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The devil's chessboard
720 pages
A chilling, page-turning descent into the shadowy origins of the American deep state that reads like a Cold War thriller.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like stepping into a smoke-filled back room where the real decisions of the twentieth century were made. It is a propulsive, dread-soaked experience that transforms dense historical archives into a gripping narrative of unchecked power and institutional hubris. The prose is urgent and damning, pulling you through a labyrinth of shadow governments, covert operations, and moral compromises with the pacing of a high-stakes espionage thriller. As you turn the pages, a creeping sense of paranoia sets in, replacing conventional historical narratives with a chilling disillusionment. It is an absolute feast for political junkies and history buffs who crave investigative journalism that challenges the official record and exposes the dark underbelly of American global dominance.
- Mood
- paranoid
- shadowy
- dread-soaked
- Tone
- investigative
- urgent
- damning
- cynical
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- unchecked power · shadow government · historical disillusionment · erosion of democracy
- The writing
- Journalistic and gripping, weaving dense archival research into a narrative that reads like a high-stakes espionage thriller.
- The arc
- Moves from intrigued historical curiosity to a profound, chilling disillusionment regarding the hidden machinery of American power.
- Who it's for
- Readers who devour deep-dive investigative history and harbor a healthy skepticism of institutional power.
Content notes
- political assassinations
- government corruption
- war crimes
- historical violence
About the book
"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 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 expose 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."--provided by publisher.
Description from Open Library.
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