5 comments about To Kill the Irishman: The War that Crippled the Mafia.

1. This is a great book. Danny Greene's story is almost like a fairy tale. It would make a great movie and it redefines the one man irish gang that TJ English speaks about in "Paddy Whacked". This book is filled with excitement. Only problem with this read is that you must know a thing or two about this story before reading it. Porello doesn't bore you by going into detail and re-explain the breakdown of Cosa Nostra and Union corruption. The book is very short and you must have a sense of what is happening before reading it or you will be lost. I strongly recommend that you read "Paddy Whacked" first and then move on to this. great book!



2. In this book of 250 pages there's more chapters than information on Danny Greene. There's 50 plus chapters and if this book had a chapter length of regular size there'd be only one chapter on Danny Greene, The reason I bought the book. My advise to readers is spend their money elsewere like on: T.J. English's Paddy Wacked. Irish Mob done right.



3. This is a fine book. I grew up in Cleveland and remember the death of Danny Greene. There were a lot of bombings and attempted bombings in the middle 70's. Little did I know that Danny Greene's death was the linchpin to the Mafia nationwide. Rick Porrello's book is a well-researched and well-writen account of how a union local president's death loosened the keystone of the Mafia arch. This would be a great film!



4. The book "To kill an Irishman" is about the mafia and how their pursuit to kill a man named Danny Green. This book documents how the mafia came to hate this man and how exactly they killed him. This book is recommended to adults 14 years and older due to violence.
   
   It all starts out with a man named "Angelo (Big Ange) Lonardo". He was the head of the Cleveland mafia (also known as the La Cosa Nostra). The Cleveland mafia tries to find Danny Green for many years, because his involvement in a Cosa Nostra members'. Through the Cosa Nostras journey they come across many obstacles that they have to overcome in order to avenge their good friend's murder. This is another wonderful work of Rick Porello who documents every event associated with the killing of Danny Green. Porello fills the book full of action and violence to keep you into the book. If you're looking for a book filled with twists and turns and also interested in La Cosa Nostra than this is the book for you.



5. Rick Porello has succeeded in giving a very clear account of the rise of a mob figure, and the ultimate demise of both him and his adversaries, ultimately weaking La Cosa Nostra nationwide. It does not surprise me that this book might lead to a movie, since it perfectly lays out a compelling true story script.

5 comments about Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief.

1. It's rare to get a look inside the mind of a successful solo operator like this guy. It's well written and engaging. Maybe it's not 100% true; I wasn't there so I can't say. But it certainly has the ring of truth, and even if it's all fake it's still a fun read.



2. I read this book mainly because I was involved in an important aspect of Bill Masons life, his arrest. I think the co-author did a good job of putting the events as he knew them down on paper. However much of the information was not true.. Therefore I see the book as being partially fiction.. The author Bill Mason has either a poor memory as to the facts of his arrest, or like in so many instances in his book he blames everyone else for his lack of integrity.. In a true, and honest account of his arrest, try reading Badge 149, Shots Fired, by retired Captain Gary Jones, these facts are undisputable and documented.. Overall the book of course is interesting and exciting until you factor in the lives of family and friends, and others that he harmed. I reviewed his book in a local library, not wanting to contribute to his continued lifestyle .Justice in his case is still pending, I bet his father if real proud of him..(hic).



3. The first half of this book was very entertaining. I loved the descriptions of the heists Mr. Mason pulled. The last half of the book was tedious. Mostly how he was in and out of jail.
   Still a good overall read.



4. Yes, Bill Mason was a professional burglar and jewel thief! I know this is true because I was one of the original Fort Lauderdale police officers who first spotted him, and then followed him for weeks, until he was eventually arrested. Mason's version of events, in his book, about how Fort Lauderdale P.D. first became aware of him, is NOT true. He would have his readers believe an informer told us about him and that's how we first became aware of him. Not true! The simple truth is Mason got careless and he became predictable. In a phone conversation, after his book was released, I even told him this. But, he still doesn't believe this. After all, this version doesn't fit the image he tries to portray of a slick professional crook who never ever made a mistake. In my own book (Badge 149 - "Shots Fired!") I devote two full chapters to Bill Mason, and his arrest. If you are interested in reading what really happened, I encourage you to read my book, instead of the fiction Bill Mason has written. Or, read both his book and mine, and then judge for yourself which one of us is more honest and credible.



