Description: Jeffreys-Jones, professor of American history at the University of Edinburgh, offers an anecdotal history of American intelligence from the era of George Washington to that of George W. Bush. This history is replete with provocative characters (Allan Pinkerton, J. Edgar Hoover) and covers a multitude of incidents, many notorious in their day, from the Zimmerman telegram of WWI to the Cuban missile crisis. The author sees all these people and events as connected by a single theme: a strain of hucksterism "smooth talk, hyperbole, deception" pervading U.S. intelligence efforts. For Jeffreys-Jones (The CIA and American Democracy), a leading authority on the history of American intelligence, the leaders of American intelligence have regularly "sheltered behind the veil of secrecy so vital to the promotion of false alarms and invented menaces." One example of this "con man" mentality is a tendency to reward failure. When intelligence agencies miss an important development, the upshot is a successful pitch for more money, more technology and more agents (this should sound familiar to post-9/11 ears). For Jeffreys-Jones, U.S. intelligence has chronically hyped its accomplishments and concealed its many failures, misleading the American people more often than it has baffled foreign enemies. The author's persistent invocation of the "con man" theme may actually do the book a disservice, opening the door to accusations of unfair exclusion of evidence contrary to the book's thesis. In fact, Jeffreys-Jones cites numerous instances of unobtrusive success by U.S. intelligence agencies, such as the breaking of Japanese codes in WWII. Please note all payments must be made is US dollars ($). I follow eBay's payment policy accepting Paypal. Please read the payment information! I try to describe each item as accurately as possible, but please look at the photos! If you have any questions, feel free to email me. Also read the shipping info. Note: I will not falsify the custom’s forms; please don’t ask me to do so. I'll gladly combine shipping!GOOD LUCK and HAPPY BIDDING!! If you like military and political history, please check out my other listings! keywords:
Price: 7.99 USD
Location: Carmel, Indiana
End Time: 2025-01-06T15:49:03.000Z
Shipping Cost: 6.13 USD
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Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Features: Ex-Library
Number of Pages: 368 Pages
Language: English
Publication Name: Cloak and Dollar : a History of American Secret Intelligence
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication Year: 2002
Subject: Intelligence & Espionage, General
Item Weight: 24.2 Oz
Type: Textbook
Subject Area: Political Science, History
Item Length: 9.2 in
Author: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones
Item Width: 6.1 in
Format: Hardcover