The Agency: The Rise and Decline of the CIA (A Touchstone book)

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive and Concise
Review: John Ranelagh's book, The Agency: The Rise and Decline of the CIA, is the definitive text on the CIA. It is comprehensive yet concise; moreover, Mr. Ranelagh took on a major project in creating this masterpiece, with so much information, and so much history, it would be nearly impossible to write an accurate history of the CIA. Yet Ranelagh accomplishes this feat marvelously. I, personally, would liked to have seen more on the scientific branch of the CIA in this book; however, it would have made the text to long and cumbersome. A much needed third edition would be relative, seeing as that the book does end with the Iran-Contra scandal, and the CIA's history has grown and transformed over the last decade with the appointment of George Tenet as its Director.

Rating:
Summary: The Definitive History of U.S. Cold War Intelligence
Review: Ranelagh, in a massive and engaging tome, brings alive the characters and story of the CIA in a fair and balanced way. My graduate class on National Security Affairs and the Intelligence Community used this book as one of the primary texts. From Julia Childs to James Jesus Angelton to Richard Colby to William Casey, this wonderful story tells the history of the Agency, its people and their interaction with presidents, Congress, the Soviet Union (KGB) and the foreign policy process. It covers the assasination attempts of Castro and various other figures as well as such bizarre episodes such as the attempt to rig up a cat as an assasin. I couldn't put the book down once I got started, however, because of the depth and breadth of its coverage. Make no mistake, this is a serious, meticulously researched and encompassing historical work. The book is as good a history of the Cold War as it is of the CIA, and covers high level decisionmaking at the presidential and Congressional level from WWII through the Reagan Administration. Not a diatribe for or against the CIA or US foreign poilicy, Agency is a first rate account of the actual events and people behind them at all the critical moments in the CIA's history. Ranelagh does a superb job at explaining the context behind the decsions that were made. For example, he gives the reader an awesome sense of the fear of Communism that lead to extreme measures being taken at various junctures without being an apologist. This book is absolutely essential reading for those in the intelligence, foreign policy and defense communities, and highly recommended for anyone interested in Cold War history. Perhaps more importantly, its a terrific read!