Legacy of Ashes

The History of the CIA

By: Tim Weiner

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 21 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

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)

loved it

I will be reading it again because I know I will get a lot more out of it that way really inspired me I want to work for them totally inspired me to get my criminal justice degree bachelor's

Worthy Historic Review

Best report on the history and record of the CIA, well worth a listen. If you’re old enough many of the points reviewed in this book will be most familiar.

Stupid heading

Only typing because it is required to rate. Very stupid requirement. 3 more words

It’s fine

Overall fine. Could be a much more interesting book. Seems like the first part says look how incompetent they were back in the day, then the 90s come and say hold my beer.

Huh?

Listening to lots of detail here, and surprised where it is lacking.
Don’t think so, but maybe I missed any more than passing reference to eisenhower’s “beware of the military industrial complex” which is all the more remarkable given details of how many times he tried to rein it in.
Also was weird to hear Allen Dulles “retired”, which I guess is technically true but this “complete” history is the only time I heard that way of describing it.

Would the US have been better off without the CIA?

An outstanding, thorough, apparently well-supported and fairly balanced overview of the history of the CIA, this book also sheds light on antidemocratic policies and illegal strategies of several US presidents who used and abused the agency. Using recently declassified internal CIA documents and Congressional testimony, the author argues that CIA officials have long exaggerated the agency's accomplishments. In the aftermath of its catastrophes they have asserted that only its few failures are made public, but that supposedly numerous successes can never be known. The author offers convincing evidence that this is a myth--that the agency has had few successes worthy of pride, and that the overwhelming body of its work has been so counterproductive that the reader ends up feeling the US would have been better off had the CIA never been formed. The reasons are partly structural--the nature of the agency, how it is funded and overseen--and partly driven by the personalities and capabilities of its leadership. The book is well complemented by John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, which tells a related story about disturbing contributions of the private sector to American foreign policy.

excellent narration

This is the best use of voice change I have ever heard. The narrator modifies or adds only a hint of an accent instead of a complete change. He is a very talented and unique reader.
The book itself is extremely interesting and articulate as if it was written to be spoken.

Well done

A very good examination of the failure of an agency.

Very good and comprehensive

An excellent look at the inner workings of the CIA. Answered my question "What the hell is going on over there?"

devastating truth

It is a tough book to get through, as Tim Weiner has a huge amount of sources and data to share with the reader. It is however fascinating to see an agency that devours billions of dollars per year can get away with decades of malpractice, lying an cheating. If even a third would be true (where I am afraid it is all true, base don the level and details of the sources), it is an utter disgrace that the agency has not been closed decades ago. In the businessworld this would have been done long ago. A very interesting an revealing book, very worthwhile for anyone interested in secret services and their doings.