Left of Boom How a Young CIA Case Officer Penetrated the Taliban and Al-Qaeda By Douglas Laux and Ralph Pezzullo 3 stars
After the attacks on September 11 Laux was in college and like many young men he wanted to fight the enemy. Instead of joining the military directly he shifted his major, learned all he could and joined the CIA. It is a unique perspective. He writes about maintaining his cover among his family and acquaintances, working with locals and the Taliban, the bureaucracy of the military and CIA. The problem is not the perspective, but the writing. I don’t know what happened, but instead of collaborating with security officials to publish a complete (unclassified) memoir, whole paragraphs, conversations, even just lines or details were redacted. Black boxes instead of text, all throughout. That is very jarring. It is also very much a personal story rather than a researched or journalistic one, and as a person I don’t think we would be friends. I generally only like memoirs when I like the person, that’s my personal issue.
How a Young CIA Case Officer Penetrated the Taliban and Al-Qaeda
By Douglas Laux and Ralph Pezzullo
3 stars
After the attacks on September 11 Laux was in college and like many young men he wanted to fight the enemy. Instead of joining the military directly he shifted his major, learned all he could and joined the CIA. It is a unique perspective. He writes about maintaining his cover among his family and acquaintances, working with locals and the Taliban, the bureaucracy of the military and CIA. The problem is not the perspective, but the writing. I don’t know what happened, but instead of collaborating with security officials to publish a complete (unclassified) memoir, whole paragraphs, conversations, even just lines or details were redacted. Black boxes instead of text, all throughout. That is very jarring. It is also very much a personal story rather than a researched or journalistic one, and as a person I don’t think we would be friends. I generally only like memoirs when I like the person, that’s my personal issue.