The Good Spy is Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Kai Bird s compelling portrait of the remarkable life and death of one of the most important operatives in CIA history a man who, had he lived, might have helped heal the rift between Arabs and the West. On April 18, 1983, a bomb exploded outside the American Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people. The attack was a geopolitical turning point. It marked the beginning of Hezbollah as a political force, but even more important, it eliminated America s most influential and ...
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The Good Spy is Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Kai Bird s compelling portrait of the remarkable life and death of one of the most important operatives in CIA history a man who, had he lived, might have helped heal the rift between Arabs and the West. On April 18, 1983, a bomb exploded outside the American Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people. The attack was a geopolitical turning point. It marked the beginning of Hezbollah as a political force, but even more important, it eliminated America s most influential and effective intelligence officer in the Middle East CIA operative Robert Ames. What set Ames apart from his peers was his extraordinary ability to form deep, meaningful connections with key Arab intelligence figures. Some operatives relied on threats and subterfuge, but Ames worked by building friendships and emphasizing shared values never more notably than with Yasir Arafat s charismatic intelligence chief and heir apparent Ali Hassan Salameh (aka The Red Prince ). Ames deepening relationship with Salameh held the potential for a lasting peace. Within a few years, though, both men were killed by assassins, and America s relations with the Arab world began heading down a path that culminated in 9/11, the War on Terror, and the current fog of mistrust. Bird, who as a child lived in the Beirut Embassy and knew Ames as a neighbor when he was twelve years old, spent years researching The Good Spy. Not only does the book draw on hours of interviews with Ames widow, and quotes from hundreds of Ames private letters, it s woven from interviews with scores of current and former American, Israeli, and Palestinian intelligence officers as well as other players in the Middle East Great Game. What emerges is a masterpiece-level narrative of the making of a CIA officer, a uniquely insightful history of twentieth-century conflict in the Middle East, and an absorbing hour-by-hour account of the Beirut Embassy bombing. Even more impressive, Bird draws on his reporter s skills to deliver a full dossier on the bombers and expose the shocking truth of where the attack s mastermind resides today."
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Seller's Description:
Used; Very Good. Crown. Used; Very Good. Crown 2014 Hardcover stated First Edition. This book has a remainder mark, otherwise is like new. Book Condition: Very Good Jacket Condition: Very Good. 2014. First Edition. HARDCOVER.
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Very good in very good jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. xiv, [4], 430 pages. Illustrations, black & white. Cast of Characters. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Endpaper map. DJ has slight wear and soiling. Kai Bird (born September 2, 1951) is an American author and columnist. He won a Pulitzer Prize for American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Bird's biographical works include The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy, Brothers in Arms and The Chairman: John J. McCloy and the Making of the American Establishment. His Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, 1956-1978, is a meld of memoir and history. The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames is a biography of CIA officer Robert Ames, whose career focus was the Middle East. Ames played a key role in starting the peace process that led to the Oslo accords between Israel and the PLO. Ames perished in the April 18, 1983 truck bombing of the American embassy in Beirut. From Wikipedia: "Robert Clayton "Bob" Ames, (March 6, 1934 April 18, 1983) was an American spy, the CIA's Near East Director. He was killed in the 1983 United States embassy bombing in Beirut. In 1956, he joined the US Army from which he switched to the CIA, specializing in the Middle East. He rose to become the CIA's chief analyst for the area. Working for the CIA's Middle East Directorate of Operations, Ames is reputed to have made the first high-level penetration of the PLO. It is claimed one of two senior contacts he made was Hassan Salameh. He was killed on April 18, 1983 when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb at the US Embassy in Beirut. A total of 63 people were killed in the explosion including Ames, the CIA Lebanon station chief and his deputy, as well as six other CIA officers and eight other Americans."
It is wonderful when an author zeros in on a hero who does not garner headlines while doing exceptional things. In fact, if Robert Ames had been in the headlines during his life, he would not have been such an effective spy.
I particularly appreciate a biography as Kai Bird has given us because he ties the (often fragmented) historical events in a far-off lands into one understandable whole. It is obvious that the author did a great deal of research.
This is the story of one exceptional Arabist, Robert Ames, and his large family. It is a very interesting story of spy craft in the Middle East. There are focused cameos on important personages in Robert Ames' working world. The history of the whole region is the backdrop for Bob Ames' story.
Reading the facts of the Beirut Embassy bombing in April 1983 is beyond painful. But the reader cannot turn away because these people have become important through the reader's appreciation of their work, as outlined by the author. I was overcome by the feeling of loss and the horror of the waste of such talented individuals in the service of our country.
I found it interesting that John Le Carre was involved in some events in the Middle East. Having learned about all I know about spy craft from Le Carre's George Smiley, it seemed such an ironic touch. I think George Smiley would have been proud to have had Robert Ames on his team.