5. Buying this book about a year ago I struggled with spending money on a person who made a living stealing. It was written well and I enjoyed the action. However, I Just finish reading Badge 149 the author is the policeman who arrested him. Wow, it was definately interesting to see the other side of his jewerly heist! All the action and this time money was well spent and some dedicated to fallen policemen !!!!!!!!

5 comments about Mafia Kingfish: Carlos Marcello and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy.

1. I think this book is spectacular! The author did some deep and complete research! I was impressed, plus I live in New Orleans and most of the action takes place in NOLA! There is even some speculation that The Mob played a role in the death of MLK and RFK! Read this book,you won't be
   disappointed! Read Dr. Mary's Monkey too and you won't ever need to read another JFK book again!



2. I'm exhausted. By the time I reached the finish I'd forgotten the start. Look, Great facts, alot of research, but I found this book mentally fatiguing. If you are in to conspiracies get it. Meanwhile, I'm going to go lay and rest my head.



3. I can practically read anything on the Mafia . . . except this book. I could barely finish it. It was so boring. The first 50 pages were good. It was actually focused on late Louisiana Mafia boss Carlos Marcello. Then, it happened. Nonstop writing on the assassination of President Kennedy. Again, it is nonstop and the author continually asks the reader questions that I don't think he ever conclusively answered. (By the way, I have never seen some many questions presented to the reader before in ANY book; my guess would be a couple hundred questions the author poses to his readers.)
   
   I swear about 500 pages is just going over the same points in the assassination again and again. Oswald knew this guy. This guy knew this guy. Jack Ruby knew this guy. All these connections go back to the Marcello organization. I GET IT! ENOUGH!
   
   You read about a page and half on Marcello and you think, yes, he's finally back on track. He's actually writing about Marcello now. But no, all of the sudden it gets back to the Kennedy Assassination. I have rarely rolled by eyes while reading a book except for this one -- and I am continually rolling my eyes. Not because the author states that Marcello was probably involved in the Kennedy Assassination, but because he has to hammer his points over and over again and again (nonstop).
   
   Now, if you are looking for a book on the Kennedy Assassination, you got it here. But if you are looking for a book about Carlos Marcello, then skip it because you are just going to get mad with the author barely touching on Marcello past the first 50 pages without his throwing in some Kennedy Assassination angle.
   
   This should not be called "Mafia Kingfish: Carlos Marcello and the Assassination of President Kennedy." It should be called "The Assassination of President Kennedy: The Assassination and Some Mob Boss Named Carlos Marcello." Very little is about Carlos Marcello and his secretive organization. It's all about the Kennedy Assassination and Marcello's possible connection to it.
   
   The last part of the book is on the FBI operations in the late 1970s that finally brought Carlos Marcello down. But it's only about 50 or so pages long, too. In short, there is maybe a hundred or so pages dealing with Carlos Marcello, and what you have left is the author trying to link the Marcello organization to the President's assassination, and nailing his one-tracked hammer on the same points time after time, page after page.
   
   What a waste! Had this book been nearly 700 pages on Carlos Marcello and his organization it would have been perhaps one of the best, groundbreaking books on the underworld in the history of the American Mafia being there is very little actually known about the man and his organization other than the basics. Instead, we get a 100 pages on Marcello and 600 pages on his possible connection to the assassination of President Kennedy.
   
   Sorry if I hammered my point over and over again about this book, but I was giving you a preview of what you will experience if you buy and read this book. As the mob would say, "Give it a pass."



4. This book is dated,but I'm not so sure that any other book on the subject is better.
   Mr. Davis exposes the numerous links the Marcello family had to other key conspirators in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.Lee Harvey Oswald,Jack Ruby,and David Ferrie all knew each other and had Marcello family connections.
   
   Another highlight of this book is the contrast of the New Orleans mafia and other families.They operated quite differently than say,the New York or Chicago mob.The culture of that area was much like Sicily.
   
   Mr. Davis gives details on the extent of the corruption and political power enjoyed by Carlos Marcello.The transcripts of recorded conversations from the sting by the FBI reveal a lot regarding who was bought.Some major political figures are mentioned.
   
