Synopses & Reviews
Review
"Paranoia is endemic to the espionage game: just as Spycatcher Peter Wright destroyed the careers of countless innocents without discovering a double agent in MI5, James Jesus Angleton staged an equally counterproductive witch hunt at the CIA. Fortunately, the agency secretly rehabilitated Angelton's principal victim, Peter Karlow, with a medal, a distinguished-service certificate, and $500,000 appropriated by Congress under what is informally known as the 'Moles' Relief Act of 1989.' What could not be recuperated were the lives of the Angleton's other victims, the intelligence-gathering effectiveness of the CIA, and U. S. counter-espionage operations. Since spying (in kinder and gentler form, perhaps) continues unabated during the post-Soviet period, this book is no historical curiosity. Indeed, its implications are profoundly unsettling." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)