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"""The CIA: An Imperial History is a pleasure to read, an excellent example of erudition lightly worn. Hugh Wilford shows that when CIA leaders found their anti-imperial ideas did not fit their requirements, they found a new vocabulary in the very language of imperialism that their nation had so often rejected. His interpretation goes far beyond the crude and opportunist assertion that British tuition facilitated the creation of the CIA.""--Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, author of A Question of Standing ""The CIA: An Imperial History is one of those rare and irresistible publications which transform how you think about its subject matter. Hugh Wilford, author of several critically acclaimed books about the secret world of intelligence, blends persuasion with provocation to make the case that the CIA is - and always has been - a servant of American empire, albeit with little self-awareness that it performs this role. The cast of characters is a rogue's gallery of swashbuckling spies and saboteurs inspired by the imperial tales of novelist Rudyard Kipling and the real-life exploits of Lawrence of Arabia. In charting how this band of imperial adventurers looked to covertly redraw the map of the world, especially in the global south, this magnificent book will change our understanding of the history of the CIA and American foreign relations.""--Christopher Moran, author of Company Confessions ""Hugh Wilford has again exposed another layer of the CIA's shrouded history by tying it to the history of the US empire. This innovative and rigorously researched merger internationalizes the agency's history even as it enhances understanding of its behavior and image. Wilford excavates the foreign and the domestic; people and places. The result is a different kind of survey that reveals a different kind of CIA.""--Richard H. Immerman, former Assistant Deputy Director of National Intelligence and author of The Hidden Hand ""Hugh Wilford's new book places the CIA in its imperial setting - a covert empire but one deeply, subtly, and violently felt, especially in the Global South after 1945. But it does more by bringing the CIA's history up to the present, looking at its roles in the global war on terror and the hyper-rivalries between the USA, Russia, and China in an increasingly fractured world system. The past lives but it needs to be brought to life - and Hugh Wilford has shown once again that he is a master of that particular art.""--Inderjeet Parmar, author of Foundations of the American Century ""Hugh Wilford's new history of the CIA is a spectacular achievement: learned, thoughtful, frequently surprising, often wryly funny, always gloriously readable. It's a serious work of scholarship, casting new light on dramatic episodes from the Iranian coup in 1953 to the assassination of JFK. But it's also a brilliant portrait of the men who lived in the shadows, from their gilded New England schooldays to the sweltering streets of war-torn Saigon. It's the best book yet from a supremely accomplished historian - and I loved it.""--Dominic Sandbrook, co-host of The Rest is History podcast and author of Mad As Hell ""In this fast-paced, absorbing, and insightful narrative, Hugh Wilford offers a bracing new interpretation of the Central Intelligence Agency. By focusing on the backgrounds, biographies, and career trajectories of some of the agency's most legendary, and controversial, figures, Wilford shows how the motives, methods, and organizational ethos of the CIA were shaped profoundly by the European experience of empire. Whether engaging in intelligence gathering, covert action, or counterinsurgency, the CIA, Wilford argues, too often followed colonial-era scripts, with fateful consequences for the peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and major implications for the United States itself. A story packed with intrigue, rivalry, and scandal, this is history at its bold and provocative best.""--Simon Hall, author of Ten Days in Harlem ""This elegantly written history places the CIA within the context of American empire, and, in the process, reshapes our understanding of U.S. intelligence history. With lively prose and memorable characters, Wilford has crafted a narrative that will appeal to scholars and to general readers alike. It's simply superb.""--Kathryn Olmsted, author of Real Enemies ""This is an ambitious and original book. It is not only richly informative but also provocative and insightful. Filled with fascinating and brilliantly researched detail, it shows how the rise of the CIA is intertwined with America's winding path to globalism.""--Richard J. Aldrich, author of GCHQ"

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Hugh Wilford is a professor of history at California State University, Long Beach, and author of five books, including America's Great Game and The Mighty Wurlitzer. He lives in Long Beach, California.

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