"Should be read by anyone wishing to understand the trajectory of U.S. foreign policy from the end of World War Ⅱ through the wars in Afghanistan and Irag."

--The Oregonian

"Legacy of Ashes is recent history at its best, and its most dismaying."

--The Seattle Times

With shocking revelations that made headlines in papers across the country, Pulitzer Prize-winner Tim Weiner gets at the truth behind theCIAand uncovers here why nearly every CIA Director has left the agency in worse shape than when he found it; and how these profound failures jeopardize our national security.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

PART ONE "In the Beginning, We Knew Nothing"

The CIA Under Truman, 1945 to 1953

1. "INTELLIGENCE MUST BE GLOBAL AND TOTALITARIAN"

2. "THE LOGIC OF FORCE"

3. "FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE"

4. "THE MOST SECRET THING" 

5. "A RICH BLIND MAN" 

6. "THEY WERE SUICIDE MISSIONS" 

7. "A VAST FIELD OF ILLUSION"

PART TWO "A Strange Kind of Genius"

The CIA Under Eisenhower, 1953 to 1961

8. ""WE HAVE NO PLAN" 83

9. "CIA’s GREATEST SINGLE TRIUMPH"

10. "BOMB REPEAT BOMB"

11. "AND THEN WE’LL HAVE A STORM"

12. "WE RAN IT IN A DIFFERENT WAY"

13. ""WISHFUL BLINDNESS" 141

14. "HAM-HANDED OPERATIONS OF ALL KINDS"

15. "A VERY STRANGE WAR" 

16. "HE WAS LYING DOWN AND HE WAS LYING UP"

PART THREE Lost Causes

The CIA Under Kennedy and Johnson, 1961 to 1968

17. "NOBODY KNEW WHAT TO DO"          

18. "WE HAD ALSO FOOLED OURSELVES"

19. "WE’D BE DELIGHTED TO TRADE THOSE MISSILES" 

20. "HEY, BOSS, WE DID A GOOD JOB, DIDN’T WE?"

21. "I THOUGHT IT WAS A CONSPIRACY"

22. "AN OMINOUS DRIFT"

23. "MORE COURAGE THAN WISDOM"

24. "THE BEGINNING OF A LONG SLIDE DOWNWARDS"

25. "WE KNEW THEN THAT WE COULD NOT WIN THE WAR"

26. "A POLITICAL H-BOMB" 311

27. "RACK DOWN THE FOREIGN COMMUNISTS" 

PART FOUR "Get Rid of the Clowns"

The CIA Under Nixon and Ford, 1968 to 1977

28. "WHAT THE HELL DO THOSE CLOWNS DO OUT THERE IN LANGLEY?"

29. "USG WANTS A MILITARY SOLUTION"

30. "WE ARE GOING TO CATCH A LOT OF HELL"

31. "TO CHANGE THE CONCEPT OF A SECRET SERVICE"

32. "A CLASSIC FASCIST IDEAL"

33. "THE CIA WOULD BE DESTROYED"

34. "SAIGON SIGNING OFF"

35. "INEFFECTIVE AND SCARED"

PART FIVE Victory Without Joy

The CIA Under Carter, Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, 1977 to 1993

36. "HE SOUGHT TO OVERTHROW THEIR SYSTEM"

37. "WE WERE JUST PLAIN ASLEEP"

38. "A FREELANCE BUCCANEER"

39. "IN A DANGEROUS WAY"

40. "HE WAS RUNNING A GREAT RISK"

41. "A CON MAN’S CON MAN"

42. "TO THINK THE UNTHINKABLE"

43. "WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WHEN THE WALL COMES DOWN?"

PART SIX The Reckoning

The CIA Under Clinton and George W. Bush, 1993 to 2007

44. "WE HAD NO FACTS"

45. "WHY IN THE WORLD DIDN’T WE KNOW?"

46. "WE’RE IN TROUBLE" 524

47. "THE THREAT COULD NOT BE MORE REAL"

48. "THE DARK SIDE"

49. "A GRAVE MISTAKE"

50. "THE BURIAL CEREMONY"

AFTERWORD

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

NOTES

INDEX