Agencies

My mother always told me not to say a word if I didn't have anything nice to say. I was going to take that advice but felt compelled to speak up when I saw all the rave reviews appearing.

This book was very disappointing and painful to read for a number of reasons: 1) The font size was too small; 2) It was poorly written; 3) It lacked logical structure.

My eyes hurt from straining to read the text. I believe it was an Arial font size 8. It is my belief that this approach was a misguided intent to save paper (and printing expenses) at the cost of your eyes.

I'm no English major but this book was written as if some country farmer had taken dictation word-for-word -- complete with run-on sentences, grammatical errors, and misused clichés. My favorite was the use of "spending your wheels" instead of "spinning your wheels."

I am confident that the author has the functional knowledge to be a bail bondsman. However, I question his ability to clearly and coherently convey that knowledge to the written form of the English language. I recommend that the author contract to have future editions proofread.

Reading the other reviews...left me with one question: Did we read the same book?

Being new in the business (secretary of a bondsman), I wanted examples and info on bail bonding. I found the book very informative. The writer got the point across and briefed me on the business, and that is what I needed. It actually was the only book available on this subject! (thanks Mr. Wills) I am glad I discovered this book and am very happy with the information I received.

I found the book to have valuable information I couldn't find in the local libraries. It's a good read. It thoroughly covers the
subject matter. Good job.

Edward Wright's debut novel, _Clea's Moon_, has a lot of promise, but never quite delivers. When I first read a blurb about this a few months back, it sounded great--just the sort of book I would like. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work.

Wright's protagonist is John Ray Horn, a former cowboy movie star who played the character of Sierra Lane in dozens of low-budget westerns during the 1930s and 1940s, before being sent to prison for two years for assault. Since his release, he's been working as a collection agent for his friend Joseph Mad Crow, who used to be his faithful Indian sidekick in the movies. Horn finds that having to occasionally muscle late payments out of the dead-beat fathers of boys who remember Sierra Lane isn't much fun.

When his friend, rich playboy Scotty Bullard, contacts him regarding a cache of photos he's discovered in the desk of his recently deceased father, a real estate mogul, Horn discovers that one of the underage girls posed in a provocative manner is Clea, who for a brief time was his stepdaughter, in a marriage that didn't last his prison stint. When Scotty is killed shortly thereafter, Horn gets involved in the search for his killer, as well as the group of men who were involved in the picture-taking and worse.

As I said, there is a lot of potential here. Even reviewing my quick plot intro, the book still sounds like a grabber. With its hero who can't quite live up to his onscreen heroics (there are some flashbacks to his time in WWII, when he came face-to-face with paralyzing fear) and the neat reversal of roles with his Indian partner, as well as the time period, an era when Los Angeles was going through fast growth and development (not too far removed from the time portrayed in _Chinatown_), and careful attention to period detail and history, all the elements would seem to be in place for a riveting novel. Unfortunately, this just isn't it. The book is very slow-moving and covers some of the same ground over and over, as Horn searches for the missing Clea, finds her, then loses her, then has to find her again. Wright tends to over-write and he has a hard time keeping the pace moving. Ultimately, the book is just sort of dull and was a real disappointment. I might still give a second John Horn book a chance, but it would have to correct some of the flaws in this first outing.

