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Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (Paperback)

by Tim Weiner (Author)

3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Paperback: 848 pages
Publisher: Anchor; Reprint edition (May 20 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307389006
ISBN-13: 978-0307389008
Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13.2 x 4.3 cm
Shipping Weight: 772 g

Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Amazon.ca Sales Rank: #35,247 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Popular in these categories:

#6 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Political Science > Levels of Government > Intelligence Agencies
#19 in	Books > History > Americas > United States > 20th Century > 1945 - Present
#19 in	Books > History > United States > 20th Century > 1945 - Present

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Is the Central Intelligence Agency a bulwark of freedom against dangerous foes, or a malevolent conspiracy to spread American imperialism? A little of both, according to this absorbing study, but, the author concludes, it is mainly a reservoir of incompetence and delusions that serves no one's interests well. Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times correspondent Weiner musters extensive archival research and interviews with top-ranking insiders, including former CIA chiefs Richard Helms and Stansfield Turner, to present the agency's saga as an exercise in trying to change the world without bothering to understand it. Hypnotized by covert action and pressured by presidents, the CIA, he claims, wasted its resources fomenting coups, assassinations and insurgencies, rigging foreign elections and bribing political leaders, while its rare successes inspired fiascoes like the Bay of Pigs and the Iran-Contra affair. Meanwhile, Weiner contends, its proper function of gathering accurate intelligence languished. With its operations easily penetrated by enemy spies, the CIA was blind to events in adversarial countries like Russia, Cuba and Iraq and tragically wrong about the crucial developments under its purview, from the Iranian revolution and the fall of communism to the absence of Iraqi WMDs. Many of the misadventures Weiner covers, at times sketchily, are familiar, but his comprehensive survey brings out the persistent problems that plague the agency. The result is a credible and damning indictment of American intelligence policy. (Aug. 7)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From AudioFile

Jimmy Carter was appalled when he was told of some of the creepy heads of state that the CIA was paying to stay in power. Even more appalling actions and incompetence come to light in Weiners history of the agency. Narrator Stefan Rudnickis attention to the many quotes enhances the text. He has the judgment to leave his voice unchanged for a quote if the source is clear or to modify his speech in such a tiny way, maybe with a word or two of accent, as to micro-impersonate without converting himself into a character. The plethora of foreign words, places, and names gives Rudnicki no pause, and his comfort with many languages strengthens the continuity of the production. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Pessimistic Burial Oration for American Intelligence and Covert Operations Run by the CIA, Aug 7 2007

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (Hardcover)

In the James Bond movies, James Bond saves the world virtually single-handedly. He often gets high-tech gear from Q and military backup coordinated by the CIA after the agents follow him until Bond locates the bad guys. Based on Legacy of Ashes, those movies are closer to the truth than I had thought.

In Mr. Weiner's extensive look at recently declassified documents, the CIA has always been the gang that couldn't shoot straight when it came to covert operations. To make up for that, the agency has apparently been quite good at keeping secret its bungles and shameful episodes . . . and proclaiming victory in public. The main problem has been that this gang has usually been pursuing its own agendas, disconnected from American policy and political oversight. And the agency liked covert operations so much that it rarely took intelligence gathering seriously.

The blame isn't only the agency's; there's plenty of blame to go around. Presidents in particular were addicted to the idea of quickly supplying covert efforts when something was happening that they didn't like. When that urge came over them, the CIA was called in.

You probably know some of the story, just from reading the newspapers and watching television (such as when Aldrich Ames was arrested, the missing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and the lack of coordination over paying attention to evidence of the impending 9/11 attack).

What shocked me (and I don't shock easily) was how many thousands of people were sacrificed or harmed in programs that never worked. For instance, the CIA believed for decades that it could send dissidents back to their home countries and set up resistance efforts (as the OSS had done in France during World War II). Essentially everyone who was sent back for this purpose to many countries was quickly found and executed. While there is a wall at CIA headquarters for those who died in the line of duty, these sacrificed agents were largely ignored so that someone could have the stupid idea to do it all over again.

So where are we now in gathering intelligence? We don't have much of an idea of what's going on anywhere except where we buy information from other intelligence services or after we invade the country. That's not good enough in a world where nuclear proliferation is real and loose nukes are a real risk.

And where are we in covert action? We are probably still bribing any politician or military leader who wants our money. We coordinate and run lots of offshore prisons where we and those we hire can torture people who might be terrorists to their heart's content.

It's a discouraging picture. And one that's not likely to be changed any time soon.

I didn't grade the book higher because Mr. Weiner seemed to be skimming the surface in many cases, failing to get into the nuances of why things happened. I compared, for example, his account of Jack and Bobby Kennedy in working with the CIA to what is described in the book, Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years by David Talbot. Legacy of Ashes comes across as oversimplified and incomplete by comparison to the Brothers book. For instance, there's no hint of the CIA's possible involvement in the two Kennedy assassinations in Legacy of Ashes.

The book would also have been improved by exploring the organizational theory reasons why the CIA has had problems. You can't change an organization's leadership and charter as often as has happened with the CIA and not make a mess. Combine that with the need to hold many secrets and it's likely that institutional reform will lag behind the rate by which new problems can develop.

I also think this would have been a better book if it had contained the context of how well those who have had good intelligence (such as the old Soviet Union) used what they knew. In the case of Stalin, the intelligence coups didn't do much good because he didn't trust the information or want to act on it . . . except for stealing technological secrets.

What should the United States do now?

It may be a good idea to continue with the current administration's preference for private contractors to gather and interpret intelligence. Then, the role of the CIA could become evaluating the effectiveness of such contractors and foreign intelligence service offerings. That's probably a role it could do reasonably well . . . at least until we have a new president who will inevitably go off in a whole new direction.

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1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A confusing book that was not what I expected, Dec 15 2008

By	Winston "Iran Blogger/Activist" (Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Well, I did not know much about the CIA and this book did not provide me any thing beyond what I already knew. I knew CIA was dysfunctional and inefficient. I knew CIA was full of liberal driven morons who take themselves seriously and probably don't care much about the interests of the country they serve (Check the recent Iran's NIE report for example). I also knew CIA's ability and power was exaggerated in the media and hollywood. What got me interested in this book was Tim Weiner's interview with Hugh Hewitt on KRLA radio show. I was mistaken and now am disappointed at this book. First, this book started very boring and when the author got to Iran, he lost me. For several reasons including the factual errors with respect to the 1953 incident. His interpretation of the Mossadegh related events is of a liberal/leftist (Stephen Kinzer like) analogy and agenda. He lost me right there and I abandoned the book for a while. I didn't want to read a book that is biased and not factual. But I got back to it solely because I didnt want to leave a book unfinished. The book got better once it was past the Cuban and Vietnam era 50s and 60s but still it is a disappointment. Once, Tim Weiner claims that Iranian coup of 1953 was the single biggest success of CIA yet he keeps mentioning the countries where CIA had successful endeavors too like Italy, Haiti, Dominican rep... . The author is basically confused. For CIA's official reviews of this book you should check CIA's website. It's devastating and that review also helped me get some info right.

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