The Devil's Chessboard

Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government

De: David Talbot

Narrado por: Peter Altschuler

An explosive, headline-making portrait of Allen Dulles, the man who transformed the CIA into the most powerful—and secretive—colossus in Washington, from the founder of Salon.com and author of the New York Times bestseller Brothers.

America’s greatest untold story: the United States’ rise to world dominance under the guile of Allen Welsh Dulles, the longest-serving director of the CIA. Drawing on revelatory new materials—including newly discovered U.S. government documents, U.S. and European intelligence sources, the personal correspondence and journals of Allen Dulles’s wife and mistress, and exclusive interviews with the children of prominent CIA officials—Talbot reveals the underside of one of America’s most powerful and influential figures.

Dulles’s decade as the director of the CIA—which he used to further his public and private agendas—were dark times in American politics. Calling himself “the secretary of state of unfriendly countries,” Dulles saw himself as above the elected law, manipulating and subverting American presidents in the pursuit of his personal interests and those of the wealthy elite he counted as his friends and clients—colluding with Nazi-controlled cartels, German war criminals, and Mafiosi in the process. Targeting foreign leaders for assassination and overthrowing nationalist governments not in line with his political aims, Dulles employed those same tactics to further his goals at home, Talbot charges, offering shocking new evidence in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

An exposé of American power that is as disturbing as it is timely, The Devil’s Chessboard is a provocative and gripping story of the rise of the national security state—and the battle for America’s soul.

One of the best books I've recently read

This is a fantastic book. I'm aware of many things the CIA has been involved in, but did not know about the extensive career Allen Dulles had and the hand he had in world affairs. This book was fascinating to me. Many are aware of the transition of the OSS to the CIA and the control the CIA had and has over America, but the book goes into great detail about the history of this. It also sheds light on the how's and why's of what the CIA did and the control it assumed over the government and beyond. There is a lot of excellent history taught in this book as well as the unscrupulous things Dulles did throughout his long career with the CIA. I can't say enough good things about this book. I read for education and this book delivered in the CIA and deep state arena.

Dulles and Angleton

loved it, Angleton and Dulles. A story of ego and power and the ultimate in hypocrisy. Where enhanced interrogation may have begun.

Very important book!

The Real Allen Dulles. This book contains information that American Main Stream media won't like. Information they would rather not know and definitely not pass along to their readers. But, it's a story that needed to be told. David Talbot was the perfect author to tell it.

Written through a certain lens....

But it's a good book and necessary reading. Dulles needs to be understood before mid and late 20th century politics can be understood. Period. Performance was absolutely perfect. This gentleman could read me the dictionary and I would pay top dollar for it. This book is worth your time.

Too much speculation !

Not objective! I would prefer less opinion and more facts. In particular the Kennedy assassinations presented too much speculation as fact.