[Intelforum] Legacy of Ashes

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To: intelforum at lists101.his.com
From: a-damato at northwestern.edu
Subject: Re: Legacy of Ashes
Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2007 18:16:21 +0000

The review Mike Yared quotes has a memorable sentence. The author of 
"Legacy of Ashes" says of
James Angleton: "Drunk after lunch, his mind an impenetrable maze, 
his in-box a black hole, he
passed judgment on every operation and every officer that the CIA 
aimed at the Soviets."

This isn't non-fiction. It isn't even fiction.  It's some sort of 
less-than-fiction. How does the
author know what is in ANgleon's mind? Much less his in-box.  And if 
he does know, why is it that
what he sees is so murky? How does he penetrate that unpenetrable maze?

Writing that wouldn't get you past seventh-grade English composition.

Less-than-fiction for your summer reading on your less-than beach.

To bad he used up such a good title "Legacy of Ashes."

Maybe his next book should be a sequel to "Gone With the Wind," 
entitled "Legacy of Ashley."

But I digress.


Anthony D'Amato 


==============Original message text===============
On Sat, 25 Aug 2007 4:36:35 pm +0000 IntelForum Mailing List wrote:

From: "Mike Yared" <mike_yared at hotmail.com>
To: intelforum at lists101.his.com
Subject: RE: Legacy of Ashes
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 12:57:31 -0400

negative book review

Mike Yared

http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20070819/BOOKS/108190007/1010
Attacking the CIA


August 19, 2007


It is ironic. The flaws that spoil Tim Weiner's passionate,
malevolent and often misguided history of the Central Intelligence
Agency are precisely the same flaws for which he damns CIA:
Preconceived conclusions, lack of insight about the target and sloppy
reporting. From the book's second sentence, Mr. Weiner tells you
where he's going to end up: "Legacy of Ashes," he announces,
"describes how the most powerful country in the history of Western
civilization has failed to create a first-rate spy service."
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