CLEA'S MOON comes to us with high expectations. In Great Britain it has won the CWA Debut Dagger for fiction which is not the award for best first novel (The Creasey Award) but judgment based on a 500 word synopsis of the book and the opening pages up to 3000 words . (I anticipate a nomination for the Creasey Award this year.) Though first published in Great Britain, the author is American and the characters and setting most assuredly are as well. It is a gem and another one of the year's best debuts.
John Ray Horn is a former star of B-movie westerns. Along with his "Tonto" or sidekick Indian friend Joseph Mad Dog, they provided many hours of enjoyment for young moviegoers. Now, however, Horn is out of the movie business after a prison term that resulted in a divorce. He works for his old friend, Mad Dog, collecting debts for the Indian's casino business. One day, Horn is contacted by an old friend, Scotty, who wants to show him some his father's pictures which he discovered after his father's death. The photos reveal very young girls in provocative positions. One of the photos is of Clea, Horn's former stepdaughter. When Horn contacts his ex-wife inquiring about Clea, he is told she has disappeared. Horn then pursues her. The search takes him to the dark and forbidden underworld of Los Angeles in the late 1940s.
CLEA'S MOON is an exceptional novel and what is even more remarkable is that it is a first novel. It runs on all cylinders right out of the starting gate. Characters, plot, pacing all combine to perfection in this wonderfully atmospheric novel. Horn, being a faded cowboy movie star, is an interesting main protagonist. What is especially intriguing throughout most of the book is the question as to why he was in prison. We learn the answer late in the book. Nothing is left to chance. The search for Clea propels the story along. However, once she is found, the question arises as to why she ran away. Pages fly by as we find out the stunning truth. Edward Wright is a journalist and, like so many journalists before him, has written a superb debut novel.

Hard to believe this is a first novel. Unique characters and excellent period detail set this book apart from most of today's crime fiction.

Well deserving of the British Debut Dagger. Let's hope we get to see more of John Ray Horn and his mid-century southern California.

Most Americans will not want to believe the contents of this book. Scott & Marshall compile mountains of evidence to support their conclusions. This book deserves more attention.

This book has all the possibilities of being an academic pot boiler. Divided into two parts, "Right-Wing Narcoterrorism, the CIA, and the Contras," and "Exposure and Cover-Up" and covering twelve chapters, including a glossary of terms, the book is one part investigative journalism and another academic treatise. In general, the book details the toleration or complicity of the American government with drug traffickers to protect the interests of national security or covert operations.
The book has a number of advantages and disadvantages. First, while perhaps a moot point is that a considerable amount of discussion focuses on South America rather than on Central America as promised in the title. Second, and perhaps an editorial point, while there is a four-and-a- half page glossary of names and organizations at the back of the book, there is a sort of breathless spouting off of a succession of names and organizations in the book. This is distracting and tiresome for the reader. Third, even though there is a phenomenal amount of documentation (i.e., approximately 23 percent of the book (a total of 64 pages) is devoted to notes) and a 14-page index, the authors rely on the same basic sources, including Kerry's subcommittee report and american and mainstream newspaper and magazine coverage; few articles come from the spanish speaking press, and few interviews are conducted with sources. Fourth, while the book is highly descriptive and reads like a murder mystery, it is short on analysis, theory building or testing, and/or recommending policy changes. Regardless, this book is a disturbing and sobering necessity for those wishing to understand the so-called war on drugs in the United States and the reasons U.S. foreign policy in Latin America is problematic, a best.

Jeffrey Ian Ross

Excellent book, responsibly written, clear and readable. The information in it is highly important if you want to understand what is going on. Just buying a second copy because my first got lent.

I left reading Powell's "Treason" wondering if his story was really worthy of a book. An meaty article in some highbrow magazine, surely, but a book?

Powell describes his involvement with bringing a Soviet turncoat, GRU Colonel Baranov, in from the cold. Baranov, disgruntled with the crumbling Soviet system, agreed to spy for the CIA. However, before he was able to do much of anything for the CIA, he was outed as a traitor. The book describes Baranov's career, and then Powell's efforts to bring the government into investigating the circumstances surrounding Baranov's arrest, almost certainly the work of a spy in the United States who betrayed Baranov to Moscow.

The main problem with the book is that it ends inconclusively. We never learn who betrayed Baranov. Furthermore, Baranov himself makes for a rather uninteresting subject of study when it comes to espionage, because his career as a traitor inside the GRU and agent for the CIA was over immediately after it began.

Readers will learn something about how spies like Baranov are recruited and operate - both into the intelligence services and then into betraying their countries. They will also learn a good bit about journalistic ethics and espionage (the book's high point). Another strong point is getting what is essentially a street level account of how badly the CIA can bungle seemingly routine tasks.

Overall, the book is well-written, and Baranov's story is a good one. I just don't think it was worth of a full-fledged book, even a short one like "Treason."

