A review by cdcovington
The Craft of Intelligence: America's Legendary Spy Master on the Fundamentals of Intelligence Gathering for a Free World by Allen W. Dulles

4.0

This was a really interesting read. While it's more of a historical reference at this point, for someone completely outside the spy business, this book was very informative. A lot of it reflects the time it was written in, and with hindsight, you can see how laughable it was that the Soviet Union was going to turn all of Asia and Europe communist. The section about how Mossadegh was just a tool of the Soviets was outrageous and enraging.

At turns a justification for the existence of the CIA and a history of spying, this is a good reference for someone looking to write a spy novel set in the early Cold War era.