Thomas, Evan. The Very Best Men: Four Who Dared -- The Early Years of the
CIA. New York: Simon & Schuster (Touchstone Edition), 1996. 427 pages.
This is a biography of four key cold warriors who shaped the CIA
during its early years: Frank Wisner, Desmond FitzGerald, Tracy Barnes,
and Richard Bissell. To his credit, author Evan Thomas, the Washington
bureau chief of Newsweek magazine, spent two years negotiating with the
CIA for the release of files. He also interviewed many friends and relatives
of these four. (Since Washington is a small town in these circles, with
Thomas a member of the club, he probably he got more than the usual amount
of cooperation.) Best of all, this book is well-written and enjoyable.
There isn't terribly much that's new here to interest a close student
of CIA history, even as Thomas skillfully adds a personal dimension to the
story that was lacking. For those who find it fascinating to know how these
four saw themselves, even more than to know what they did, this book is a
major contribution. There are good chapters on Guatemala in 1954 and the
Bay of Pigs in 1961, and more proof that Robert Kennedy was obsessed with
retaliating against Castro after his brother's humiliation. But there is
nearly nothing on counterintelligence, nor on cultural and media operations
and connections -- presumably because these four were not directly involved.
ISBN 0-684-82538-4
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