THis is an interesting read that raises questions about the lines a journalist should--or should not cross--when dealing with intelligence agents. I'm not sure that issue is addressed sufficiently here, in fact. Though the ending is a bit of a letdown, the story itself does draw the reader in and is unique enough to be of interest both to readers interested in spy stories as well as journalism. AN easy short read, so I recommend it.

What an experience! Hard to believe it'a a true story. I'm amazed by the author's courage.

Mr. Dover makes many assumptions, which may not be to ones benefit. Simply telling an agency to cease communication for example may stop the annoying phone call, but may speed a lawsuit in the debtors direction. Silence is not always golden. Be careful, examine your situtations carefully before taking Mr. Dovers advice.

Sending cease and desist letters works really well. And, since the collection agency has no rights whatsoever (as most people fail to realize) this bounces the ball back into the court of the person you actually owe money to-- stop wasting money giving it to collection agencies which will ruin your credit and not pay your debt- instead renegotiate with your debtor and save %20 or more-- this book is worht far more than it costs if you are in debt and behind in payments.

A friend recommended this book to me, and I have since recommended and in some cases, loaned, it to others. It literally saved me from making a huge mistake -- I still refer to this book from time to time.

The sample "CEASE & DESIST" letters in the appendices are tried and true and stop third-party debt collectors dead in their tracks. Once you have an understanding of your rights and how to exercise them, you will not feel so overwhelmed. Mr. Dover does an excellent job navigating and explaining the laws relating to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Do not be afraid to utilize the information in this book. Living in the lawsuit capital of the world, I have spent a lot of time researching both federal and state laws, and found Mr. Dover to be extremely accurate. If your account has been referred to an outside collection agency and the original creditor refuses to work with you, there is nothing to lose at this point.

This book is one big pack of lies, influenced by the CIA. The mission was a success. The Golf sub was broken into several pieces and recovered as planned. The story that 'the entire sub could be sliced apart by divers while suspended below the moon pool' is ridiculous. And the rated lift capacity of the Explorer was less than that needed to lift the dry-weight of the entire sub.

This book was spellbinding! Cotton Collier & Roy Varner make this "far-out" story come to life before your eyes. Throw in a little Howard Hughes and you get a killer story. Those Reds thought they could just sneak up and spy on us- forget it! Must read for CIA fans! I could not put the book down! My thanks for my friend good pal W.C. for turning me onto this mind numbing tale.

The definitive (published) account of the Glomar Explorer project to raise a sunken Soviet nuclear missile sub. Another book covering the same events, "The Jennifer Project" has little of the detail or drama of this book.

This is an excellent book, yet it still deserves only three stars. It deserves the lower rating for three reasons: 1) it was published in 1996 and is starting to show its age; 2)in spite of its title, it is really a historical snapshot of the Directorate of Intelligence of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) rather than the members of the intelligence community; and 3)it rather skims over CIA's interactions and relations with the other main intelligence players, the Intelligence and Research Bureau of the State Department and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Still the book has a lot to recommend it. Johnson is a meticulous researcher and a first rate analyst. He appears to have an excellent understanding of the intelligence process and one wishes he had elaborated on that process a bit more. His chapter on intelligence and economic security is extremely well thought out. Finally, his book provides a fair and well balanced history of the CIA during an extremely unsettled period.

I wish I could honestly give this book five stars.

Even though this book was published over six years ago, the insights it provides for today are invaluable. Through it's detailed history of the changes in fashion and mission in the United States' intelligence agencies, we begin to understand why the human intelligence assets were not in place to predict September 11, why we are often surprised by events in North Korea, and the challenges faced in creating the Department of Homeland Security. Johnson gives an even-handed, largely non-political view of these issues. It is refreshing to read an account written by someone with no apparent axe to grind.

Copious insights into the secret world of spies written by the master expert on world intelligence.

If you ever thought ALL "conspiracy theorists" were nutso (and most are), then you'd better read this book.

