Books › The devil's chessboard › Books like it
If you loved
Books like The devil's chessboard
A chilling, page-turning descent into the shadowy origins of the American deep state that reads like a Cold War thriller. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with The devil's chessboard.
- paranoid
- shadowy
- dread-soaked
- 01
Legacy of Ashes
Tim Weiner · 2007
A meticulously documented dismantling of a powerful institution's mythos that reads like a slow-motion geopolitical trainwreck.
- 02
Cia
William Blum
A relentless, meticulously documented dismantling of imperial mythology that leaves you deeply outraged and forever changed.
- 03
The Billion Dollar Spy
David Emanuel Hoffman
A meticulously documented descent into the paranoid, high-stakes shadows of Cold War Moscow that reads like a masterclass in suspense.
- 04
The Grand Chessboard
Zbigniew Brzezinski · 1999
A masterclass in cold, calculated geopolitical strategy that views the globe as a literal game board.
- 05
JFK and the unspeakable
James W. Douglass
A methodical, dread-inducing descent into the shadows of the Cold War military-industrial complex and the tragic cost of pursuing peace.
- 06
All the Shah's Men
Stephen Kinzer
A real-life geopolitical thriller that traces the tragic, shadowy roots of modern international conflict through a gripping narrative of espionage and hubris.
- 07
A Spy Among Friends Kim Philby And The Great Betrayal
Ben Macintyre
A chilling, real-life espionage thriller wrapped in a tragic study of aristocratic hubris and shattered friendship.
- 08
In the garden of beasts
Erik Larson
A slow-burn descent into a glamorous nightmare, watching the walls of history close in on people who don't yet realize they are trapped.
- 09
The dead hand
David Hoffman
A chilling, real-life geopolitical thriller that plunges you into the paranoid, apocalyptic twilight of the Cold War.
- 10
The search for the "Manchurian candidate"
John Marks
A chilling, investigative plunge into the darkest, most secretive corners of government-sponsored psychological manipulation.
- 11
Blowback
Simpson, Christopher. · 1988
A chilling, meticulously documented descent into the shadowy compromises made at the dawn of the Cold War.
- 12
The Doomsday Machine
Daniel Ellsberg
A chilling, insider account of bureaucratic madness that reads like a high-stakes thriller about the end of the world.
