Includes bibliographical references (p. [607]-778) and index.

"In the beginning, we knew nothing" : the CIA under Truman, 1945-1953 -- "A strange kind of genius" : the CIA under Eisenhower, 1953 to 1961 -- Lost causes : the CIA under Kennedy and Johnson, 1961 to 1968 -- "Get rid of the clowns" : the CIA under Nixon and Ford, 1968 to 1977 -- Victory without joy : the CIA under Carter, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush, 1977 to 1993 -- The reckoning : the CIA under Clinton and George W. Bush, 1993 to 2007.

Intelligence must be global and totalitarian -- The logic of force -- Fight fire with fire -- The most secret thing -- A rich blind man -- They were suicide missions -- A vast field of illusion -- We have no plan -- CIA's greatest single triumph -- Bomb repeat bomb -- And then we'll have a storm -- We ran it in a different way -- Wishful blindness -- Ham-handed operations of all kinds -- A very strange war -- He was lying down and he was lying up -- Nobody knew what to do -- We had also fooled ourselves -- We'd be delighted to trade those missiles -- Hey, boss, we did a good job, didn't we? -- I thought it was a conspiracy -- An ominous drift -- More courage than wisdom -- The beginning of a long slide downwards -- We knew then that we could not win the war -- A political H-bomb -- Track down the foreign communists -- What the hell do those clowns do out there in Langley? -- USG wants a military solution -- We are going to catch a lot of hell -- To change the concept of a secret service -- A classic fascist ideal -- The CIA would be destroyed -- Saigon signing off -- Ineffective and scared -- He sought to overthrow their system -- We were just plain asleep -- A free-lance buccaneer -- In a dangerous way -- He was running a great risk -- A con man's con man -- To think the unthinkable -- What are we going to do when the wall comes down? -- We had no facts -- Why in the world didn't we know? -- We're in trouble -- The threat could not be more real -- The dark side -- A grave mistake -- The burial ceremony.