Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

Winner of the National Book Award

‘This extraordinary story reads like tragedy and thriller. Impeccably sourced, utterly absorbing, dazzling and very, very dark’

Time Out

All-powerful, brilliant, decisive, ruthlessly effective … this is the image of the CIA as portrayed in countless films and novels. It is wrong.

This shocking book, based on thousands of declassified documents and interviews with agents at all levels, shows the reality behind the glamorous myth- a blundering, chaotic and dangerously incompetent organization. In a story of botched coups, missed targets, lost operatives and fatal errors, Tim Weiner shows how the CIA now poses a threat not only to the security of the US, but the world.

‘Combines thrilling storytelling with terrifying revelations’

Simon Sebag Montefiore, New Statesman, Books of the Year

‘Weiner’s riveting history of the CIA contains dozens of jaw-dropping incidents … astonishing’

Mail on Sunday

‘Timely, immensely readable, and highly critical’

Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down

‘Marvellous … that every quote is also on the record is a testament to his skill’

Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars