The Spymasters, Chris Whipple
The Spymasters, Chris Whipple
12 Rating(s)
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
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The Spymasters
How the CIA's Directors Shape History and Guard the Future

Author: Chris Whipple

Narrator: Mark Bramhall

Unabridged: 14 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/15/2020


Synopsis

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Gatekeepers, an “engaging…richly textured” (The New York Times), behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to run the world’s most powerful intelligence agency. “The best book about the CIA I’ve ever read…one hell of a story” (Christopher Buckley).

With unprecedented access to more than a dozen individuals who have made the life-and-death decisions that come with running the world’s most powerful and influential intelligence service, Chris Whipple tells the story of an agency that answers to the United States president alone, but whose activities—spying, espionage, and covert action—take place on every continent. At pivotal moments, the CIA acts as a counterforce against rogue presidents, starting in the mid-seventies with DCI Richard Helms’s refusal to conceal Richard Nixon’s criminality and through the Trump presidency when a CIA whistleblower ignited impeachment proceedings and armed insurrectionists assaulted the US Capitol.

Since its inception in 1947, the Central Intelligence Agency has been a powerful player on the world stage, operating largely in the shadows to protect American interests. For The Spymasters, Whipple conducted extensive, exclusive interviews with nearly every living CIA director, pulling back the curtain on the world’s elite spy agencies and showing how the CIA partners—or clashes—with counterparts in Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Russia. Topics covered in the book include attempts by presidents to use the agency for their own ends; simmering problems in the Middle East and Asia; rogue nuclear threats; and cyberwarfare.

A revelatory, well-researched history, The Spymasters recounts seven decades of CIA activity and elicits predictions about the issues—and threats—that will engage the attention of future operatives and analysts. Including eye-opening interviews with George Tenet, John Brennan, Leon Panetta, and David Petraeus, as well as those who’ve recently departed the agency, this is a timely, essential, and important contribution to current events.

About Chris Whipple

Chris Whipple is an author, political analyst, and Emmy Award–winning documentary filmmaker. He is a frequent guest on MSNBC, CNN, and NPR, and has contributed essays to The New York TimesThe Washington PostLos Angeles Times, and Vanity Fair. His first book, The Gatekeepers, an analysis of the position of White House Chief of Staff, was a New York Times bestseller. His follow-up, The Spymasters, was based on interviews with nearly every living CIA Director and was critically acclaimed. Whipple lives in New York City with his wife Cary. 


Reviews

Goodreads review by Alexander on May 15, 2020

A comprehensive and well researched overview of the different eras of the CIA, focusing on the relationship between presidents and agency directors. The book gives a conflicting impression of the CIA. On one side we see an agency consisting of dedicated men and women, who form a stable base, and on t......more

Goodreads review by John on January 03, 2021

This is not a book about Donald Trump, but the reader cannot help but draw certain conclusions that the history of the leaders of US Intelligence service presented by the author, Chris Whipple, was designed to show the danger of Donald Trump's Presidency and how he has placed our military and civili......more

Goodreads review by HR-ML on March 06, 2024

Chris Whipple (CW) examined the modern era CIA Directors and some controversies R/T the CIA. He mentioned personalities of the Directors, independ- ent thinkers VS those who were in lock-step with the President they served. CW indicated there were certain events the CIA did NOT anticipate. President......more

Goodreads review by Miguel on September 27, 2020

Whipple does a good job with an overview of the CIA largely driven at history of the top level leaders.  It’s tough to grade this as it’s a well researched and written history, but one that doesn’t often get into the obvious thorny morality issues at play.  Whipple discusses the post 2001 torture pr......more

Goodreads review by Sarmat on December 02, 2021

RTC......more