really happening behind the scenes. This last item being the crux of the book - the hijacking of US foreign policy in the Middle East and Central America by a handful of men, (at times overworked, completely over their heads and out of their league), outside of any purview, oversight or review by the White House, Cabinet or Congress. As for who knew what and when, from President Reagan on down, the author also does a very good job documenting this time line and each of the major players involved. (As an aside, Sec. of State Schultz's involvement, or really conscious lack thereof, was an eye opener for me.) As for the timeliness of re-visiting this affair 20 years later and any lessons to be learned, if any, .... All I know is I found this book both fascinating and a little scary.