The Very Best Men is the story of the CIA's early
days as told through the careers of four glamorous, daring,
and idealistic men who ran covert operations for the
government from the end of World War II to Vietnam. Evan
Thomas re-creates the personal dramas and sometimes tragic
lives of Frank Wisner, Richard Bissell, Tracy Barnes, and
Desmond FitzGerald, who risked everything to contain the
Soviet threat.
Within the inner circles of Washington,
they were regarded as the best and the brightest. They
planned and acted to keep the country out of war -- by
stealth and "political action" and to do by cunning and
sleight of hand what great armies could not, must not be
allowed to do. In the end, they were too idealistic and too
honorable, and were unsuited for the dark, duplicitous life
of spying. Their hubris and naïveté led them astray,
producing both sensational coups and spectacular blunders
like the Bay of Pigs and the failed assassination attempts
on foreign leaders in the early 1960s. Thomas draws on the
CIA's own secret histories, to which he has had exclusive
access, as well as extensive interviews, to bring to life a
crucial piece of American history.
© 2003-2025 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy