the ghost the secret life of cia spymaster

In The Ghost, Jeff Morley has captured the man in all his brilliant and sometimes delusional eccentricity. 'James Angleton's real life is the most intriguing, moving, and at times shocking spy story in American history. Capturing the extent of Angleton’s eccentricity, duplicity and alcohol-fueled paranoia would have challenged the writing skills of a Le Carre or Ludlum, and Jeff Morley has done it with flair.” - Philip Shenon, author of A Cruel and Shocking Act “ The Ghost is the compulsively readable, often bizarre true-life story of American spymaster James Jesus Angleton. It's essential history and highly entertaining biography.” -Tim Weiner, National Book Award–winning author of Legacy of Ashes

No screenwriter or novelist could conjure a character like Angleton, but Morley's stellar reporting and superb writing animate every page of this work.

“The best book ever written about the strangest CIA chief who ever lived. Yet during his seemingly lawless reign in the CIA, he also proved himself to be a formidable adversary to our nation’s enemies, acquiring a mythic stature within the CIA that continues to this day. From the agency’s MKULTRA mind-control experiments to the wars of the Mideast, Angleton wielded far more power than anyone knew. In The Ghost, investigative reporter Jefferson Morley tells Angleton’s dramatic story, from his friendship with the poet Ezra Pound through the underground gay milieu of mid-century Washington to the Kennedy assassination to the Watergate scandal. He oversaw a massive spying operation on the antiwar and black nationalist movements and he initiated an obsessive search for communist moles that nearly destroyed the Agency. He committed perjury and obstructed the JFK assassination investigation.

He abetted a scheme to aid Israel’s own nuclear efforts, disregarding U.S. He launched mass surveillance by opening the mail of hundreds of thousands of Americans. He unwittingly shared intelligence secrets with Soviet spy Kim Philby, a member of the notorious Cambridge spy ring. From World War II to the Cold War, Angleton operated beyond the view of the public, Congress, and even the president. 'The best book ever written about the strangest CIA chief who ever lived.' - Tim Weiner, National Book Award-winning author of Legacy of AshesĪ revelatory new biography of the sinister, powerful, and paranoid man at the heart of the CIA for more than three tumultuous decades.ĬIA spymaster James Jesus Angleton was one of the most powerful unelected officials in the United States government in the mid-20th century, a ghost of American power.

The ghost the secret life of cia spymaster