'A darkly entertaining tale about American espionage, set in an era
when Washington's fear and skepticism about the agency resembles
our climate today.' New York Times At the end of World War II, the
United States dominated the world militarily, economically, and in
moral standing - seen as the victor over tyranny and a champion of
freedom. But it was clear - to some - that the Soviet Union was
already executing a plan to expand and foment revolution around the
world. The American government's strategy in response relied on the
secret efforts of a newly-formed CIA. The Quiet Americans
chronicles the exploits of four spies - Michael Burke, a charming
former football star fallen on hard times, Frank Wisner, the scion
of a wealthy Southern family, Peter Sichel, a sophisticated German
Jew who escaped the Nazis, and Edward Lansdale, a brilliant ad
executive. The four ran covert operations across the globe, trying
to outwit the ruthless KGB in Berlin, parachuting commandos into
Eastern Europe, plotting coups, and directing wars against
Communist insurgents in Asia. But time and again their efforts went
awry, thwarted by a combination of stupidity and ideological
rigidity at the highest levels of the government - and more
profoundly, the decision to abandon American ideals. By the
mid-1950s, the Soviet Union had a stranglehold on Eastern Europe,
the US had begun its disastrous intervention in Vietnam, and
America, the beacon of democracy, was overthrowing democratically
elected governments and earning the hatred of much of the world.
All of this culminated in an act of betrayal and cowardice that
would lock the Cold War into place for decades to come. Anderson
brings to the telling of this story all the narrative brio, deep
research, sceptical eye, and lively prose that made Lawrence in
Arabia a major international bestseller. The intertwined lives of
these men began in a common purpose of defending freedom, but the
ravages of the Cold War led them to different fates. Two would quit
the CIA in despair, stricken by the moral compromises they had to
make; one became the archetype of the duplicitous and destructive
American spy; and one would be so heartbroken he would take his own
life. Scott Anderson's The Quiet Americans is the story of these
four men. It is also the story of how the United States, at the
very pinnacle of its power, managed to permanently damage its moral
standing in the world.
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