   The details of Carlos Marcello's deportation clarify the animosity between the mafia and the Kennedy brothers.The egos on both sides of the law were factors in the eventual assassination.
   
   The monumental part that J. Edgar Hoover played in the coverup and possible motivation for doing that are explained very well in this book.
   
   In the end of the book Mr. Davis briefly covers some of the books that were contemporary with his.
   The only thing he doesn't do is name the actual trigger men.
   This book is available and inexpensive.It's a book I highly recommend for anyone wanting to study the assassination of JFK.



5. This book has been around for a few years but I've only read it recently.
   The author, John H Davis, certainly convinces me that, regardless of who pulled the triggers, the shootings of John F Kennedy and Robert Kennedy were mob hits ordered by New Orleans mobster Carlos Marcello, while the truth was kept from the American public through the connivance of the FBI whose hands were far from clean.
   
   The Kennedy's dared to bite the hands that fed them. John Kennedy used the Mafia in his rise to power & then not only turned his back on them but declared war on them with the assistance of Robert Kennedy as Attorney General.
   Robert Kennedy had a long history of failed attempts to deport Carlos Marcello which included kidnapping him & dumping him (literally) in a deserted backwater of Honduras. The Mafia & Marcello in particular hated the Kennedy's so intensely it was only a matter of time.
   Consider this:
   The unstable and unemployed Lee Harvey Oswald was a patsy of the Mafia & the FBI. Oswald's uncle & surrogate father Charles Murret, aka Dutz, was a bookmaker in Marcello's gambling operation in New Orleans. In the summer of 1963 Oswald who was living in Dallas came to his uncle for financial help & did not go away empty handed.
   
   The FBI, headed by the megalomaniacal J Edgar Hoover, was so riddled with corruption itself by this time that any investigation done by them was bound to be a whitewash as it would expose the FBI's connections to the New Orleans underworld. Hoover had a long history of friendship with mob boss Frank Costello & stubbornly insisted that the Mafia did not exist. When presented with a report of the infamous crime conclave of 60 mafia heads in upstate New York in 1957, Hoover ordered all copies destroyed. When Robert Kennedy became Attorney General he identified organised crime -- not Communism -- to be the greatest menace to American society; he also earned Hoover's enmity by putting a stop to Hoover's hitherto direct access to the President's office, ordering Hoover to report instead to the attorney general, ie, him.
   
   Jack Ruby, who has been portrayed as a Patriot distressed by the death of his idol, had underworld connections & was at that time suffering from terminal cancer. He owed large sums of money to certain Mafia figures & he executed Oswald to shut him up & to redeem his own Mafia debt. Ruby died in prison of cancer.
   
   The Robert Kennedy assassination is murkier. It was blamed on Sirhan Sirhan, although there is evidence at least one other gun was used in the shooting. Sirhan perpetually owed gambling debts & often did odd jobs for low level crime figures. He hung around California race tracks whose betting operations were connected to Marcello; he also worked as a groom for horse ranch owner Desi Arnaz who was a known friend of LA mobster Mickey Cohen . Cohen's penchant was for secretly filming movie stars in sex setups & blackmailing them - Lana Turner & Marilyn Monroe were victims. Jack Ruby and Mickey Cohen were old friends too: it was all one big extended family
   
   There is evidence suggesting Robert Kennedy's real killer was Thane Cesar, the security guard who escorted Kennedy through the hotel kitchen where he was shot. Cesar was not the hotel's usual security guard; he was temporarily hired to fill in for the day of June 5; he had strong ties to a San Diego mobster (later imprisoned for skimming race-track revenues) & associate of Mickey Cohen. The Ambassador Hotel was partly owned by investors connected with organised crime. Not long after the shooting, the Hotel's director of security disappeared.
   
   The Kennedy brothers were undoubtedly touched with greatness and vision, but with such flaws of character and judgement and hubris that it brought their downfall. Meanwhile the public has been content to be fed a load of crap rather than have the Kennedy name & legacy tarnished. False gods usually have feet of clay.

5 comments about The Brotherhoods: The True Story of Two Cops Who Murdered for the Mafia.

