Do You like book The Craft Of Intelligence: America's Legendary Spy Master On The Fundamentals Of Intelligence Gathering For A Free World (2006)?
Anyone who wants to write anything along the lines of spies or intelligence operators should read this book. Allen Dulles, a director of the CIA and an ardent advocate for the role of intelligence operations in a free society, passionately explains the nature and workings of intelligence, and gives several examples of both successes and failures of the craft. Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, we can see where some of his assertions were false. He asserts that the CIA has never backed a dictator, we now know that to be false, for one example. We can also see, again through the benefit of hindsight, where some decisions were actively harmful. His taking pride in weeding out homosexuals from the CIA would strike the modern reader as rather backwards. However, that leads to the primary benefit of this book. In addition to all of its insight into espionage, it is a snapshot of a world now gone. Of a world in the grips of a Cold War, of a world of subterfuge and subversion, of constant threats and a populace unwilling or unable to come to grips with that new reality. In this sense, this book is like a time capsule, catching a time that, we hope, will never come around again. Unfortunately, in reading this book, I found myself pondering the parallels we can find in our modern era, and I'm left wondering if, were he to be in this era, Mr. Dulles wouldn't give similar recommendations for us as he did for the previous generation.In any case, this book is a valuable resource, and anyone interested in the subject would be well-advised to get a copy.
—Benjamin Spurlock
This is a very timely book to read in this era of the "NSA Gate" (the Snowden saga). A lot of the content reads really modern, even though it was written nearly half a century ago. For example, the CIA founder mentions that he won't spy on friendly foreign leaders, except in special circumstances. There are many other insights on the craft of intelligence as well as fun examples from the Cold War era and even the US Civil War days and the dawn of organized intelligence services.All in all, I really enjoyed the book.
—Anton
This was a really interesting read. While it's more of a historical reference at this point, for someone completely outside the spy business, this book was very informative. A lot of it reflects the time it was written in, and with hindsight, you can see how laughable it was that the Soviet Union was going to turn all of Asia and Europe communist. The section about how Mossadegh was just a tool of the Soviets was outrageous and enraging.At turns a justification for the existence of the CIA and a history of spying, this is a good reference for someone looking to write a spy novel set in the early Cold War era.
—C.D.