A Need to Know: The Clandestine History of a CIA Family

by H.L. Goodall Jr.

In scenes eerily parallel to the culture of fear inspired by our current War on Terror, A Need to Know explores the clandestine history of a CIA family defined, and ultimately destroyed, by their oath to keep toxic secrets during the Cold War. When Bud Goodall’s father mysteriously died, his inheritance consisted of three well-worn books: a Holy Bible, The Great Gatsby, and a diary. But they turned his life upside down. From the diary Goodall learned that his father had been a CIA operative during the height of the Cold War, and the Bible and Gatsby had been his codebooks. Many unexplained facets of Bud’s childhood came into focus with this revelation.The high living in Rome and London. The blood-stained stiletto in his jewelry case. Bud, as a child, was always told he never had “a need to know.” Or did he? Now, as an adult and a university professor, Goodall attempts to fill in the missing pieces of his Cold War childhood by uncovering a lifetime of family secrets. Who were his parents? What did his father do on those business trips when he was “working for the government?” What betrayal turned a heroic career of national service into a nightmare of alcoholism, depression, and premature death for both of his parents? Slowly, inexorably, Goodall unearths the chilling secrets of a CIA family in A Need to Know. 2006 Best Book Award, National Communication Association Ethnography Division

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Harold Lloyd Goodall Jr. (Bud) was an American scholar of human communication and a writer of narrative ethnography. He was a professor in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University. He is survived by his wife Sandra Goodall and their son, Nicolas Saylor Goodall.

Reviews

[Marcella · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an interesting blend of cold war spy context, family history, and reflection on childhood neglect. From the blurb and first chapters, I expected more concrete revelations about the specific work Goodall's father did or concrete spying techniques. In fact, the book is a lot of conjecture and implication, creating -- but never validating -- hypotheses based on childhood memories, family heirlooms, and global events. Perhaps this more accurately reflects the real-life experience and outcome of an on-the-ground agent's information collection process.

Anyway, it was interesting, easy to read, and clearly written by an English PhD; some parts went quite heavy on the symbolic interpretations.