ogd5XOt reviewed From the Shadows by Robert Gates
Truly Excellent Cold War Insight
5 stars
Robert Gates had a voluminous career in government, beginning in CIA in the '60's and ending with his role as Secretary of Defense under by Bush 43 and Obama. This book covers the period from the beginning of his career to his confirmation at Bush 41's Director of Central Intelligence.
During that period, Gates moved back and forth between the White House and CIA, working with and alongside many of the titans of Cold War foreign policy. His book covers those people in human terms based on first-hand experience. While the text is dense with places, numbers, and dates, it always keeps its focus squarely on the people and their thinking.
He's a talented writer and the book remains an easy read despite being heavy on contextual details. His sense of human is always present, and he has zero issue telling embarrassing stories about himself or amusing anecdotes of the …
Robert Gates had a voluminous career in government, beginning in CIA in the '60's and ending with his role as Secretary of Defense under by Bush 43 and Obama. This book covers the period from the beginning of his career to his confirmation at Bush 41's Director of Central Intelligence.
During that period, Gates moved back and forth between the White House and CIA, working with and alongside many of the titans of Cold War foreign policy. His book covers those people in human terms based on first-hand experience. While the text is dense with places, numbers, and dates, it always keeps its focus squarely on the people and their thinking.
He's a talented writer and the book remains an easy read despite being heavy on contextual details. His sense of human is always present, and he has zero issue telling embarrassing stories about himself or amusing anecdotes of the people he served with. It's a rare work that manages to be informative as a historical text and equally entertaining.
Gates witnessed, and frequently played roles in, some of the biggest US maneuvers of the Cold War and his book is a must read for students of intelligence or geopolitics.