The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government

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(as of Oct 25, 2024 22:42:45 UTC – Details)

Based on explosive new evidence, best-selling author David Talbot tells 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 exclusive interviews with the children of prominent CIA officials, the personal correspondence and journals of Allen Dulles’ wife and mistress, newly discovered US government documents, and US and European intelligence sources – Talbot reveals the underside of one of America’s most powerful and influential figures.

Dulles’ decades 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, culminating in the assassination of his political enemy, John F. Kennedy.

Indeed, The Devil’s Chessboard offers shocking new evidence in the killings of both President Kennedy and his brother, Senator Robert F. Kennedy. This is an expose of American power that is as disturbing as it is timely, a provocative and gripping story of the rise of the national security state – and the battle for America’s soul.

10 reviews for The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government

  1. Elizabeth Gallagher

    Evil has a name and it is Dulles
    I have not yet finished this book but it is one I feel should be read by all.The machinations of the Dulles brothers and the OSS, CIA et al are set out in an incredibly easy to read book which makes for uncomfortable reading.If , like me you already have a belief that CIA should stand for Criminals In America then the breaking down of what events they were involved in is not a surprise. It is just when you read what they did, how they did it that you become more and more stunned. I have laughed as I read as I get use to the inevitability of the methods, of the names I will read and connections involved. The overwhelming sadness of what might have been, for all of us, the deaths and lives lost or destroyed, all because of one man and his brother and their belief and loyalty to corporate America.I came to this book through my research into the Kennedy assassination, but as the events on 22111963 have become the story of the magic bullet and the grassy knoll I feel that 50 plus years on it is actually books like this we should be looking at, this is the history we should be exposing, if we are ever to have a hope in actually getting any kind of justice for JFK. The smoke and mirrors of conspiracy hide just what the American Gov has accepted in the behaviour of the CIA and other agencies so the American Empire could be established. Reading this you have a grudging acceptance of the cleverness of the evil. A hopelessness that it is unbeatable. A despair of how we can change it. I think that an acceptance of the facts in this book, an understanding of our being brainwashed and a congregation of people who want a better world and a sharing of this information will be a start. That is why I strongly recommend this book, then researching and reading others cited in it, and then understanding events in context of sociology, history and psychology to understand what the hell is going on today in our world.

  2. Harry Buckle

    Read this .Not to be missed.
    Seems super convincing to me, and I have spent my life avoiding conspiracy theorists. Unlike many of the ‘Mafia’ killed both Kennedy’s (J and R) books’, in this one,the time lines seem meticulously researched and pan out convincingly. Conspiracy Theories? In my own life – I knew Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Charles Manson – and I happened also to have apparently been recruited by both MI6 and the KGB – and so have spent many years disentangling the risable from the real. (I recount some of that in ‘ Sometime Music Is My Only Friend ‘- by Harry Buckle – Amazon ) That, obviously a very different style of book to David Talbots excellent and very detailed re-investigation of the mysterious and murky that lurk together in the clandestine worlds of necessary – or imagined – national security. Mixes naked ambition with real or alleged ‘Defence of the Realm’- in this case mainly ‘ Taking Care of Uncle Sam’ and the potential for abuse by those responsible for same. Thrilling read also–great style. Read it and consider the need for a strong and independent security service- especially when the next POTUS is seemingly- a tad IMPOTUOUS. Diplomacy is usually key to the avoidance of armed conflict- on the other hand pontificating prevaricating politicians tend to stumble from crisis to crisis, so maybe some plain speaking is in order. Whatever? Read this book.It will sow seeds of knowledge and concern for the decade or two.

  3. advokat

    Enjoyable, if you forgive the limitations.
    A lively book, well written, in the style of an intelligent journalist (not historian or political scientist). The book pretends to look at the post war history of the USA foreign policies through the prism of Allen Dulles’ biography. It is not a comprehensive history, but even people who think they know the story will find many telling details. Ideologically, it is a sane non-Marxist left. Notably, the author has included several admiring pages about Charles Wright Mills. If you are comfortable with CWM, you will be comfortable with this book. If you have read “The Brothers” by Stephen Kinzer, it will be an additional reason to buy this book as well. The two books complement each other. It seems that Talbot (who published his book after Kinzer) has deliberately abstained from covering the same ground as had been covered in “The Brothers”. Certain overlap is inevitable, but it is minimal. Obversely, if you bought this book, it is advisable to read Kinzer as well. Both books are written in the same style, by people who share ideological outlook. It seems that Talbot covers more terrain, and he handles the mass of material well. The story is mostly human-based, no serious discussion of geopolitics or international strategy. The author is permanently in shock in respect of infamies committed by Dulles brothers (as is Kinzer). It seems, from the book, that Allen Dulles was acting out of pure malice and depravity. No serious attempts to discuss strategic imperatives behind the actions. The refrain seems to be – he genuinely cared about America, but he cared about his class more, and he committed some despicable things in the process of defending both. It is an extended WaPo story, not a thoughtful book on the post-war international strategies. Be warned about these limitations, discount them, and enjoy the book.

  4. Kindle Customer Iain

    Excellent read.
    A book which firmly established a conspiracy was involved in the death of JFK if only by Allen Dulles efforts “serving” on the Warren Commission to steer any evidence of the CIA in and around Oswald or Dallas away from the Commission ‘s investigators.

  5. Malcolm Tierney

    Essential reading
    It is my opinion that this book should be read by everyone who is literate.It chronicles the rise of the C.I.A. and the career of Allen Dulles its director under Eisenhower and how the military industrial complex of the U.S.A. became the indivisible unit that it now is and the consequences globally of this leviathan which is beyond control.It is all too easy to see how the British Conservative Party has been wooed by the United States and fallen starry eyed and indebted into its clutches with very serious consequences for the unwitting citzenry of the United Kingdom.

  6. Olivia

    Entertaining. Informartive and provides evidence that history does repeat itself. Very well written, well paced and appears to be well researched.

  7. steve salmon

    Highly researched and very readable. Explains a lot about where we are today. He’s one of the most respected researchers on the subject.

  8. laura beatriz de oliveira leite de almeida

    Gostei bastante.

  9. louie iliov

    Recomended

  10. Téléacheteur

    Avec un souci du détail et une rigueur extrême, l’auteur nous expose la naissance et quelques éléments de l’action de la CIA pendant la Guerre Froide, à travers la vie de son créateur, Allen Dulles. C’est, de plus, le livre le plus convaincant que j’aie lu sur l’assassinat de Kennedy et la fabrication du conspirationisme. Je recommande vivement ce livre.

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