The Ghost

The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton

By: Jefferson Morley

Narrated by: John Pruden

From World War II to the Cold War, Angleton operated beyond the view of the public, Congress, and even the president. He unwittingly shared intelligence secrets with Soviet spy Kim Philby, a member of the notorious Cambridge spy ring. He launched mass surveillance by opening the mail of hundreds of thousands of Americans. He abetted a scheme to aid Israel's own nuclear efforts, disregarding US security. He committed perjury and obstructed the JFK assassination investigation. He oversaw a massive spying operation on the antiwar and black nationalist movements and he initiated an obsessive search for communist moles that nearly destroyed the Agency.

In The Ghost, investigative reporter Jefferson Morley tells Angleton's dramatic story, from his friendship with the poet Ezra Pound through the underground gay milieu of mid-century Washington to the Kennedy assassination to the Watergate scandal. From the agency's MKULTRA mind-control experiments to the wars of the Mideast, Angleton wielded far more power than anyone knew. Yet, during his seemingly lawless reign in the CIA, he also proved himself to be a formidable adversary to our nation's enemies, acquiring a mythic stature within the CIA that continues to this day.

©2017 Jefferson Morley (P)2017 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Shining light on an American enigma

What did you like best about this story?

Well written and presented. There's lots of conspiracy fodder here, but presented in a clear-headed way. Jefferson Morley fleshes out one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of spycraft, and lays out how James Angleton infected a nation with his virulent form of Cold War paranoia.

Things I did not know

intrigues smoke and mirrors, half truths, and omissions. It was bad then but now just bad faster.

great story. if you are a history buff and always looking for the story behind the story this is for you

but wait there's more

How much damage can one Bureaucrat Spy commit?

Pretty interesting book that opens the door to the inner workings of the CIA. It took me a while to get into it but James Angleton had his fingers in EVERYTHING and book became more and more compelling One can't help but wonders what secrets he sheltered on Lee Harvey Oswald....

Writing

Intriguing and well written account of the people who were involved in or at least knew why JKK was assassinated

if anyone ever tries to lecture you on how audiobooks are less valuable than physical books, point them to this

because if you’re like me and had any sort of interest in or knowledge of angleton’s machinations, you’ve almost certainly gone that entire period believing that angleton’s middle name is pronounced very differently than how it was apparently actually pronounced and while the book explains that it’s far less fun, and funny, than having it hit your ear wrong the first time you hear it and then having it revealed that oh no actually YOU are the doofus

oh yeah the rest of the book is great too, between this and his book about helms/nixon, morley’s quickly become one of my favorite chroniclers of the era and its monsters