David Talbot - The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government

Talbot’s portrait of Allen Dulles, the CIA’s fifth and longest serving director, draws on recently discovered documents—ranging from the correspondence and journals of Dulles’s wife and mistress, to U.S. government documents and European intelligence sources—to show that Dulles used his position to further his own public and private agendas. Presenting evidence that Dulles put in place many of the hallmarks of a national security state, Talbot, founder and former editor in chief of Salon, former editor of Mother Jones, and author of the The Brothers, raises new questions about many events of the time, including the assassination of President Kennedy.