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Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 967.51031 EAN: 9781586484057 ISBN: 1586484052 Label: PublicAffairs Manufacturer: PublicAffairs Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 312 Publication Date: March 12, 2007 Publisher: PublicAffairs Studio: PublicAffairs Editorial Review: Product Description: A master spy's memoir of playing the game in the most strategically influential country in 1960s Africa. Larry Devlin arrived as the new chief of station for the CIA in the Congo five days after the country had declared its independence, the army had mutinied, and governmental authority had collapsed. As he crossed the Congo River in an almost empty ferry boat, all he could see were lines of people trying to travel the other way--out of the Congo. Within his first two weeks he found himself on the wrong end of a revolver as militiamen played Russian-roulette, Congo style, with him. During his first year, the charismatic and reckless political leader, Patrice Lumumba, was murdered and Devlin was widely thought to have been entrusted with (he was) and to have carried out (he didn't) the assassination. Then he saved the life of Joseph Desire Mobutu, who carried out the military coup that presaged his own rise to political power. Devlin found himself at the heart of Africa, fighting for the future of perhaps the most strategically influential country on the continent, its borders shared with eight other nations. He met every significant political figure, from presidents to mercenaries, as he took the Cold War to one of the world's hottest zones. This is a classic political memoir from a master spy who lived in wildly dramatic times. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Keep In Context And Consider The SourceThis memoir by the man who was CIA station chief at the birth of the modern Congo can spark reactions from repulsion to admiration for the man, his mission, and the many, many less-than-perfect players in the game at the time. Although any such work needs to be read with a grain of salt and full recognizance that the author isn't about to destroy his own reputation, Devlin's book is, I think, an accurate account of the events of the times. His no-holds-barred discussion of Patrice Lumumba ... Read More Rating:  - The Way It Was -- Honest & UnvarnishedThis is a great book of how one man can could make a difference in the Cold War. Author Devlin chose to concentrate on his time as the CIA Station Chief in the Congo (now Zaire) in the early and mid 1960s but one suspects that his earlier time as a case officer (in an unstated country) and later as station chief in Laos might be equally enlightening. Devlin did his job to the best of his ability, acting always in the interest of the United States, and sometimes taking enormous risks ... Read More Rating:  - Great personal experiences, but not the best wordsmithIt's worth a read, however, I still felt like he left a lot of the inner workings of a CIA station unremarked. His personal dangers and bravery in the face of them are honorable and America should be grateful we had him to care for things in the Congo during that crucial time. However, I still feel unsatisfied with the book somehow, and it did drag in some places. Rating: - In the dark at the timeI was a teacher in the mid 1960s at a Tanzanian school of social science and for adult Tanzanians who were moving into mainly mid level leadership roles in the country. I was sent there by an undergraduate volunteer group from Harvard that looked for funding from various sources, one or two of which were probably conduits for CIA or closely related money, though our understanding of where the money came from was vague then, and still is now as far as I know (and of course we didn't see that where some of ... Read More Rating: - Chief Of Station CIA The CongoThis book arrived quicker than I thought. We are planning to move and I thought this book would not make it in time for our move. It came as almost a brand new book and after I read it will ad it to all my books on Africa. Thank you seller for this good looking book! |
