Spytime; The Undoing of James Jesus Angleton, A Novel
New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2000. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. [12], 305, [3] pages. DJ has some sticker residue at top front. William Frank Buckley Jr. (born William Francis Buckley; November 24, 1925 – February 27, 2008) was an American conservative author and commentator. He founded National Review magazine in 1955, which had a major impact in stimulating the conservative movement; hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line (1966–1999), where he became known for his transatlantic accent and wide vocabulary; and wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column along with numerous spy novels. George H. Nash, a historian of the modern American conservative movement, said Buckley was "arguably the most important public intellectual in the United States in the past half century… For an entire generation, he was the preeminent voice of American conservatism and its first great ecumenical figure." Buckley's primary contribution to politics was a fusion of traditional American political conservatism with laissez-faire economic theory and anti-communism, laying groundwork for the new American conservatism of presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and President Ronald Reagan, both Republicans. Former Senate Republican leader Bob Dole said "Buckley lighted the fire". Buckley wrote God and Man at Yale (1951) and more than fifty other books on writing, speaking, history, politics, and sailing, including a series of novels featuring CIA agent Blackford Oakes. Buckley referred to himself as either a libertarian or conservative. James Jesus Angleton (December 9, 1917 – May 11, 1987) was chief of CIA Counterintelligence from 1954 to 1975. His official position within the organization was "Associate Deputy Director of Operations for Counterintelligence (ADDOCI)". Angleton was significantly involved in the U.S. response to the purported KGB defectors Anatoliy Golitsyn and Yuri Nosenko. Angleton later became convinced the CIA harbored a high-ranking mole, and engaged in an intense search. Whether this was a highly destructive witch hunt or appropriate caution vindicated by later moles remains a subject of intense historical debate. According to one-time Director of Central Intelligence Richard Helms: "In his day, Jim was recognized as the dominant counterintelligence figure in the non-communist world." Investigative journalist Edward Jay Epstein agrees with the high regard in which Angleton was held by his colleagues in the intelligence business, and adds that Angleton earned the "trust ... of six CIA directors—including Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, Allen W. Dulles and Richard Helms. They kept Angleton in key positions and valued his work. DCI William Colby reorganized the CIA in an effort to curb Angleton's influence, beginning by stripping him of control over the Israeli "account", which had the effect of weakening counter-intelligence. Colby then demanded Angleton's resignation. It has been claimed that Angleton directed CIA assistance to the Israeli nuclear weapons program. Some within CIA considered Golitsyn discredited, even before Angleton's ousting but the two did not appear to have lost their faith in one another. They sought the assistance of William F. Buckley, Jr. (himself once a CIA man) in authoring New Lies for Old, which advanced the argument that the USSR planned to fake its collapse to lull its enemies into a false sense of victory. Buckley refused but later went on to write a novel about Angleton, Spytime: The Undoing of James Jesus Angleton. Derived from Kirkus Reviews: Another espionage yarn from Buckley based not on the exploits of his series character, Blackford Oakes, but on those of real-life counterintelligence officer James Jesus Angleton. Loosely using the life of Angleton as the framework of his tale, Buckley offers an account of the cold war years between the end of WWII and the end of the war in Vietnam. The story begins with Angleton’s exit from the CIA in the mid-1970s, then flashes back to his introduction into the life of a secret agent. In the interim we’re introduced to young Tony Crespi, a protégé of Angleton’s who finds himself in pursuit of another real-life figure, British turncoat Kim Philby. There’s plenty of information here—obviously Buckley knows his stuff. Condition: Very good / Good.
Keywords: James Jesus Angleton, CIA, Central Intelligence, Spies, Cold War, Counterintelligence, Secret Agent, Kim Philby, Bay of Pigs, Che Guevara, Intrigue, Fiction, Espionage, Defectors
ISBN: 0151005133
[Book #73190]
Price: $30.00