Legacy of Ashes

English language

Published June 28, 2007 by Doubleday.

No rating (1 review)

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA is a 2007 book by Tim Weiner. Legacy of Ashes is a detailed history of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from its creation after World War II, through the Cold War years and the War on Terror. The book is based on more than 50,000 documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA, and hundreds of interviews with CIA veterans, including ten Directors of Central Intelligence. Legacy of Ashes won the 2007 National Book Award for Nonfiction.In a press release coinciding with the book's release, the CIA claimed: "With a strong range of sources, Tim Weiner had an opportunity to write a balanced history of a complex, important subject. But he did not. His bias overwhelms his scholarship. One cannot learn the true story of the CIA from Legacy of Ashes." However, The New York Times reviewed it positively, calling it "engrossing" …

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA is a 2007 book by Tim Weiner. Legacy of Ashes is a detailed history of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from its creation after World War II, through the Cold War years and the War on Terror. The book is based on more than 50,000 documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA, and hundreds of interviews with CIA veterans, including ten Directors of Central Intelligence. Legacy of Ashes won the 2007 National Book Award for Nonfiction.In a press release coinciding with the book's release, the CIA claimed: "With a strong range of sources, Tim Weiner had an opportunity to write a balanced history of a complex, important subject. But he did not. His bias overwhelms his scholarship. One cannot learn the true story of the CIA from Legacy of Ashes." However, The New York Times reviewed it positively, calling it "engrossing" and "comprehensive".

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technicat@bookwyrm.social reviewed Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner

This should be titled America Owes the World an Apology, or The Kennedys Don't Look Great Here Either

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I sort of knew this stuff about the CIA but not how much, like I knew about the coups and election interference (so, karma) but not how pervasive it was and just how many politicians around the world were in their pocket. If there's a real surprise, it's the consistent incompetence - according to this book, even their role in overthrowing a democratically elected government in Iran that backfired to the situation today was negligible, the coup that actually took place instead of the ineffectual one they sponsored was a surprise to the CIA. So you could say E for effect and evil, but the US is unfairly blamed for that one, but there's plenty of other stuff up until the stuff fresher in our memory like Saddam's non-existent weapons of mass destruction and we are now a nation that officially tortures. That's where the book stops since it was …

I sort of knew this stuff about the CIA but not how much, like I knew about the coups and election interference (so, karma) but not how pervasive it was and just how many politicians around the world were in their pocket. If there's a real surprise, it's the consistent incompetence - according to this book, even their role in overthrowing a democratically elected government in Iran that backfired to the situation today was negligible, the coup that actually took place instead of the ineffectual one they sponsored was a surprise to the CIA. So you could say E for effect and evil, but the US is unfairly blamed for that one, but there's plenty of other stuff up until the stuff fresher in our memory like Saddam's non-existent weapons of mass destruction and we are now a nation that officially tortures. That's where the book stops since it was published in 2008, but that's plenty - I read a chapter a day but just finished before my final library renewal expired.

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