Legacy of Ashes

The History of the CIA

By: Tim Weiner

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

National Book Award Winner, Nonfiction, 2007

This is the book the CIA does not want you to read. For the last 60 years, the CIA has maintained a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, never disclosing its blunders to the American public. It spun its own truth to the nation while reality lay buried in classified archives. Now, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Tim Weiner offers a stunning indictment of the CIA, a deeply flawed organization that has never deserved America's confidence.

Legacy of Ashes is based on more than 50,000 documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA. Everything is on the record. There are no anonymous sources, no blind quotations. With shocking revelations that will make headlines, Tim Weiner gets at the truth and tells us how the CIA's failures have profoundly jeopardized our national security.

©2007 Tim Weiner (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"Absorbing...a credible and damning indictment of American intelligence policy." ( Publishers Weekly)
"A timely, immensely readable, and highly critical history of the CIA, culminating with the most recent catastrophic failures in Iraq." (Mark Bowden, author of Blackhawk Down)

Ashes to Ashes

From the authors point of view the CIA has done little succesfully over the last 60 years. It felt like the author began with a bias for which facts were sought. I am sure there were successes, perhaps they were more secret. I would have enjoyed a book which was a bit more balanced. It is the nature of a book like this to not know enough. It made me wonder if the KGB etc, while built up by the author as being subtantially more succesful were more inept than the CIA? It is the nature of a book like this that you are left wondering what is missing from the tale.

Very intresting however a little slanted

I highly recommend anyone to read this book. While it is long and admittedly I stopped listening to it for a long time, it has opened my eyes and explained in detail many historic events. While I won't give anything away in the book, I am quite honestly surprised the CIA didn't start us a war with a few nations due to failed or exposed CIA missions. But who knows, they could have and it could still be classified.

I will say that the author seems to be slanted in his views. He seems to pull out and explain many many failed missions he doesn't go into as much detail in the missions that were a success. Successful missions he lists and explains seem less than what you can count on two hands. I find it hard to believe the CIA has been that ineffective. CIA is no James Bond but if they were truly that unsuccessful then they would have been abolished long ago.

Wendy

I finished this book about a month ago, but because of its truly shocking and depressing disclosures, I have been thinking and talking about it ever since. While I would have like the author to have spent more time discussing the CIA's involvement in Latin America, the section of the book that revealed the CIA's involvement in the Middle East, past and present, was quite literally jaw dropping.

History book

I am not much of a history buff, and I got about an hour into this book and was very bored. Though I'm sure it is a good book for those that enjoy history, I have other things I can listen too that will hold my attention better.

history you should know

every citizen should read this book.
first, it contains a lot of new information from recently declassified documents.
second, along with Bamford's The Puzzle Palace, it tells you where your taxes are going. and it often isn't pretty.

Out of the ashes

This is a marvelous book, well written, well narrated and one that contains a remarkable look at those pushes and pulls behind foreign policy. It is interesting to note that even as recently as last year discussion of some of the 'capers' recounted in the book would have been a prosecutable Federal offense.

It's Hard to Focus on This Book

I thought this was a good book. Many interesting things are discussed in the book and many of the things I learned from this book, gave me some interesting perspectives and thoughts on management. The problem I had with this book was that I found myself continuously distracted and unable to focus. I think it's the narrator. He's okay, but a little monotone and it takes a little bit off the experience.

a thorough and honest exploration of the CIA

I found this book to be very well written and thorough. after reading it, feel a greater understanding for the challenge the CIA faces in any task it embarks on.

I read this book prior to the US 2016 election. I'm frightened to listen again, but the book is more relevant than ever.

a thank you to the author for compiling such a great read.

Outstanding

I must admit I approached this book with more than a bit of skepticism. That caution was reinforced by the amazingly gentle tone the author took with Jimmy Carter. The book, though depressing, was a fascinating and mandatory read for anyone interested in recent American history. I read Tenet’s book (At the Center of the Storm) immediately before starting this one. Weiner did an outstanding job filling in the obviously missing pieces of the former and saying the things Tenet chose not to. I can strongly recommend reading both pieces, but make sure you put Tenet first. I agree with other reviewers that Legacy of Ashes is a haunting work that follows you around for weeks after completion. As an academician I was particularly indicted by the repeated mantra of the impossibility of finding qualified recruits for the CIA. That is not a failing of CIA recruiters but of those of us who are supposed to be mentoring the next generation of “Great Americans” that these folks end up hiring. In the same vein, the inability of the CIA to synthesize complex and disparate data sets into a coherent picture of what is happening struck a chord which most scientists will appreciate. The issue of “drowning in data” is not a problem confined to intelligence services and I took more than one instructive cue from the quotes Weiner uses on the topic. Where Tenet’s book was mostly about management practices, Weiner seems to focus more on basic human foibles. Weiner names names where Tenet demurs. Never dull. Always deadly accurate, and amazingly lowfat in political commentary. I came away convinced that the author genuinely believes in the mission of the CIA, but like many, is ultimately disappointed that the agency was unable to effectively reach those goals during its first 60 years of existence. Let’s pray the next 60 are different.

Not the CIA you see in movies

Amazing how much of our global issues were caused by CIA mistskes. Anyone who thinks the Agency is a shadow government that runs the world will be seriously dissapointed.