More of a historical perspective of the CIA really

I looked into this book hoping for a good primer of information in the general how-to of the craft, and what I got tended to center a great deal more on the history and context of the United States and its deadly subversive enemy, "The Soviets", their tactics and their hold over a number of nations at the time the book was written.

It's interesting, I give it that, and it explains a lot about why certain aspects of American patriotism are the way they are, what the now age-old and cliche hatred of all things related to "communism" is historically grounded in.

I do not, however, feel as though it gives much instruction or explanation of how to gather and analyze intelligence. It says a lot about the Intelligence Agency, the people it hires, the fronts it fights on, their reputation and some of their accomplishments and failures. But frustratingly little about how others might do some of what they do.

Also as others have pointed out, the book is homophobic, carrying that bias of its time among others. It doesn't permeate the entire book, but there are a couple of places where it essentially says, from the perspective of the time, that homosexuals have a weak and exploitable moral character and should not be trusted in the CIA or positions of power which need to be secure against corruption.

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