Inside the CIA: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Most Powerful Spy Agency: Kessler, Ronald: 9780671734589: Amazon.com: Books

Buy used: $16.38

Delivery Thursday, October 20. Order within 1 hr 59 mins

Or fastest delivery Tuesday, October 18

Deliver to Canada

Used: Good | Details

Sold by BinkStore

Fulfilled by Amazon

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Share <Embed>

Have one to sell?

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

Follow the Author

Inside the CIA: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Most Powerful Spy Agency Mass Market Paperback – February 1, 1994

by Ronald Kessler (Author)

124 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

"Please retry"

—

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

"Please retry"

$196.83

$29.50

Mass Market Paperback

"Please retry"

$16.38

—

$4.75

MP3 CD, MP3 Audio

"Please retry"

$16.21

$8.48

Employs material taken from extensive research and hundreds of interviews to trace the CIA's evolution over the last fifteen years, describing its failures and successes. Reprint.

Print length

358 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Pocket Books
Publication date

February 1, 1994
Dimensions

4.19 x 0.9 x 6.75 inches
ISBN-10

067173458X
ISBN-13

978-0671734589
See all details

Allen Dulles
217
Paperback
$18.95
$9.33 shipping
Ronald Kessler
52
Paperback
$19.39
Get it as soon as Thursday, Oct 20
$9.28 shipping
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Ted Shackley
52
Paperback
$19.95
$9.38 shipping
Ted Gup
423
Paperback
$17.95
$9.22 shipping
Steve Coll
1,376
Paperback
$12.99
$9.83 shipping
Ric Prado
1,562
Hardcover
$14.99
$9.75 shipping

James M. Olson
206
Paperback
$19.95
$9.33 shipping
Allen Dulles
217
Paperback
$18.95
$9.33 shipping
Milton Bearden
286
Mass Market Paperback
$8.99
$8.79 shipping
Only 12 left in stock (more on the way).
Ted Shackley
52
Paperback
$19.95
$9.38 shipping
Ted Gup
423
Paperback
$17.95
$9.22 shipping
Gary Schroen
318
Paperback
$18.00
$9.28 shipping
Only 13 left in stock (more on the way).

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pocket Books; Reissue edition (February 1, 1994)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 358 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 067173458X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0671734589
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.19 x 0.9 x 6.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #149,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #110 in Espionage True Accounts
- #240 in Intelligence & Espionage History
- #273 in Political Intelligence

Customer Reviews:
124 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Ronald Kessler

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Ronald Kessler is the New York Times bestselling author of 21 non-fiction books about the White House, Secret Service, FBI, and CIA.

Kessler began his career as a journalist in 1964 on the Worcester Telegram, followed by three years as an investigative reporter and editorial writer with the Boston Herald. In 1968, he joined the Wall Street Journal as an investigative reporter in the New York bureau. He became an investigative reporter with the Washington Post in 1970 and continued in that position until 1985.

Kessler has won eighteen journalism awards, including two George Polk awards--for national reporting and for community service. Kessler has also won the American Political Science Association's Public Affairs Reporting Award, the Associated Press' Sevellon Brown Memorial Award, and Washingtonian magazine's Washingtonian of the Year award. Franklin Pierce University awarded him the Marlin Fitzwater Medallion for excellence as a prolific author, journalist, and communicator. He is listed in Who's Who in America.

"Ron Kessler...has enjoyed a reputation for solid reporting over the past four decades."--Lloyd Grove, The Daily Beast. "Kessler's such a skilled storyteller, you almost forget this is dead-serious nonfiction..."--Newsweek. "[Ronald Kessler] is the man who broke the story about the [Secret Service prostitution] episode in Cartagena...."--New York Times. "His [Kessler's] book quotes both flattering and unflattering observations about presidents of both parties."--FactCheck.org. "[Kessler has] done groundbreaking work over the years, [resulting in] major scoops."--Michael Isikoff, Chief Investigative Correspondent, Yahoo! News. "[Ronald Kessler] is one of the nation's top investigative journalists."--Fox & Friends. "Ron Kessler appears to get everything first."--Slate.

Ron Kessler lives with his wife Pamela Kessler in the Washington, D.C. area. Also an author and former Washington Post reporter, Pam Kessler wrote "Undercover Washington: Where Famous Spies Lived, Worked and Loved." His daughter Rachel Kessler, an independent public relations consultant, and son Greg Kessler, an artist, live in New York.

Kessler's website is RonaldKessler.com.

Customer reviews

5 star		59%
4 star		20%
3 star		14%
2 star		4%
1 star		3%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2022

Verified Purchase

Well written but old information. It reveals nothing that news articles tell. And nothing more recent. The requirements for writing a review suck

Great Overview, but Outdated

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2022

Verified Purchase

This is a fantastic overview of the Directorates as they stood at the end of the cold war. There have been a lot of changes to the Agency since, but this remains a very good primer on the Agency, its history, and its directives.

Ana Maria Rivera Casco

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2022

Verified Purchase

Welcome to class. A quick introduction to how the CIA worked back in the 80's and 90's.
Pretty sure a lot of information did not make it into the book but still pretty informative.

