The Ghosts of Langley: Into the CIA's Heart of Darkness

by John Prados

The Ghosts of Langley is a provocative and panoramic new history of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that tells the story of the Agency through the eyes of key figures in CIA history and its covert actions around the world. Drawing on a wealth of newly declassified documents, celebrated historian of intelligence John Prados throws fresh light on classic agency operations such as the Bay of Pigs, and discerns a disturbing continuum from the practice of covert actions from Iran in the 1950s, Chile and Vietnam in the 1970s, and Central America in the 1980s to the current secret wars in the Muslim world.

Prados delves into early Agency history to show that spy chief legends including Allen Dulles and Frank Wisner were masters of obfuscation who shielded the agency from government probing, to the extent that they have cast a ghostly shadow over their bureaucratic descendants. Thanks to these legendary spymasters, over the seven decades since its creation the CIA has slowly decoupled itself from government accountability, going rogue in a series of highly troubling and even criminal ventures that reach their tragic apotheosis with the secret overseas prisons and torture programs of the War on Terror.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Espionage, American History

320 pages, Hardcover

First published November 7, 2017

About the author

Dr. John Prados is an American historian & researcher whose primary areas of specialisation are the history of World War II, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and politico-military affairs generally. He earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University in Political Science (International Relations). Dr. Prados is a senior fellow and project director with the National Security Archive at George Washington University (Washington, D.C.).

Reviews

[Nico]

This is book is insanely well-researched, and the information within is urgently needed. Glad it exists.

Still, despite my best efforts and enthusiasm, I couldn't get through more than 100 pages. It felt like Prados zoomed in so close that I could no longer make out the outline of the story. When I picked up the book, I may have misunderstood its goals-- I was primarily interested in reading about the impacts that the CIA has had on individuals and other nations. Prados does mention those impacts in passing, but this book is more focused on the many detailed changes the institution has gone through since its inception.

Policy-makers and members of the U.S. intelligence community will find this book helpful. The average citizen will be overwhelmed.

I can't decide on a rating-- on merit, I feel like the book deserves five stars but its audience is so exclusive that I feel like it deserves two. Agh! I don't know! Take this review as a consolation prize.

[Andrew Sternisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was marketed as a new history of the CIA, but for any but they most informed reader it will prove daunting. It is poorly organized, skipping regions and eras, sometimes following the career of one person until he interacts with someone else and then Prados takes the time to illustrate the new person’s career. This was ok for me, as I was familiar with most of the names and events described, but this would be difficult for someone to follow if the reader is not steeped in the history of the US foreign policy interventions during the “Cold War” and War on Terrorism.

Another significant piece that was left out is the role of the president. The president intersects the story often of course, but just how directly involved the presidents became in various CIA operations remains unclear. However, Prados gave a lot of text to the Senate investigations, likely because much of this was available due to media reports that likely inspired the idea for this book.

Overall, Prados writes well, but there are better options to learn more about the CIA, whether that be studying specific events or reading more broad surveys of the agency.

[Laura B · Rating 1 out of 5]

First, this was clearly a well researched book but that is probably the only positive thing I can point to. The structure was all over the place, often jumping administrations to make a point without providing any background. As soon as you caught up, the writer jumped back in time. Introducing characters, he often mentioned them by three different names, making it difficult to know for sure who he was ever talking about. Lastly, this entire book is primarily focused on the agency’s misdeeds but briefly mentions in the last 3 pages that presidents are at fault and will probably dictate future decisions they make, so I felt like the conclusion was not thought out clearly and the author was struggling to find a way to wrap it up but came up terribly short.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, the edition has 389 pages, not what is listed by GoodReads. The book is quite thorough and shows how the CIA has committed multiple, illegal actions over decades and has worked assiduously to avoid oversight by anyone. There are successes but, the overall trend by the Agency is not comforting and does nothing to enhance the security or the reputation of this country.

[Steve Hahn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have been a much better book if the author had left out the last group of pages,that must have been written during the period when anyone was anyone had to spout the horror of trump. Despite his prediction of a train wreck for the via because of trump, there were no scandals at the cia during his presidency. Obama used them to run his drone wars, that executed thousands without trial or declaration of war. And bush pushed for enhanced interrogation and a created excuse for war in Iraq.
Brennen was more political than any of the directors but since the author seemed to agree with his politics it was ok. Many of the information was very skewed.

This would have been a better book without the authors preaching

[Adam Leader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable. A lot more about Allen Dulles than I previously understood.

[Jeff Russo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good in stretches, drags along here and there for stretches. I liked the Hayden stuff. I was hoping for more in the JFK era. I'd only recommend for someone with deep interest in the topic

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched and a lot of the information Prados presents is worth knowing, but the book lacks a coherent structure.