If you're naive enough to believe that the only governments who commit human rights atrocities against their people are in places like China or Burma or Turkey or Chile or Nigeria or Guatemala, then you'd better read this book.

While recent events have brought the FBI's abuses and corruption to public attention (e.g., former FBI lab sceintist Fred Whitehurst blowing the whistle on the FBI intentionally biasing lab test results and misrepresenting findings in court to convict defendents; the document-shredding coverup attempt by FBI officials in the Ruby Ridge incident; the scathing Bromwich Report from the Justice Department), none of these recent abuses compare to the Gestapo-like tactics employed against political activist groups in the 60's and 70's, as documented in this book.

Although I agree with the recommendation of the closely-related "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse" by the first reviewer (because it is a much more entertaining read, stylistically), I think this book is more important, due to its fastidious documentation of facts beyond what Matthiessen included, and due to the breadth of "Agents" coverage, which includes other movements targeted besides AIM (though AIM is definitely the primary focus here). Granted, this author has been involved in a silly feud with important leaders in the American Indian Movement, and I agree the Bellcourts definitely merit his respect; nevertheless, I think it's silly to bring in that outside spat as an excuse to pan such a detailed, hard-hitting, well researched book.

If you enjoyed this book, you can find a great historical survey of political repression in America (with the FBI frequently showing up) in Bud & Ruth Schultz' "It Did Happen Here".

In the introduction, Churchill and Vander Wall trace the founding of the FBI in the mid-20's by J. Edgar Hoover, as he emerged from helping carry out the Justice department's anti-leftist terror campaigns during and in the years following World War One, to its official authorization by Franklin Roosevelt in the mid-30's as a full-fledged sophisticated political police with virtual impunity. They note that the FBI was grossly incompetent and unwilling at fighting serious criminals like the Mafia, prefering to go after the petty criminals of the Dillinger variety, car thieves, and so on to gain cheap publicity for the bureau and its director and that their chief function was and is to protect the economic and political status quo from threats by organized leftists and others. They note the immense propaganda machine constructed by the bureau to portray Hoover as a great crimefighting genius and hero, though he was nothing more than a crazed, reactionary and very cunning bureaucrat, and the effective techniques of making "friends of the bureau" in certain media outlets who would tell the public what the bureau wanted them to know and the techniques of intimidation against those media outlets or ex-bureau agents who wanted to come out with the truth about the FBI.

They move on to discuss Cointelpro, the greatly successful attempts at infiltration, disruption and weakening of dissident groups, extended from the usual Communist and Socialist party targets, to various leftist groups, people like Martin Luther King, but especially the Black Panther Party in the late 60's. Making massive use of declassified FBI documents and other sources, the authors note the FBI attempt to split the BPP, provoke violence between members or factions or with other militant black groups, to spread media disinformation about them and to drain their resources and mental stability by subjecting its leading members to repeated arrests on spurious charges. These objectives were accomplished by fabricating anonymous letters to particular prominent individuals within the party alleging that other party members or factions were plotting against or even planning to murder them, the use of infiltrators/provacateurs to further egg on the factional strife (e.g. the split between Eldridge Cleaver and Huey Newton) and encourage violence between members (e.g. the murder of Fred Bennet by member Jimmie Carr who suspected Bennett of being a police informant, after being led to this impression by police informant Thomas Mosher; Carr himself was later murdered by two Panther members who suspected him of being a government agent) or between the BPP and the Ron Karenga's organization(e.g. the murder of BPP leaders Alprentice Carter and Jon Huggins), the use of "bad-jacketing" through infiltrators to spread the false idea that certain members of the party were government agents (e.g. which resulted in the murders of Huggins, Carter and Carr and which led to Stokely Carmichael's expulsion from the party by Huey Newton), the spreading of media disinformation about alleged financial impropriety and other crimes among certain party members to encourage mistrust and suspiscion within the party, and so on. Two particular cases examined are the murder by the Chicago police of Chicago Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in December 1969, using a detailed floor plan of Hampton's appartment that had been provided by FBI infiltrator and Hampton's bodygaurd William O'neal (for which the survivors of the attack and families of the victim were awared 1.8 million dollars by an arbitrator in 1983). They move on to analyze the spurious (mostly through the use of FBI informer Julius Butler and the efforts of infiltrator Melvin Cotton Smith) robbery/murder conviction of Los Angelas leader Geronimo Pratt in 1971, who had been subjected to much harrassment and arrests on spurious charges by the LA police before the 1969 murder of Caroline Olsen, and according to police infiltrator Louis Tackwood (who helped the FBI murder George Jackson) and "Cotton" smith, had specifically been designated to be "neutralized" the LAPD.

