About this title: In this memoir, one of America's master spies recounts his experiences in the O.S.S. during World War II and then at the founding of the CIA. Helms served as that agency's Director from 1966 to 1973.
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Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House
Date Published: 2003-04
ISBN-13:9780375500121ISBN:037550012X
Description: Very Good. Very good hardcover with dJ. Pages are clean and unmarked. Front end paper has tear. Covers show very minor shelf wear. Binding is tight, hinges strong. Dust jacket shows light edge wear.; 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed! Free Delivery Confirmation! Ships same or next business day! read more
Description: Near Fine. It was often thought that Richard Helems who served longer in the Central Intelligence Agency than anyone else, would never tell his remarkable story, but here it is--revealing and candid. Blue pictorial wraps, 478 pp., photos. Foreward by Henry A. Kisssinger. Very minimal wear, bright and clean throughgout, tight binding. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House
Date Published: 2003-04
ISBN-13:9780375500121ISBN:037550012X
Description: Good in Good / Very Good jacket. Good to Very Good Condition; Minor shelf wear; Corners lightly bumped; Mild spine slant\skew; Mild soiling to page edges; DJ has minor rubbing to covers and spine; DJ spine ends have mildly bumping\creases; DJ covered in brand new Brodart Mylar; ** Free USPS tracking and confirm on US orders ** read more
Edition: 2nd Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House Inc, Westminster, Maryland, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780375500121ISBN:037550012X
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. This 6 x 9 hardcover has 478 pages. Director of Central Intelligence from 1966 to 1973, and with an intelligence career spanning three decades, Helms offers an insider's defense-and occasionally critique-of the frequently maligned agency's performance during the turbulent 1950s, '60s and early '70s. He argues that criticisms of the CIA are misdirected because the agency made no policy and had no agenda of its own-it merely did the president's bidding. Helms doesn't ... read more
Description: Helms, Richard w/foreword by Henry Kissinger., Random House, nd, c2003, 1st Edition, boards w/gilt spine titles, fine w/dj, 478 pp w/index, B & W photographic illus., tall 8vo, "A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency" read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House, NY
Date Published: 2003
Description: Very Good in Fine jacket. First edition. Would be fine/fine except someone has highlighted some of the text with a yellow marker. Foreward by Henry Kissinger. Helms was probably CIA's most effective Director and he was venerated by intelligence professionals. His was a fascinating life and he recounts it exceedingly well, ably assisted by William Hood (the two served in the OSS together). read more
Description: New in New jacket. pp. 478. Helms served longer in the CIA than anyone else Here is his biography--revealing, news-making, & with candid assessments of the controversies & triumphs of a remarkable career. Helms entered the military in 1942 & volunteered for the OSS; in 1945 he joined Allen Dulles in Switzerland. Helms remained in OSS carryover units until the CIA was formed in 1947. He served as chief of station, with respon. involving E., Europe, the USSR, & Latin Amer., & was exec. officer ... read more
Description: Fair. Ex-Library Book-will contain Library Markings. Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read. Recycle and Reuse! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780375500121ISBN:037550012X
Description: Good. Used Condition-GOOD can be a well cared for Book that is in great condition to a Book that may show some signs of wear. GOOD Books sometimes are permanently marked; have some spine or page creases; exibit signs of aging or an ExLibrary copy. ** Sometimes grease pencil or permanent marking on cover. May contain limited notes and or highlighting. 100% Satisfaction guaranteed on all purchases. ** SHIPS FROM USA-Domestic Delivery takes 5-14 days ** read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Presidio Press
Date Published: 2004-08-31
ISBN-13:9780812971088ISBN:0812971086
Description: Fair. Light use, clean with no marks or inscriptions. 3" water mark with associated light waving to the last 75 pages that does not go into the text. Great reading copy. read more
"This is a very good inside account of a career in the C.I.A. The turf battles inside and outside of the agency are put on full display but the book does not trash the agency or the work that it does."
"One of the biographies of former CIA director Richard Helms is called "The Man Who Kept the Secrets". In his autobiography, "A Look Over my Shoulder", Helms lives up to his previous biographer's title. Helms was a career CIA officer, in the agency from its genesis in OSS through CIA's birth through the aftermath of E. Howard Hunt's little field trip. He was Director of Central Intelligence at the end of Johnson's administration, was kept by Nixon, and was then fired by Nixon after refusing to have the CIA block the FBI investigation into the Watergate break-in. All of this, against a backdrop of the Vietnam War, James Angleton's mole hunts, MKULTRA, the CHAOS program, Nosenko & Golitsyn, the Kennedy assassinations, Air America, the Pentagon Papers, the Castro assassination plots and the Bay of Pigs. Fascinating times, by any man's estimation. Yet Helms manages to write 452 pages of text without revealing one shred of new information not previously revealed by someone else. It is one of the few books I've ever read by a CIA officer or director without one line of redacted text. Fitting, for a man who took a perjury conviction because he refused to reveal classified information in a Senate hearing. Anyone reading "A Look Over my Shoulder" for new revelations or new hints about old cases should look elsewhere, and assume this book gets a 1 star rating. Helms really is the man who kept the secrets. As a memoir, however, "A Look Over my Shoulder" lives up not to another biographer's title, but its own subtitle: "A Life in the CIA". Helms started his career as a journalist, and early in life, he dreamed of owning his own paper. In his biography, the pleasure he takes in writing is obvious, and his wit and personality come out in ways rarely seen in the rather dry world of intelligence memoirs. His reflections on the CIA focus on some unheralded (if previously reported) successes, and illustrates, more so than many recent CIA "histories" (Tim Weiner's "Legacy of Ashes", for example), the constant misuse of the agency by president after president. Despite the lack of revelations, there are subtle surprises in the book. He often seems to be saying as much between the lines as he does in them. An entire chapter, for example, is devoted to a solid defense of the much reviled James Angleton, even taking responsibility for many of Angleton's perceived mistakes. He also manages a whole chapter on Yuri Nosenko, all without ever mentioning Anatoliy Golitsyn. Also noteworthy is the respect and admiration Helms seems to have for most of his fellow veterans and associates, regardless of political affiliation, religion, sex and even sexuality. The tone changes somewhat, and a slight ugliness creeps into the work, when Helms speaks of Richard M. Nixon. The vindictive firing of Helms by Nixon notwithstanding, there clearly was no love lost between the two men. He also has a difficult time hiding his frustrations with subsequent DCI William Colby's decision to hand over classified material to the Church and Pike committees investigating CIA's activities, and his contempt for the congressmen leading the investigation. It is frustrating, as a reader, to see Helms lose his wit, and at times, his class, when discussing these matters toward the end of "A Look Over my Shoulder". His actual sound arguments against the committees would have been better communicated in the same tone reserved for the rest of his book. Ultimately, it is his humor and the quality of his narrative that makes his story interesting, and his biography is most successful when it stays on course. He took his secrets to his grave, and books about him by other authors probably reveal more about the CIA and his role in it. Despite it all, "A Look Over my Shoulder" leaves the distinct impression that Richard Helms was probably a very fascinating man.
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