Horizon Information Portal

HSPLS site

eBooks/Audiobooks

Reading Program

The good spy [large type] : the life and death of Robert Ames / Kai Bird.

View full image

Waterville, Maine : Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning, 2014.

Ames, Robert, 1934-1983.

Salameh, Ali Hassan, -1979.

United States. Central Intelligence Agency -- Officials and employees -- Biography.

Hizballah (Lebanon)

United States Marine Compound Bombing, Beirut, Lebanon, 1983.

Intelligence officers -- United States -- Biography.

Middle East -- Politics and government -- 1979-

Middle East -- Foreign relations -- United States.

9781410469182 (large print : hardback)

1410469182 (large print : hardcover)

727 pages, 28 unnumbered pages (large print) : illustrations ; 23 cm

Large print edition.

Cast of characters -- The making of a spy -- The agency -- Arabia -- Aden and Beirut -- The Red Prince -- Secret diplomacy -- Headquarters, 1975-79 -- The assassination -- The Ayatollahs -- Jimmy Carter and hostage America -- Bill Casey and Ronald Reagan -- Beirut destiny -- The enigma of Imad Mughniyeh.

On April 18, 1983, a bomb exploded outside the American Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people. The attack was a geopolitical turning point. It marked the beginning of Hezbollah as a political force, but even more important, it eliminated America's most influential and effective intelligence officer in the Middle East -- CIA operative Robert Ames. What set Ames apart from his peers was his extraordinary ability to form deep, meaningful connections with key Arab intelligence figures. Some operatives relied on threats and subterfuge, but Ames worked by building friendships and emphasizing shared values -- never more notably than with Yasir Arafat's charismatic intelligence chief and heir apparent Ali Hassan Salameh (aka "The Red Prince"). Ames' deepening relationship with Salameh held the potential for a lasting peace. Within a few years, though, both men were killed by assassins, and America's relations with the Arab world began heading down a path that culminated in 9/11, the War on Terror, and the current fog of mistrust. Bird, who as a child lived in the Beirut Embassy and knew Ames as a neighbor when he was twelve years old, spent years researching The Good Spy. Not only does the book draw on hours of interviews with Ames' widow, and quotes from hundreds of Ames' private letters, it's woven from interviews with scores of current and former American, Israeli, and Palestinian intelligence officers as well as other players in the Middle East "Great Game."

Horizon Information Portal 3.25_9884

Powered by Dynix

© 2001-2013 SirsiDynix All rights reserved.

Horizon Information Portal