Product Description

Allen Dulles was at the forefront of building a U.S. spy service long before WWII and was the driving force behind the CIA.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1332700 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In a conventionally organized but somewhat superficially sourced biography governed by a subtle patriotic tone, Srodes takes a generally approving view of the man who, more than anybody else, defined the mission of the Central Intelligence Agency. The book's organization is strictly chronological, touching on Dulles's prominent (but not wealthy) ancestry before it chronicles his life (1893-1969). A Washington, D.C., journalist, Srodes (Dream Maker: The Rise and Fall of John Z. De Lorean) undertook the Dulles biography at the urging of the spymaster's sister Eleanor, herself a well-known economist and diplomat until her death at age 101. Dulles has received less attention than his more famous brother, John Foster Dulles, secretary of state under President Eisenhower at the same time Allen was forming the CIA. While Dulles's contemporaries took his extramarital escapades, low profile and sense of humor as signs of frivolity, Srodes sees these actions and traits as just the exterior of a complex man. Furthermore, Srodes argues against the conventional wisdom that Dulles was largely a failure because of U.S. policy toward Cuba (especially the Bay of Pigs), Iran, Indonesia and Vietnam. Rather, Srodes presents Dulles as a capable, moral, loyal, persistent man who left the world a better place. Less notable for its insight into policy than into character, the book is distinguished largely by the access Srodes had to previously restricted family papers, access that gave him an advantage over Dulles's two previous biographers, Leonard Mosley and Peter Grose, neither of whom is mentioned in the bibliography.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Thirty years after Allen Dulles's death, journalist Srodes presents a biography of one of our country's foremost spymasters, a man who set the standard for espionage. Dulles came from an Ivy League background and got an early start in diplomacy at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. Service in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II gave him the experience and the connections to become head of the new Central Intelligence Agency in 1953. During the next decade, he shaped it in his own image, supporting uprisings in Iran and Guatemala and failures in Vietnam and the Bay of Pigs. Forced out in 1961 by Kennedy, he finished his remarkable career serving on the Warren Commission that investigated Kennedy's assassination. Srodes covers the material well, helping us understand his mercurial and exuberant subject. But Peter Grose's magisterial Gentleman Spy: The Life of Allen Dulles (LJ 12/94) is better researched and perhaps better written. All libraries should possess at least one of these biographies for their collections.AEdward Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
This second biography of Dulles is perceptibly more admiring than was the first (Gentleman Spy by Peter Grose, 1994). Srodes credits Dulles with being ahead of conventional wisdom, for example, in leading American intelligence away from its ad hoc wartime status to sounder bureaucratic footings in the CIA. The issue of intelligence's purposes and organization aside, Srodes delivers the cradle-to-grave narrative. Dulles seemed to have a genetic interest in foreign affairs: his grandfather was a Union general and diplomat, and an uncle was Wilson's second secretary of state. Dulles went from Princeton into the foreign service, which by default doubled its diplomatic function with intelligence gathering. Dulles did both in Vienna, a sensitive post in World War I. He reprised and exceeded his performance in the next world war, as the OSS chief in Switzerland, with Srodes covering his interim careers as lawyer, failed congressional candidate, Council on Foreign Relations bigwig, and CIA director. Competent content-wise, this work's utilitarian style might deflect casual readers but not committed devotees of espionage history. Gilbert Taylor

Customer Reviews

Serious Book for Serious Professionals
This is a book that had to be written and needs to be read by those who seek to understand Allen Dulles in greater depth. The author does break new ground and add valuable new detail to the history of Allen Dulles, and his hard work in bringing us this book merits appreciation. Having said that, I confess to three disappointments: 1) the use of years to demarcate the chapters, rather than meaningful titles, is both boring and representative of the book's lack of presentational "zing"; 2) the book obsesses on Allen Dulles as the center of the earth and leaves out the context within which Dulles achieved his successes-casual references to how he operated two additional French networks, for example, without covering the arduous and detailed path that led to the creation and maintenance of those networks, leave one feeling as if Dulles simply waved a magic wand to create networks whole-bodied and in full force; and 3) the conclusion of the book, purportedly a review of what Allen Dulles would see and feel if he examined today's intelligence community, is generally on target but rather terse-nothing that one could take to an incoming President to energize him into revitalizing and enhancing our national intelligence community. There are some gems in this book that reflect the author's dedication and merit notice: Richard Helms reflecting on how America came much too close to losing World War II; Walt Rostow on calming the Kennedy's and preventing a rash counter-attack once the Bay of Pigs was known to be a disaster-this is the stuff of history, and I therefore heartily recommend this book as a valuable contribution to our understanding of Allen Dulles' place in history.

The best yet on Allen Dulles and his creation.
This is a phenomenal book about both Allen Dulles and the intelligence world. If you have any interest at all in the subject, then put your pennies on the counter for a great read. Clearly Srodes has an inside track with the intel community and the reader benefits.

Fascinating biography that rips right along
This is a wonderful biography -- lots of drama and dirt, spycraft and sleaziness. Srodes paints a vivid picture of Dulles -- he gets into the pores of the man as well as the young CIA. A great read.