Status
Available
Genres
Publication
Simon & Schuster (2010), Edition: Reprint, 432 pages
Description
Biography & Autobiography. Politics. Nonfiction. HTML:An unvarnished account of the personal and international consequences of speaking truth to power On July 6, 2003, four months after the United States invaded Iraq, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson's now historic op-ed, "What I Didn't Find in Africa," appeared in The New York Times. A week later, conservative pundit Robert Novak revealed in his newspaper column that Ambassador Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, was a covert CIA agent. The public disclosure of that classified information spurred a federal investigation and led to the trial and conviction of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Scooter Libby, and the Wilsons' civil suit against top officials of the Bush administration. Much has been written about the "Valerie Plame" story, but Valerie herself has been silent, until now. Some of what has been reported about her has been frighteningly accurate, serving as a pungent reminder to the Wilsons that their lives are no longer private. And some has been completely false - distorted characterizations of Valerie and her husband and their shared integrity. Valerie Wilson retired from the CIA in January 2006, and now she sets the record straight, providing an extraordinary account of her experiences, and answers many questions that have been asked about her covert status, her responsibilities, and her life. As listeners will hear, the CIA still deems much of the detail of Valerie's story to be classified. And as a public service, an afterword, drawn from the public record by national security reporter Laura Rozen, provides a context for Valerie's own account.… (more)
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User reviews
LibraryThing member sluciani
Politics as usual, someone is always at fault and this time it's everyone involved. Blank spaces denote CIA deleted information, but it could be a ploy.
LibraryThing member markindetroit
I listened to the audiobook and the redacted text in the book was replaces by a beep. It was tough to listen to at first due to the amount of information edited out by the CIA. There is an afterward provided by the author that fills in those blanks with public domain information. It is explained at
In all it was a short, concise book that explained her side of the "outing" of her covert status with the CIA.
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the beginning that Ms. Plame was ordered by the court that even though that information was in the public domain, she could not state that information.In all it was a short, concise book that explained her side of the "outing" of her covert status with the CIA.
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LibraryThing member PuddinTame
I suspect that the reactions to this book will be in large part based upon political affiliations. Plame's writing is very readable, but the story is a little disjointed, in large part due to the redactions imposed by the CIA. Incredibly, Plame's length and time of service, as well as her meeting
One thing that would have greatly improved the book, is a glossary of the "alphabet soup" that pervades the Federal government. There is no bibliography or index.
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with her husband, appear to be secrets. I found the book very moving. I got caught up in Great Issues, and never really considered that strain of day to day living in the maelstrom, including simply trying to pay the bills. The book is extremely discouraging: the incompetence, at best of high government officials, vicious pettiness and partisanship, dreadful, unreliable journalism. A vivid account of a horrible piece of current events.One thing that would have greatly improved the book, is a glossary of the "alphabet soup" that pervades the Federal government. There is no bibliography or index.
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LibraryThing member bunwat
As others have said, Plame is better at writing reports than at constructing a novel. The dry factual tone doesn't really help readers connect to the story and the CIA redactions don't do anyone any favors either. That said, it is still an interesting and important story, even if not all that well
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presented. Show Less
LibraryThing member nmele
This would be a better book, perhaps, if the CIA-mandated cuts were restored, but the heart of the story is largely intact, that is, the Wilsons' account of what the outing of Mrs. Wilson did to her career and their lives and the documentation of the political smear campaign conducted against the
Why should you care? I care because one of the few unbreakable rules I learned as a diplomat was never, NEVER, connect anyone with the CIA under any circumstances. We never referred to the CIA by name, even, because of the risk to CIA officers and agents if exposed. And then our elected officials and their staff took it on themselves to out a covert CIA officer in an attempt to discredit her whistle-blowing husband. You should care if you care about good governance, our security, and the rule of law.
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couple after Amb. Joe Wilson dared to point out that the Bush Administration already knew Saddam Hussein had not tried to acquire yellowcake uranium from Niger when the President asserted that Saddam Hussein had done so in an attempt to justify attacking Iraq.Why should you care? I care because one of the few unbreakable rules I learned as a diplomat was never, NEVER, connect anyone with the CIA under any circumstances. We never referred to the CIA by name, even, because of the risk to CIA officers and agents if exposed. And then our elected officials and their staff took it on themselves to out a covert CIA officer in an attempt to discredit her whistle-blowing husband. You should care if you care about good governance, our security, and the rule of law.
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LibraryThing member Lettypearl
A really interesting account of the story behind the lie that was used to justify the war in Iraq, the outing of an undercover CIA operative by senior government officials, the agent's betrayal by her agency, and her attempts to tell her story once her career was ruined by these events. At first
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the redacted (by the CIA) portions are distracting, but then those "blank" spaces begin to tell their own story which is every bit as revealing as the facts they hoped to hide. Well-written, and well-worth the read. Show Less
LibraryThing member LynnB
This is the true story of Valerie Plame Wilson, a CIA agent whose secret cover was made public by the U.S. Government. In this memoir, Ms. Wilson tells of her early career in the CIA, events leading up to her name being made public,and the aftermath for her and her family. As a former CIA employee,
This was a good read and shows how political interference can lead to bad policy decisions -- in this case, the Iraq war -- and be demoralizing, even devastating, for nonpolitical staff.