1. This is a tight,concise true crime saga with a cast of hundreds of good and bad guys. YET there is only one brave,drivin "warts & all" man who stands out,Detective William Oldham ,who pursued over 7 years basically on his own, the most corrupt detectives NYC has ever witnessed known forever as the 2 Mafia Cops ; Caracappa & Eppolito.Those 2 cops were working directly for the Mafia Luchese family . Without giving anything away ,other than what you may have read in the newspapers ,this is one hell of a compelling page turner . If you thought you knew the politics of the various divisions of crime fighting or the ways of the mafia fully fleshed out. You, my fellow true crime buffs' are in for some major suprises throughout.



2. It's more like a bad road through an interesting place. The subject is fascinating, but it's not a page flipper. And that's because of the book's organization. It shoulda been divided into Parts with distinct themes and characters. If it was easier to read I'd give it 5 stars.



3. I must agree with reviewer/reader maskirovka in that this book takes liberties not with facts, but with narrative tense and editing. This is not really the story about the infamous mafia cops ( we have to read to almost page 120 to begin the biography of one of the killer detectives ) as much as it is the story of the cop who chased them. Oldham's publishers probably thought we had read enough about supercops fighting the mob and police corruption. The idea of another Serpico or Donnie Brasco was probably a hard sell. Regardless, what we really get is a biography on Oldham and his career in law enforcment. The case of the mob cops was simply the one that he obsessed with the most and that was most infamous. Oldham's writer/partner Lawson is no Truman Capote either. His device of using quotations for some of Oldham's first person narratives are questionable, given the fact that THE WHOLE BOOK is really a first person narrative from Oldham's persepctive. We can imagine Oldham in Hollywood shopping this story to the major film studios. Here's a question for him. "If any of the living criminal characters in your book with a vowel at the end of their name agreed to attend a luncheon with you and a movie producer, just to add an air of credibilty, would you bring them along?" Hmmm.



4. A riveting account of two rogue cops who freelanced themselves to the Luchese crime family for years and got away with it until a cadre of dedicated investigators compiled the evidence to put them away. The book gives a detailed description of day to day life in the NYPD and the mob. Martin Scorcese should be looking for a cast for a blockbuster movie.



5. I happen to just love the work that these two guys did on this book about Lou Eppolito and the other bad cop. I am in the book on pages 358 throu 364 I am Jane McCormick. I had dealing with Mr Eppolito for 3 years. He was a good con man and he conned $45,000 from me . He said if you cant trust a cop who can you trust! Jane harvey was the name I used in Vegas. I am writting my true life story. It is already done but it is being edited now and will be plublished in a few mos. I am hopping to get it on this wonderful web site soon.I have a wonderful writer that is writing But this book will tell it as it really was in Vegas in the 60s and 70s

5 comments about The Pimp's Bible: The Sweet Science of Sin.

1. A must to ad to the pimp collection. He lays out more of the rules than his life, but if know the game, its all about rules.



2. A great introduction into the many life styles and forms of pimping which go unnoticed by todays standards of the word pimp. I would recommend this over The Pimp Game: Instructional Guide by Mickey Royal. To me Alfred Bilbo Gholson has a better grip of what pimping means, he also represents a classier type of pimp, one who doesn't believe in drugs and violence as a means of pimping.



3. Grow up! It's not good to be a pimp, that's victimizing women you crazy...!



4. The cover is wack. The contents reveal just how much work the author put in to this lifestyle. This is still applicable today. If only people were willing to go through the correct process pimps might once again gain respect. Read between the lines in this book. Much game it has.



5. I live in a nursing home, and this book has taught me how to deal with all the old biddies that live here. I am getting more attention than ever in the love department. I have also learned how to place myself at the top of all the other old men here, without even having to resort to any weaponry like the fellows in this book. The concepts are really the same; instead of cruising around in a Cadillac, I cruise up and down the halls in my wheelchair. The book has made this managed care facility worth living in!

5 comments about Confessions of a Second Story Man: Junior Kripplebauer and the K & A Gang.

1. This is a very accurate book. I knew most of the people in this book because I grew up with them. Some were my friends.Many years later, as a detective at East Detectives , in Philadelphia, I saw them frequently.
   As luck would have it, they were under arrest at those times. I was probably most friendly with Donnie Abrahms, known as "Don the Dude".
   I was sorry to see he was still in the old neighborhood. At least he isn't in prison or dead as most of the old crowd is. This was very nostalgic reading for me.



2. Excellent book!!!! My father was "Raybo". He would have really enjoyed reading this book. Just as your dad had changed, mine did too. The stories from back then were fun to listen to over the years, but it was his past. I remeber him telling me his stories, and the funny comments he would say. I always wondered if he just added that stuff to make the story amusing, but when the author talks about when my dad got shot in the leg and he told the bartender to leave his drink he'd be back by last call I couldn't help but laugh. He REALLY was like that! He was always a funny guy:-)
   
   I thought I was gonna die when I saw my fathers picture in this book as I stood in Barnes and Noble. I couldn't believe it!!!!!
   
   P.S. EVERYTHING they did was against the law.....DUH



3. I grew up in Kensington and know several of the people referenced in the book. Therefore; the book probably had more impact on me than it would on others, but it is an interesting book much in the same vain as the movie Good Fellows. If you like stories about wise guys and crooks it is a great read



4. I am a philadelphian interested in the city's history. I have found that this book has provided insight into a section of philadelphia that i have traveled through but had no in depth knowledge of. The characters described in the narrative were colorful and resourceful,yet in the end met the end that was inevitable. A few of the main characters found some redemption,others did not. There is no fantasy in this book,it is hard realism. Mr. Hornblum is a competent chronicler



5. Even though his name wasn't printed (thankfully), the book brought back many good memories and stories for my dad (an former K&A guy himself.) His days of running with Dolan, "Raybo", and the Stockers are long behind him and distant memories, but if he says the book is pretty accurate, then I believe him. He should know since he had "ringside" seats for most of it.
   
   Great stuff!

5 comments about You Got Nothing Coming: Notes From a Prison Fish.

1. I loved this book. The author really has an ear for the lingo and an eye for a situation. I think that you will like this book as well.
   
   Just read an account elsewhere that the author likely is far more guilty of outright murder than he makes out. In that, he is the typical "innocent" con.
   
   But, that said, I read the book several times over the last year or so. He finds funny situations - made up or not.



2. For about the first chapter, I was impatient to learn about the author's crime. I guess I needed to know if I should sympathize with him or keep my emotional distance. Then I stopped caring, because his prison experiences were so fascinating, and I was kept busy laughing out loud at his sardonic asides. Lerner does tell the story of the murder at the book's conclusion, and I was grateful to discover that his actions seemed pretty darn justifable, because by then I thoroughly liked the guy.



3. I read this thinking it would be more of a "Prison Survival" type book, and I picked this up on a novelty. What I found was a very interesting page turner about how a seemingly regular 9-5 person let his bad choices lead him into a situation where he landed in prison for murder.
   
   I don't want to say that Jimmy had it easy in prison, becuase nothing about jail is easy. However, he did get lucky in that he made friends with the right people. Jimmy seems like a likable, friendly and trustworthy guy, and it is what kept his head above water while doing time.
   
   Most of this book is about Jimmy's time in prison. However, the last chapter deals with the events that led him there.
   
   I really became engrossed in the story and was reading late into the nights to finish this. This book still leaves a few unanswered questions, and I would be interested in reading a "part II" to this to see how 'OG' finished out his time, and how his life is going now.
   
   I liked this book, I don't know if it is entirely truthful, but I still enjoyed it.



4. The following is from "Reality Bites"
   By Meghan O'Rourke
   Posted Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2006, at 12:52 PM ET
   
   "In 2002, a man published a memoir chronicling his substance abuse and the months he spent in jail after committing a crime. When a reporter discovered that the memoir was built around a fabrication, the author defended his embellishments in the name of literary license: "What I was doing was a literary genre known as a memoir," he explained, and pointed to a disclaimer in his book noting that identifying details had been changed. The man was not James Frey. He was Jimmy A. Lerner, the author of You Got Nothing Coming: Notes From a Prison Fish, published by Broadway Books. The fabrication was a significant one. The book describes Lerner's murder of a thuggish 6-foot-3 maniac he calls "the Monster," in a drug-fueled fight to the death in a hotel room. In fact, as David Kirkpatrick later reported in the New York Times Magazine, Lerner had actually killed a 5-foot-4 former medical equipment salesman who may not have been armed."



5. I found this book entertaining. It kept me up late, interested to find out what happened next. I'm sad to say I think it's fiction.
   
   Things just don't ring true. The guards are too sadistic. Lerner's cellmate is far too helpful and accepting. Some supposedly authentic dialogue made me cringe; it sounded like something I might hear on a made-for-TV movie on a network. Embarassing.
   
   Of course, it would have been appropriate for the author to change some names. I believe Lerner went far beyond this, unnecessarily embellishing, and that the book's impact is much reduced as a result.

5 comments about Frank Nitti: The True Story of Chicago's Notorious Enforcer.

1. Far too little research has previously been available about Frank Nitti, Capone's "Enforcer" and the public face of the Chicago Outfit after Capone was sent to prison, but anyone with an interest needs look no further than this book. Ron Humble, in what can only be described as an amazing researched book, has brought Frank Nitti back to life within these pages and has revealed the complex and contradictory gangster in a way that no other writer has ever been able to do. This is a highly readable (although filled with great detail) book that no one with a serious interest in the Chicago gangland era should be without. Don't miss this one!



2. Author Ronald Humble mentions a number of things I wasn't aware of prior to reading this book on Frank Nitti. Humble mentions that Nitti was likely responsible for the hit on Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak in retaliation for Cermak's sending two men to eliminate Nitti. Giuseppe Zangara was chosen by the mob to assassinate Cermak because Zangara was in debt to the mob, and if he didn't carry out the hit he and his family would suffer torture and death. If Zangara did as the mob ordered, the mob would see that Zangara's family was taken care of in a positive way. Author Humble draws comparisons between the assassinations of Mayor Cermak and President John Kennedy. Zangara and Lee Oswald were both expendable. Zangara was quickly eliminated through execution, and didn't dare express what he knew due to concern for his family. Oswald was quickly eliminated by Jack Ruby. Author Humble also states Nitti was likely in on the rub out of despised enemy Machine Gun Jack McGurn, and north sider Hymie Weiss. The author wonders whether Nitti's death was a suicide or was he a victim of foul play. I would stick with a suicide due to his reluctance to return to prison. Finally the author spends quite a bit of time on Nitti as he was portrayed on television and in the movies showing how much coverage he was given in this area. When the author isn't sure about events in Nitti's life he makes sure to point that out. I found the book very worth while and one that should interest those who enjoy mob-related books.



3. Everyone knows of mob boss Al Capone. But what of his successor in the mob, Frank Nitti, who should be just as infamous, if not more so? "Frank Nitti: The True Story Chicago's Notorious 'Enforcer'" is his tale, bringing the tale of the countless murders and conspiracies for more, the vice and corruption that came with Nitti's leadership. With examinations of how Nitti has been portrayed in myth, legend, television, and movies, it tries to find out the truth about the man through scholarly research, covering everything from his time as Capone's enforcer, his plots to extort Hollywood, and his mysterious death, ruled as a suicide, but could it have been a complex assassination? "Frank Nitti: The True Story Chicago's Notorious 'Enforcer'" is highly recommended for anyone with a strong interest in the golden age of the mob and for community library true crime shelves.



4. I thouroughly enjoyed Ron Humble's book on Frank Nitti. The incredible detail of Nitti's grim circumstances in his youth and the insights the author provides of how his personality fit the needs of the mob and allowed him to rise to mythic status was fascinating. The depictions of Frank Nitti by Hollywood that Humble includes are further indications of how ruthless a person can become in the right circumstances while still retaining a human quality. I highly recommend the book.



5. I enjoyed this book so much - I read it in two sittings. As a ghostwriter on several mafia stories I've had to read dozens of books about Chicago's powerful mob organization - The Outfit. I've found most to be overly sensational, speculative and gruesome in their story telling. Ronald has broken through the mold. Frank Nitti: The True Story of Chicago's Notorious Enforcer is written in a refined style that makes the true horror jump off the page. Ronald does a great job framing the mafia in historical context, showing the blurred lines between good and evil in mid-nineteenth century. Great book.

No comments about Another Man's War: The True Story of One Man's Battle to Save Children in the Sudan.

