The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles and the CIA

The man who transformed the CIA into the most powerful and secretive colossus in Washington was Allen Dulles, and his explosive story is finally revealed in The Devil's Chessboard, a headline-making portrait by the founder of Salon.com and author of the New York Times best seller Brothers. This untold story uncovers the United States' rise to world dominance under the guile of Allen Welsh Dulles, the longest-serving director of the CIA. Using revelatory new materials, including newly discovered US government documents, US and European intelligence sources, the personal correspondence and journals of Allen Dulles' wife and mistress, and exclusive interviews with the children of prominent CIA officials, Talbot exposes the underside of one of America's most powerful and influential figures. Dulles' decade as the director of the CIA, in which he furthered his public and private agendas, were dark times in American politics. He saw himself as above the elected law, manipulating and subverting American presidents in the pursuit of his personal interests and those of the wealthy elite he counted as his friends and clients. This involved colluding with Nazi-controlled cartels, German war criminals, and Mafiosi, targeting foreign leaders for assassination, and overthrowing nationalist governments not in line with his political aims. Talbot also charges Dulles with employing these same tactics to further his goals at home, offering shocking new evidence in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The Devil's Chessboard is an exposé of American power that is as disturbing as it is timely, a provocative and gripping story of the rise of the national security state and the battle for America's soul.

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