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Ms. Wilson was required to submit her manuscript for approval prior to publication, which she did willingly. The text in the book includes several blacked-out lines which the CIA asked her to remove for security reasons. This was a good read and shows how political interference can lead to bad policy decisions -- in this case, the Iraq war -- and be demoralizing, even devastating, for nonpolitical staff.
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LibraryThing member MrDickie
Account of CIA covert operations officer, Valerie Plame Wilson, wife of former US Ambassador Joseph Wilson., His trip to Niger for the CIA was part of the controversy. Her identity was betrayed and she was outed by the White House of George Bush and Dick Cheney. Scooter Libby, on the staff of Dick
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Cheney, passed the information about her employment to columnist, Robert Novak who included it in a column. Novak was never charged. Libby was charged and found guilty. His sentence was commuted by President Bush. In 2018 President Trump gave Libby a pardon. The CIA career of Valerie Plame Wilson was ruined and she resigned with just over twenty years service. The book was heavily redacted by the CIA, making parts very difficult to read. There was an Afterword, written by Laura Rozen, which wasn't well edited Show Less
LibraryThing member AngelaJMaher
An interesting insight into the Iraq war, and the inaccurate reasons for starting it, from someone who ended up being betrayed by her own country. Although it is interesting, I also found it hard to read more than small sections at a time. It can be quite "dry" in places, and is, where permitted,
An important story, some people probably wish had never been told, but not exactly a page-turner.
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very detailed. Many pieces of text were not allowed by the CIA to be published. Instead of rewriting around these redactions, the text has been left as was originally written, with [text redacted here] interspersed. In places this is highly distracting from the narrative, especially near the start, and in some cases only a small amount of rewriting could have pulled the allowed text together. It adds to authnticity I guess, but I found it very annoying. Then the afterword, written by a different author, went into far more detail about some of Valerie did, and when and where, than she seemed to have been allowed to do for herself.An important story, some people probably wish had never been told, but not exactly a page-turner.
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LibraryThing member Authentico
Rating: 2.7/5
"I dared not tell my parents about my latest “job opportunity” — my mother would not have slept for the entire week."
This book does have bias because it's written by the author, about herself and her time. The CIA has reviewed the book so there parts that are reacted. Which does
"had taken the position that [Text has been redacted here.]. In other words, [Text has been redacted here.] "
"the vast majority of people really only want to talk about themselves. Answering a query about yourself, especially if there is not a lot you want to give out, is a matter of providing enough to be polite, then deflecting the question back to the conversation partner."
While this book does cover some details that similar books don't cover, I would encourage you to read similar books to get context behind things that the author doesn't cover.
"Making decisions on how much money to offer a potential asset while handing crayons to my daughter who sat under my desk was strange indeed, but not without humor."
Many sentences felt like run-on sentences, commas are needed. The chapters are also very long, so I encourage you to watch the time when you read. There are passages of time that happen without context, or how long has passed, which makes it a bit harder to read.
"It was obvious to me that anyone working for the government better truly love what she was doing, because the modest pay and personal sacrifices wouldn’t keep a good employee with any ambition around for long."
The book could have been shorten in multiple ways, from removing sections & chapters that didn't make sense to have, the author's family history, and the afterword (which seems to be a shorten version of the book).
Overall, an interesting book which has a different perspective on the CIA.
"Nearly all foreign travel carries the risk of stomach upheaval, but while it is an inconvenience as a tourist, it is a catastrophe when on business."
"I dared not tell my parents about my latest “job opportunity” — my mother would not have slept for the entire week."
This book does have bias because it's written by the author, about herself and her time. The CIA has reviewed the book so there parts that are reacted. Which does
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take away from the book, but the publisher explains why, before the first chapter. So you take everything in this book with a grain of salt (read & understand it, but don't believe it 100%)."had taken the position that [Text has been redacted here.]. In other words, [Text has been redacted here.] "
"the vast majority of people really only want to talk about themselves. Answering a query about yourself, especially if there is not a lot you want to give out, is a matter of providing enough to be polite, then deflecting the question back to the conversation partner."
While this book does cover some details that similar books don't cover, I would encourage you to read similar books to get context behind things that the author doesn't cover.
"Making decisions on how much money to offer a potential asset while handing crayons to my daughter who sat under my desk was strange indeed, but not without humor."
Many sentences felt like run-on sentences, commas are needed. The chapters are also very long, so I encourage you to watch the time when you read. There are passages of time that happen without context, or how long has passed, which makes it a bit harder to read.
"It was obvious to me that anyone working for the government better truly love what she was doing, because the modest pay and personal sacrifices wouldn’t keep a good employee with any ambition around for long."
The book could have been shorten in multiple ways, from removing sections & chapters that didn't make sense to have, the author's family history, and the afterword (which seems to be a shorten version of the book).
Overall, an interesting book which has a different perspective on the CIA.
"Nearly all foreign travel carries the risk of stomach upheaval, but while it is an inconvenience as a tourist, it is a catastrophe when on business."
Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
432 p.; 5.5 inches
ISBN
1451623879 / 9781451623871