5 comments about American Spy: My Secret History in the CIA, Watergate and Beyond.

1. This book is well written and contains a good narrative account of Watergate break in. Aside from that Mr. Hunt seemed torn at the time he wrote this book (near the end of his life), He critizices the leaking of the events a Abu Graihb (not the actual events), yet at the same time he is critical of the decision to go to war in Iraq and seems uncomfortable with certain aspects of GWB's expansion of FISA.
   Maybe these contradictions are due to his long career in CIA and other post that required deceitful and duplicitus words and actions. Whatever the reason this is still a book worth reading.



2. "American Spy," confirms we are living in one of the most exciting eras of history.
   
   Per example, Hunt includes an intriguing insight in his final summation.
   
   "I have rewritten this chapter twice as events keep catching up to me," he begins. {Page 328, para. 2, line 19.} He continues on to note that suggestions he made in the previous versions actually were fulfilled before the publication of the book, causing him to rewrite those passages.
   
   Hunt's delving and the reviews available here on Amazon, make one immediately aware that this field of study is ripe for examination.
   
   One fascinating abscence from Hunt's chronicle is the chapter of various societal affiliations of the leading players, beginning with the past CIA directors, few, if any, of whom qualified for the position 'intelligence chief.' The question begged, that none in authority thought to ask, "Why?" A related list to be made as cross-reference with the names of these scions of snooping? Suggested entries would have to include the Council on Foreign Relations and, naturally, good ol' Skull & Crossbones. Any illumination as to where these configurations might lead?
   
   Just those two would have answered many of the questions Hunt posed throughout his familial confession. But, then, that perhaps reveals Mr. Hunt's true position : American Spy. And few spies tell all, American or otherwise.
   
   Good reading. So close to his own demise, Hunt could have entitled the work, "Racing Through Paradise." Had not, of course, his good friend and compatriot, {how telling that phrase becomes in context}, W.F. already absconded with the plume for one of his own tumblings.
   
   To those who cry 'surfeit' one need only close with Hunt's observation leading into his 'rewrite' remark. Just two paragraphs prior, Hunt waxes on the flood of information being created by the exponentially increasing technologies, casting all intelligence agencies adrift on this Sea of Portent.
   
   One revels in the closing scene from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" as Hunt opines, "...finally content {the CIA} to stamp them TOP SECRET and file them in massive storerooms, with only about 5 (sic.) percent of the information ever undergoing analysis."
   
   Oh, the tangled webs !
   
   TL Farley,
   author,
   When Now Becomes Too Late,
   Distant Reaches
   
   When Now Becomes Too Late { Hard copy }
   
   When Now Becomes Too Late {Kindle copy }
   
   { Prophecy : The Rapture In Brief }
   
   
   
   Distant Reaches
   
   { True Life Adventure In Ireland, Boston and On The North Atlantic }



3. This book reads just like a mystery novel. It's easy to read and full of suspense, so I couldn't wait to turn the page to find out what happens. The pages on Watergate were especially suspenseful. This book was good from beginning to end. It's interesting to get the inside information on CIA training and activities from someone who was really there. Also, it was good to read about Watergate from someone who was really there and knows what happened. He also fills this book with stories about his personal life, his parents, wife and children. At the end, he offers his views on how to fix the agency today. This is a very good and easy to read book! I enjoyed every page of it.



4. This man, even as he looked at death, could not even come close to the truth. If you buy this book call me i got a bridge for you...
   
   mmmm just to be straight i bought this book...so don't be a sucker like.....me



5. I really looked forward to reading this book having been in college when Watergate grasped the nation I wanted to see how well I remembered some events. But after reading half the book I knew that much of what I was absorbing was the result of a memory even more flawed than my own. The topper came when he has President Eisenhower in office in 1950 when even a junior high schooler could tell you Eisenhower was elected in 1952 - after the Korean War. After that how reliable could the rest of the book be. Was it just a case of poor editing, or did Hunt really believe what was written? It left me questioning how much of the book was meant as an attempt to absolve himself of his crimes or justify the mistakes he made of his own free will. Is he trying to rewrite history? I just don't know, and after finishing the entire book I still am not sure if this is non-fiction or fiction.