Revealing... In a Very Limited Fashion

Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2009

Verified Purchase

The author received the cooperation of the CIA in the writing of this book. As you can imagine, I think that both helped and hindered him.

How it helped: We get a nice look at a day in the life of the Director. We get a clear explanation of how the CIA functions as an organization. We get an idea of how the different branches within the CIA feel about each other and the rivalries they nurse. We get an interesting look into the mindset of the officers, today and yesterday. We get an interesting look at how the personality of an individual Director affects the way the organization does business.

How it hurt: The CIA is presented the way the CIA wants to be seen. It comes across as little more than a big 'ol benevolent think tank with daring aspirations of bureaucratic inertia. It is strongly implied that the most nefarious activities they engage in during this modern era are fishing the fecal matter of foreign dignitaries out of hotel room toilets and recruiting OTHER people to spy. While I don't doubt things like this make up the bulk of the daily grind for Operations Officers, I also had the strong feeling the job descriptions of the Operations Directorate were... neutered.

If you're expecting an officially sanctioned expose, this is NOT it. If you're looking to understand the culture of the CIA and how it functions as an organization to do what it does (whatever that is) this book offers a tantalizing look, but you have the feeling you're only seeing the tip of the iceberg.

9 people found this helpful

An excellent insider's guide to the CIA

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2018

Verified Purchase

If you've ever wondered what really goes on in the halls of Langley, check out Ronald Kessler's fantastic book. Kessler has gone in depth, interviewing key figures inside each of the CIA's directorates and goes into much of the agency's history, both good and bad. This is a fantastic resource for any novelist (like me) who wants a better understanding of the CIA, operations, and intelligence gathering.

This book was suggested to me by a former operations office in the CIA as the single best source of info on the Agency available to a civilian and he was right. I'm glad I picked this up. It's a slow read, but worth the time and effort. I have a much better understanding and appreciation for what intelligence experts go through. If you are a fan of the CIA, or just want to know how America collects intelligence to protect the country, pick this book up!

One person found this helpful

Clearly an FBI expert

Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2005

Verified Purchase

Overall, being the first book I've read on the CIA, I would say I learned a little bit from this book. It goes a long way to humanize the CIA, but at the same time criticizes them severely. Very little meat to this book, though. I'm sure that any other book about the CIA could give you just as much or even more information about the CIA's structure.

Kessler clearly has a bias in favor of the FBI. The only parts of this book that seem to go into extensive detail are those about the former FBI director, Webster's administration. Kessler goes into extensive details about Webster and his assistants, but unfortunately, he jumps around so much I'm often not sure if he is talking about Webster at the FBI, Webster at the CIA, or both. Overall, I'm led to the impression that Webster was so favorably treated by this book (and not denigrated like the other directors) simply because he was a former FBI Director. Also, I'm really glad to read that Webster was given a stuffed FBI bear upon leaving the FBI in a book supposedly about the CIA.

All the same, the book does definitely have some good parts, but it gets very repetitive at times especially when bringing up the mistakes of the CIA. It seems that Kessler had so very little factual information on the CIA that in order to write a full book about it, he had to include 80+ pages about the FBI and 50-60 pages of pure repetition.

Still, it's not so terrible that I will throw it away or anything, but I'm really trying hard not to buy another book of Kessler's; I don't want to contribute any more money at all to his retirement.

4 people found this helpful

An Intriguing Read

Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2011

Verified Purchase

I've thoroughly enjoyed this glimpse into the inner workings of the world's most powerful spy agency. Kessler does a very nice job outlining the multiple Directorates within the CIA while offering interesting anecdotes and tidbits about various past players within each Directorate. I especially enjoyed the different profiles of past CIA directors. The author consulted both with retired employees and people who are still employed with the United States government today. A good example is Robert Gates, recent Secretary of Defense and past director of the CIA. Kessler's writing covers both criticism and accolades, giving this book a well-rounded feel. Having never read much concerning the CIA, I cannot offer a perspective on whether this book agrees with other works on the agency. As a stand alone read I found it to be informative and thought provoking. For someone who has no idea how the CIA works this is a nice place to start.

2 people found this helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

M. T. Stefanyszyn

The true story.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 22, 2013

Verified Purchase

All the way from the states for such an unbelievable price. Haven't finished yet but some amazing facts uncovered.
Great value.

Colin J DIckson

Good book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 9, 2013

Verified Purchase

I was curious to see what inside stories there were as I already own one on the FBI. It is still early days to evaluate the book.

LinuxTest

CIA

Reviewed in Germany on February 15, 2016

Verified Purchase

Eines der besten Bücher über den US Geheimdienst CIA, fesselnd geschrieben, es gibt nur sehr wenige Autoren welche in der Lage sind gute Bücher über Geheimdienste zu schreiben Kessler ist einer davon

Translate review to English

See all reviews

Get to Know Us

Make Money with Us

Amazon Payment Products

Let Us Help You

English $USD - U.S. Dollar United States

© 1996-2022, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates