Just listened to this CIA audiobook. Any recommendations for non-fiction spy shit?Glowies welcome! ;)
I’m too good-looking to be a spy. It would be too obvious. They have to look a little melty, to put the mark at ease.
>>25294132
>>25294130>non-fictionYou should check out A Table for Fortune anyway. He apparently did a ton of research.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsZ9JNeKWGQ
>>25294137>3000-page, 4-part novel>for an avowed brainlet who listened to non-fiction audiobookyeah, fanks for the recommendation anyway, I guess
Surprise, Kill, Vanish by Annie Jacobsen is excellent.
>>25294692>Surprise, Kill, Vanish>shiggyAs a history of intelligence, this book is really a sloppy mess. To start, the editorial decisions Jacobsen made are nothing short of baffling. This is not a history of the CIA, nor even of covert action, but a history of paramilitary covert action. This is a dumb way to write this sort of work, as many of the most important covert operations included only a negligible paramilitary component.Even with these strange limitations in mind, Jacobsen’s work is woefully inadequate. It is almost incomprehensible that anyone could write a history of paramilitary action without covering the Contras in Nicaragua, but the only reference to this operation in the book is a single mention buried in the notes. This is totally unacceptable given that this is arguably the most iconic paramilitary operation in American history, and that as a result some 30,000 Nicaraguans died.Finally, the book is written in a breathless and sensationalized manner, and Jacobsen’s lack of serious engagement with the historical record results in several errors of both fact and interpretation. Consider the following passage:>“The president’s assassination capability was intended to serve as a means of bringing order to the increasingly volatile situations unfolding in Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam. Instead it created mayhem, chaos, and collapse. But the real question, the riddle wrapped inside a mystery inside an enigma, was and remains: By allowing the use of assassination as a hidden-hand foreign policy tool, did President Kennedy become an easier target to assassinate?”This means exactly nothing. To start, it is wildly misleading to refer to an “assassination capability” as though the assassination attempts of the early Cold War were anything other than ad-hoc political decisions, and particularly incompetent ones at that. The latter half of this quote is even more bizarre (terrible writing aside) as the author appears to be suggesting that Kennedy’s willingness to assassinate Castro got him killed. This is positively insane, and is simply pandering to conspiracy theorists.There has been a lot written on covert action over the years, and while Surprise Kill Vanish has some interesting information in it, it is a mess. Don't pay money for this book.
>>25294130I bet the CIA has the highest ratio of autobiographies written to overall employee size.These glowies just cant help writing their oh so unique glowies slop stories, and I love it!
I enjoyed this though it is a bit dated. Bin Laden was still alive when it was published
Books about the Mossad operationsNot even memeing, theyre pretty good
>>25296205which books, specifically?
>>25294130
>>25296974How good is this?
>>25297058I will you in secret tha...
>>25296511I recommend this one