The bulk of the book is centered on the particularly severe Cointelpro operations (using many of the same operations as against the BPP, using such infiltrators as Douglass Durham and even possibly being involved in murder, as in the case of Ana Marie Aquash) directed against the American Indian Movement (AIM), particularly at the hub of its activity, on Pine Ridge reservation, Sioux territory, South Dakota, the center of great natural resources eagerly eyed by corporations, throughout the 1970's and beyond. The AIM had risen as a particularly effective organization to fight government violations of Indian treaty and civil rights (what little of those remained). The AIM organized "the trail of Broken Treaties" in 1972, a caravan of veichles that led thousands of Indians to Washington D.C. to hold protests. The authors document a patern of government lies and duplicty with regard to accomodating the protestors and other promises which led to the provoking of the AIM (along with the Bureau of Indian Affairs head in solidarity which got him fired afterward) taking over the Bureau of Indian Affairs building in Washington. The government blithely broke promises of non-prosecution of the BIA building incident, after the building had been released. On Pine Ridge, the government had been pouring funds into Dick Wilson's machine, who won the 1972 tribal presidency with considerable fraud, and proceeded to set up with FBI and Bureau of Indian affairs funds a paramilitary organization with the appropriate acronym of GOONS, who used terror against the inhabitants of Pine Ridge where AIM had widespread support. The next incident was the infamous "Siege of Wounded Knee," March-May 1973, the site where the army had massacred hundreds of Indian women and children in 1890, and where AIM leaders had gone to stage a press conference, only to find the Wounded Knee territory surrounded by FBI and Bureau of Indian Police, which AIM decided not to countenance, and they held down fort within Wounded Knee, gaining widespread international support and aid, with the FBI escalating the situation with its advanced weapons and other illegal Pentagon aid, with Dick Wilson's GOONS setting up illegal roadblocks and engaging in great violence with FBI support (but opposed by the U.S. Marshalls in this instance). After Wounded Knee, Dick Wilson's terrorists escalated their campaign, including murder, against AIM, with AIM members and traditional Indians filing innumerable complaints with the Justice Department and the FBI, which pleaded "lack of manpower" to deal with the situation, though their numbers continued to increase on the Pine Ridge reservation (in support of the Dick Wilson and theGOONS). Next came the "Oglala incident" near Pine Ridge in June 1975, with highly provocative FBI activity near the "Jumping Bull" compound in Oglala near Pine Ridge to "serve" a federal warrant for two youths who allegedly had gotten into a simple fist fight with a White boy shortly before. This resulted in a several day firefight with the Indians (most of whom carried weapons because of the climate of terror in the area) inside the "Jumping Bull" compound which resulted in the deaths of two FBI agents. The FBI proceeded to launch a reign of terror against Pine Ridge after the incident, looking for the murderers of the two agents, conducting innumerable warantless searches, ransacking houses, beating and threatening people. The authors examine the spurious charges brought against such AIM leaders as Richard Marshall (for murder and eventually released), Dennis Banks and Russel Means(both of whom suffered innumerable charges, including those for the incident at Wounded Knee, which judge Fred Nichol dismissed in 1975 on the grounds of gross FBI misconduct and fabrication), Bob Robideau and Dino Butler, and especially Leonard Peltier, who was alleged to have conducted the "execution" of the two FBI agents at the Oglala firefight. Peltier has become one of the international symbols of the American injustice system, promting widespread calls for his release and retrial, including from the Canadien government which originally extradited him back to the United States. For instance, a three judge panel in 1985, took note of the "improper conduct" of "some FBI agents" in Peltier's case, but ended their investigation there by saying that "we are reluctant to impute further improprieties to them."

