'.About the Book For the last 60 years, the CIA has managed to maintain a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record.

It takes the CIA from its creation after World War II, through its battles in the cold war and the war on terror, to its near-collapse after 9/11. based on more than 50,000 documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA itself, and hundreds of interviews with CIA veterans, including ten directors of central intelligence. Now Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tim Weiner offers the first definitive history of the CIA - and everything is on the record. Its failures have handed us, in the words of President Eisenhower, 'a legacy of ashes.'. When it did not succeed, it set out to change the world. * From the jacket flap, 'For the last sixty years, the CIA has managed to maintain a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, burying its blunders in top secret archives. Dust jacket in likewise fine condition not price clipped. Concludes with a section on Notes to the Chapters and a comprehensive Index. Contains a 4 leave/8page section of black & white photographs. Interior text block clean & tight no writings, no markings noted. Hard cover in fine condition with gray boards, black spine cloth, and silver gilt spine lettering. Even the CIA's inability to foresee the fall of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War and the events of 9/11, its false assessment of Saddam's WMD and its role in the 'rendition' of innocent suspects are shown not as a fall from some bygone golden age, but as part of the history of ruinously incapable organization.' Weight (before packaging): 940g. In 'Legacy of Ashes' Tim Weiner draws on years of research to reveal a startlingly consistent level of failure. In reality, the CIA has been incompetent, naive and a danger to American interests for sixty years.

In countless movies and books, it has been shown as decisive, brilliant and in control of its own secret world: the image of omnipotence.

'Since its creation in 1947, the CIA has been a byword for everything that is sinister and ruthless about America's power during the Cold War and the 'war on terror'. Unknown clear substance (glue?, approx 2x2cm) on front cover, top corner near spine. Some soiling, predominately along bottom edge. Some creasing, most notably along top edge & corners. Softcover (15 x 23 cm), xvii, 702 pages (notes & index).

Legacy of ashes