Inside the C.I.A.

By: Ronald Kessler

Narrated by: Chris Lane

Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

In this unparalleled work of investigative journalism, Ronald Kessler reveals the inner world of the C.I.A. Based on extensive research and hundreds of interviews, including two with active directors of Central Intelligence, William H. Webster and Robert M. Gates, and with three former D.C.I.s, Inside the C.I.A. is the first in-depth, unbiased account of the Agency's core operations, its abject failures, and its resounding successes.

©1992 by Ronald Kessler (P)1998 by Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"This tour is never dull, especially since it features so much .007 gadgetry, from water-spraying silent drills to eavesdropping devices that work by zapping laser beams through windows." (Los Angeles Times)

A Look Back

Ronald Kessler’s Inside the CIA is an interesting book. He has written a number of informative books including The Secrets of the FBI (2011), In the President’s Secret Service (2010) and The Bureau: The Secret History of the FBI (2003). All are very good and informative and this volume is no exception except that it is outdated. Published in 1994, it is an excellent period piece and provides insight into the CIA’s workings during that era. If one is looking for a more current perspective, this book may not fill the bill. The reading of Chris Lane is good.

Not the best reader

The reader mispronounced several words that were repeated throughout the book. It was very distracting. For example, he pronounced Soviet like “Soviette,” and polygraph like “pollah-graph.” You’ll see what I mean...

My take

I thought I'd hate the book when the reader started. He had a lisp, and talked about the thee-IA. He loses soon loses the lisp - which supprised me, and did an okay job.
The book ranges from being very interesting to mind numbing detail about seemingly irrelevant details. For example, a fair amount of time is given detailing Casey's personal life, including dating and marriage plans.
Not a bad book if the CIA or spying in general interest you, but it won't go down as one of your all time best listens.

Fair View of the Agency, but Fire the Narrator

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, the book is informative and provides a fair, less-biased view of the CIA compared to most books on the Agency, which tend to either bash it or praise it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

N/A

What didn’t you like about Chris Lane’s performance?

Terrible. It sounded like a computer robot or chatbot reading text. No enthusiasm or inflection. Very monotone and dry.

Could you see Inside the C.I.A. being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Perhaps a documentary, docu-film, or like an HBO historical series (like John Adams or Band of Brothers). I'd watch it.

Any additional comments?

Overall, the book is worth the read. You get used to the narrator's voice, though it's horrible. I would have preferred to read it myself (rather than listen to that narrator), but I didn't have that luxury. But, all-in-all, a good book.

narration too fast, bad story, overall a bad .

didnt like story, due to bad results, dont think we can trust CIA. But something needs to be done.

There has to be better than this

I’m all for a professional, historical, balanced approach but this seemed so whitewashed and boring. The narrator’s banal tone made that even worse. Looking for a more balanced alternative to Legacy of Ashes but I haven’t found it. It’s uniquely 90’s: a mix of pre-9/11 idealism mixed with post-Cold War sanctimony. Glad it’s over.

Out of date leftist point of view worth listening to

Very early 90’s leftist point of view. Funny at times in how with 9/11, two more never ending wars and the rise of China have impacted the world, this questions so much. A strong defense of a single point of view in the CIA, but shows why so many have questions after 9/11.

A very important listen to listen to ideas and thoughts pre 2001.

Painfully boring

After sitting through the first half of this audio book I found it almost impossible to sit through part two. The amount of detail captured in the book is way too much for the casual listener who's looking for anything but an in depth history of the CIA. The book gives a thorough explanation of what all the CIA's departments do on a day to day basis which turns out to be really boring like most other office (and government) jobs. There's not much about covert action in the book at all which is more of what I was looking for. The reading was dull and didn't engage me at all but I'm not sure if it was the content or the monotone reading. The book is definitely thorough, but at the expense of being interesting. If tons of detail is what you're looking for then you may enjoy this book. It's not bad, just dry.

Paper pushing and interoffice whining or bragging. My God...

This author turned 007 into 00-Karen. Bunch of people complaining about each other and bragging about the things they do well. A book about who has the biggest "department" and explaining how theirs is better than the others. I cannot believe how bad this author wrote a book about real life spies. No interesting stories. Just explanations about how the bureaucracy works. They got an actor who is just as droll. The performer makes ancient text to speech bots look like Oscar worthy performances.

Avoid this book at all costs unless you love vague government politics and yearn for vague rehashings of ancient Watergate stories.

Underwhelmed

While there was a lot of good material in this book, I'm not sure I'd recommend it:

1. The reader for this book was poor, and had difficulty pronouncing words

2. Kessler's writing is pretty repetitive. Seriously, I counted six times that we're reminded of the fact that we don't spy on Great Britain or Australia, and several other facts are repeated to a ridiculous degree.

3. Kessler also has a tendency to wander off on off-topic tangents, such as almost 10 minutes discussing the shortcomings of late Soviet era hotels, which really doesn't have anything to do with the CIA