Has anyone read Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA?

[im10ashus]

By Steve Coll of The Washington Post?

[H2O Man]

1. Not yet.

Have/are you? What do you think of it?

[im10ashus]

2. I haven't.

I am looking at books on Barnes and Noble's website and saw it again. I am thinking I may want to just get it from the library first and see if I like it.

Check out what other people are saying in their reviews:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?userid=ik3XL3rCaI&cds2Pid=3335&isbn=0143034669

It definitely looks worth the read.

[im10ashus]

10. You can read a first chapter excerpt on the NPBL webstie.

http://leopac1.nypl.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1Y3KE47116125.44855&profile=dial--3&uri=full%3D1100001%7E%212006342%7E%212&ri=3&term=Ghost+Wars&index=GW&uindex=&aspect=basic&menu=search&ri=3&view=FIRST_CHAPTER&aspect=basic&menu=search&source=~!dial&enhancedcontentdata=true%0A%09%09#focus


Let me know if the link doesn't work.

Edit:

The link won't take you directly there. Just type in "Ghost Wars" in the search box and when you choose "read excerpt" on the left side of the page.

[H2O Man]

12. Thanks.

I going to be going to a good bookstore in the next week. Long overdue.

[Junkdrawer]

3. Not to be confused with Joseph J. Trento's "The Secret History of the CIA"

Citing legitimate governments ruined and thousands of lives lost, investigative reporter Trento (Widows) views the CIA as stunningly incompetent. He blames the agency's culture of arrogance for the waste of superior intellects and hundreds of millions of dollars. Trento vividly re-creates the day-to-day lives of key CIA agents during defining post-WWII events: the Cuban missile crisis; JFK's assassination; Vietnam; the overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile; and Cold War espionage in the U.S. and Soviet Union. In Chile, for instance, the Nixon administration arranged a military coup to head off the Socialist Allende's presidency and abetted the assassination of the Chilean army's chief of staff, General Ren‚ Schneider, who wouldn't help "oust a democratically elected leader." Based on U.S. and Soviet records and reports and on hundreds of interviews with former CIA men and their families, the firsthand stories of moles, secret operations, assassination attempts and triple agents are equal to John le Carr‚'s best. But Trento's provocative conclusions that Lee Harvey Oswald worked for the KGB and that Averell Harriman was probably a Communist sympathizer suffer from the poor credibility of his sources; his CIA has few heroes, many alcoholics, womanizers, deceitful bureaucratic infighters, outright liars and worse. Trento's prose sometimes reads like boilerplate spy thriller (peopled by "brilliant," "cunning" men and "beautiful and ambitious" women), but generally he does a good story justice, and he has ample opportunity here. (Oct.)Forecast: Recently released Cold War security documents are spawning numerous intelligence expos‚s, and Trento's salable blend of gravitas and sensation will attract a wide readership.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786715006/qid=1136646071/sr=8-2/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-1137079-9801513?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

[im10ashus]

4. That's another one.

I need to read it as well.

[H2O Man]

5. It's a great book.

I strongly recommend it.

[im10ashus]

6. Done.

I love when people give me gift cards for books. It's like being a kid in a candy store for me. Cheers!

:toast:

[hippiechick]

7. Just requested them both from the Library ..

... that oughta get me on a list or two .... ;)

[im10ashus]

8. LOL.

So did I. I'll see you in Gitmo. :hi:

[im10ashus]

9. Oh wow!

You live in Indy! I grew up there. :toast:

[hippiechick]

13. How and when did you escape ?

I moved here from WI about 5 years ago, and it keeps turning deeper and deeper into Jesusland ...

:scared:

[im10ashus]

14. Bless your heart.

I am sure WI seems like CA compared to IN. Yes, there's a reason they call it the Bible Belt.

I finally left Indy for what I hope to be forever in 1994 and moved to Chicago. Although, I was in the military from 1985-1990. I lived in Chicago until 2004 and then moved to Manhattan, where I am now. I still have nightmares that I live there or have suddenly moved back. Frightening indeed.

[adriennui]

11. i read it last summer

it's very hard to forget. brilliantly written and researched...it read like a thriller.

it left me feeling depressed.