What readers think of Legacy of Ashes, plus links to write your own review.

This book doesn't talk about the many foreign agents who were trying to ruin everything the CIA was attempting to accomplish. The Russians had spies inside the FBI and Langley (moles) feeding them the stuff that made the spy-business impossible to conduct. Weiner doesn't talk about that problem or detail how the CIA was confronted by spies outside and inside the halls of Langley. Typical NYTimes journalistic assassination of everyone who ever worked as chief of the CIA.

Weiner's scathing rebuke is off-putting.The enemy was and is totalitarian states.Everyone under a microscope. I for one commend the attempts to infiltrate.Yes,they didn't learn lessons,but something had to be done.The comment that Stalin never planned to take over the world is wrong, according to Kotkin's Stalin analysis.

Right from the start, Weiner sets the tone of the book; and then beats you to death with his unremitting negative views on the CIA. from Author's Note: "Legacy ... describes how the most powerful country...failed to create a first rate spy service". I am not former CIA, just a concerned citizen who would like to see a more balanced treatment. This book does not do it. I started to annotate instances of clear bias and simply gave up - there are too many to count. The CIA and our government are not perfect, but - clearly - Weiner's portrayal is a disservice to many dedicated and brave souls in the Agency.

The problem with reviews of Weiner's book, as Jeffrey Richelson has amply demonstrated on the blog www.washingtondecoded.com, is that most reviewers don't have substantive background about the subject matter and can't see past their own biases. For an expert's view of the book that is wholly unfavorable, see CIA.gov.