The closing chapters deal with the FBI's increased attention on Cointelpro activities in Puerto Rico in the 1980's, including murder and burglary and harrassment. They continue with an account of large-scale burglary and harrassment operations against groups oppossing U.S. support for the Death squad regimes in Central America in the 1980's, particularly against the Committee in Solidarity with the people of El Salvador (CISPES). The FBI could never find any evidence that CISPES or

In "Agents of Repression" authors Ward Churchill and James Vanderwall have demonstrated the true workings of American "democracy" in all its glory.

The "Agents of Repression" exposes how the FBI launched one of its major programs of repression (COINTELPRO) in order to disrupt lower-class solidarity by instigating violence in African-American ghettos, direct participation in the police assassination of a Black Panther organizer, burglaries and harassment of the Socialist Workers Party over many years, and other methods of defamation and disruption.

A tremendouly important book and essential reading for anyone living under the delusion that America stands for liberty, justice and fraternity.

This book is a complicated mixture of truth and deceptions, which appears to be designed to hide a crucial problem from the public by placing only a portion of it in plain view. I am a clinical psychologist. The truth in the material Dr. Ross presents is shocking and appalling: that our intelligence and military are systematically creating unwitting mind-controlled slaves using horrifying techniques to deliberately split personalities through the use of hideous trauma and other sophisticated tortures. Many of these techniques are shown in TV and movies, presented as fiction so we discount the possibility of their reality. This report also explains why treatments for mental illnesses which work are being systematically ignored in the mental health professions, a fact which has puzzled me for years. Other parts of the book mislead. For example, all the perpetrators named are conveniently dead: some mere months or weeks before publication. Another example: Dr. Ross states that satanic ritual abuse is not real. Staff of units specializing in Multiple Personality Disorder have told me that when the staff begins to take reports of satanic abuse from patients seriously, funding for the programs has been cut off. It is certainly true that most such units have been closed down, and those which survive are staffed by people who can maintain a studied "therapeutic neutrality". Of course, this lack of support for the validity of the patient's experiences is further traumatizing rather than healing. I will leave it to the reader to draw conclusions about this situation. I regret I consider it unwise to sign my name and full credentials.

This book is probably the most factually supported publication I have read. Nearly every paragraph is footnoted or referenced at least once.

Dr. Ross is extra careful to only state that which he has found through Freedom of Information Act searches. BUT, this is what makes this title hard to follow.

Dr. Ross firmly establishes the U. S. Government's participation is mind control experimentation a la "Manchurian Candidate" art.

If you need to convince yourself that the U. S. Government would sponsor unethical medical research, then this book is a MUST.

If you want to read a light summary of unethical activities of the government, THIS IS NOT the resource.

Colin Ross, M.D., a well-established psychiatrist and researcher in the field of dissociative disorders, has put together a collection of evidence showing how psychiatry has been hijacked by government military and mind control agendas. This book is primarily just a review of government programs and documents, providing irrefutable evidence of how psychiatric professionals worked with government sponsored programs to fragment people's minds, using a variety of techniques, such as drugs, torture, electronics and electroshock, hypnosis, food & sleep deprivation, and sensory deprivation. This information is not pleasant or entertaining to read unless one happens to be a sadist. However, it is useful for clinicians and patients to have an understanding of how dissociation has been deliberately created, providing insights into how the resulting conditions may be effectively healed. This book would also be of interest to historical researchers, especially those who seek to examine covert agendas and conspiratorial activity. Ross specifically states that this book is not about any conspiracy theory or critique of government agencies and their motives, while he does express his intent to expose psychiatric professionals involved in mind control for their breach of professional oaths and ethics. This aspect of the text is somewhat disappointing, as Ross defends the CIA and other government operations for their exploration of mind control to serve national "security" and "defense" interests. If psychiatrists are acting in a contemptible manner by abusing their clients and manipulating patients' minds against their will, then why should CIA or military personnel be excused for pursuing those agendas just because they don't have a professional guideline opposed to such activities? Only through coercion and deceit can the government carry out the mind control research and applications, which would mean that in order to supposedly "fight to protect American freedom and values" the government itself must flout those freedoms and values. I am under the impression that Colin Ross has become less forgiving of government motives and agendas subsequent to the publication of this book, but I encourage readers to consider this issue carefully when reading the comments in Bluebird about the motives and culpabilities related to mind control abuses. Otherwise, this was an excellent book, providing the information that the author set out to publicize in order to help expose psychiatric abuses and aid those seeking to heal MPD & DID.

