This version of the book has been reviewed in English(72) by readers.
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What are readers saying about Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA?
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Tony posted a review at 2009-10-27 21:32:51.
(Language: English)
  
"Read" this on audio book. A bit dry, a bit slanted (CIA has NEVER done anything right?) but nonetheless presented in a pretty factual manner. No blame is placed on just Dem or Rep, but basically ALL Presidents were unable to use the agency as it was intended.I'd recommend it with the warning that it is LOOOONG and again, dry if you are listening to it. 
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John posted a review at 2009-10-18 17:57:16.
(Language: English)
This book was incredible! I never knew the CIA was SO incompetant! The book was well researched. The author quotes former directors, Assistant directors, and operatives of the CIA. He had access to the official CIA history and declassified documents. he draws on all this to produce a comprehensive history of America's "#1" intelligence gathering agency. it's a shame they couldn't gather any intelligence! This book is a must read. It is very easy to read, and I found it both entertaining and a real eye opener. Not done yet, but an incredibly entertaining and informative overview of what the CIA has been doing around the world and at home. Lying to the president and congress is SOP at the CIA. So is making American foreign policy without the consent or knowledge of the president or congress. The book is well writen, a real page turner, and is well researched with lots of oral history from ex-CIA people and de-classified documents.
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A reader posted a review at 2009-10-11 21:49:39.
(Language: English)
This book would be interesting to anyone involved in behavioral interviewing as the book references it several times.
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A reader posted a review at 2009-10-04 12:49:25.
(Language: English)
Fascinating, but disheartening, history of the CIA, reviewing its relatively few successes as well as its tragic failures. If you want to keep believing that America would NEVER assassinate foreign leaders, engineer coups, rig elections, foment invasions, then DO NOT read this book.
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Chris posted a review at 2009-09-07 10:54:43.
(Language: English)
Really good, I highly recommend it.
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Jamey posted a review at 2009-09-01 10:09:02.
(Language: English)
This was a disturbing account of the CIA. Many will charge that Mr. Weiner has a political agenda, I don't know...I found that he was fairly critical throughout the CIA's history with both Republican and Democratic administrations but he does acknowledge a few successes. It is hard for me to think that the CIA was this inept and that the organization is so bipolar in its approach to gathering intelligence and conducting covert operations. The book implies that the CIA has had a recurring history of conducting covert ops at odds with collecting useful intelligence vital to an effective foreign policy. He also implies that the 'ops before all' culture within the agency is driven more by conjecture and 'seat of the pants' decision making rather than a strategic process. All of that is disturbing but difficult to disprove given the nature of this organization and what is in the public domain. I found it a good read and hard to put down.
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Jason posted a review at 2009-08-02 22:05:21.
(Language: English)
It's really interesting
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Nicki posted a review at 2009-08-02 15:20:03.
(Language: English)
This book is terrible. After reading the foreword, I didn't think it had much hope of being a straightforward/unbiases historical assessment. I should have just stopped there, because I was right.
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Rich posted a review at 2009-07-04 01:03:10.
(Language: English)
If you like the Tom Clancy novels, this book will be a real eye opener for you. I am much less likely to trust what I read in the news media about international political and military stories now than I did before reading Legacy of Ashes. A good non fiction read.
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Christopher posted a review at 2009-05-24 21:07:54.
(Language: English)
This book is journalism and historical non-fiction writing at its best. Not a single annonymous source or unattributed statement appears in the book. This is the complete history of the CIA in the words of those who made that history and those who bore first-hand witness to it. Many of the antecdotes read like something out of a Tom Clancy novel, because of Mr. Weiner's remarkable ability to take exhausitively researched material and recount it in a gripping narrative fashion. This book was obviously a labor of love, which I highly recommend.
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