Legacy of Ashes

I picked "Legacy of Ashes" as an audiobook selection because I've already read it. I was curious as to how accurate the description of this title would be.

Very accurate.

This is considered by many national security experts to be among the most comprehensive books on the history of the CIA.

Other authors have navigated the convolutions of this spy agency but have had to rely on anonymouse quotes to get across the most incisive details. As the description notes below, all of Weiner's quotes are directly sourced, so you can make your own informed judgments about the validity of the info.

Weiner has been writing on national security for the Times for some 20 years. I got the impression reading "Legacy of Ashes" that he has probably been collecting source material from Day One, perhaps with the understanding that he could name names only in the distant future for his book.

This is the book the CIA does not want you to read. For the last sixty years, the CIA has maintained a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, never disclosing its blunders to the American public. It spun its own truth to the nation while reality lay buried in classified archives. Now, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Tim Weiner offers a stunning indictment of the CIA, a deeply flawed organization that has never deserved America’s confidence.
Legacy of Ashes is based on more than 50,000 documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA. Everything is on the record. There are no anonymous sources, no blind quotations. With shocking revelations that will make headlines, Tim Weiner gets at the truth and tells how the CIA’s failures have profoundly jeopardized our national security.