The author is no doubt the master of his domain in as far as the Southeast Asia (the Golden Triangle) is concerned, but only 20 or so pages talk about Golden Crescent, while more than 400 pages are about very minutely detailed drug trade (& politics/ economics) of the Golden Triangle. Considering that countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan earn more than $12b in drug trade every year (only about $1b worth foreign exchange in legal exports), the importance of drug money in financing these breeding grounds of terrorism can't be emphasised enough.
I have to admit that the writing style lacks pace, and I was often confused with the different names that keep cropping up as the author goes back and forth in history. This is a great book for anyone wanting to understand the Southeast Asia though.

By all accounts, this is the standard reference on the explosive topic of drugs and politics; the reputation is well deserved despite several shortcomings. The volume is lengthy, the style impersonal, the language carefully measured, the conclusions temperate in the extreme. All in all, qualities befitting a scholarly navigation through minefields that customarily produce heavy-handed hyperbole. Distinguishing Mc Coy's work is the inclusive historical background each topic receives as it evolves over the pages into the familiar news stories of the day. Thus, the roots of heroin addiction among GI's in Vietnam is traced back in time to Kuomintang exiles of northern Burma and to the politics of intrigue among the many power-brokers of southeast Asia. The reader emerges from this hundred page excursion knowing a great deal more about the Golden Triangle than he perhaps wanted, but nonetheless is thoroughly informed about that murky but crucial region.

Oddly missing from the book is a similar historical account of Turkey's role as a major supplier of First World markets. Though mentioned sporadically, Turkey remains largely outside the text's focus, despite its traditional connection to Mediterranean traffickers. Also eclipsed is Mc Coy's all-too-brief discussion of Latin America's part in the developing world of drug trade, about which so much new material has surfaced since the book's 1991 publishing date. Unfortunately, readers looking for material on these critical areas should look elsewhere.

No book on the drug trade is complete without a discussion of the role the CIA has played in boosting the industry's world-wide network. Here Mc Coy's cautious approach is paticularly damning in its findings. In a brief but telling conclusion, CIA policy is indicted for protecting drug lords in the name of national security, and for directly contradicting Drug Enforcement Agency's efforts to interdict major traffickers. Worse, he sees a growing tolerance for narcotics as an informal weapon of covert warfare whose trajectory now extends beyond Cold War confines. Considering the evidence amassed of at least indirect CIA complicity in a variety of hot spots, such conclusions are hardly overblown. However, his hope for both a reformed CIA and domestic War on Drugs are, it would seem, tenuous at best, given the global size of wealth and power that is at stake. As his book has shown, Cold War or no, the political economy of illegal narcotics, with its often useful underworld connections and expanded instruments of repression, is simply too powerful a tool for empire builders of any stripe to surrender.

Ever since the publication of this updated edition
in 1991, this book has been an essential text
for those trying to understand the "war on
drugs," the exceedingly dangerous role of the CIA
in influencing the course of history, and
historical relations between drugs and empire.
But now the book takes on crucial new
significance. Anybody attempting to comprehend
how billions of U.S. dollars were spent in
creating the agents and forces that launched
the September 11 attacks should read McCoy's
final chapter. And this chapter suggests
what a treacherous path has now been chosedn for ou
nation and the world by the very same people
who created and nurtured the Frankenstein's monster
now lurking in Afghanistan and developing
new schemes for destroying its creator.