The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government | Mechanics' Institute

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The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government
Author David Talbot in conversation with political analyst Peter Dale Scott

America's greatest untold story: the United States' rise to world dominance under the guile of Allen Welsh Dulles, the longest-serving director of the CIA. Drawing on revelatory new materials—including recently discovered U.S. government documents, U.S. and European intelligence sources, the personal correspondence and journals of Allen Dulles's wife and mistress, and exclusive interviews with the children of prominent CIA officials—David Talbot reveals the underside of one of America's most powerful and influential figures.

David Talbot is the author of the New York Times bestseller Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years and the acclaimed national bestseller Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love. He is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Salon, and was a senior editor at Mother Jones magazine and the features editor at the San Francisco Examiner. He has written for The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Time, and other major publications, and lives in San Francisco, California.

Peter Dale Scott, a former Canadian diplomat and professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, is a leading political analyst and poet. His most recent books include The American Deep State: Wall Street, Big Oil, and the Attack on U.S. Democracy (2014) and Dallas '63: The First Deep State Revolt Against the White House (2015). His other publications include Deep Politics and the Death of JFK, Drugs, Oil, and War: The United States in Afghanistan, Colombia, and Indochina, The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America, The War Conspiracy: JFK, 9/11, and the Deep Politics of War, and the Road to Afghanistan (R&L). He was awarded the Lannan Poetry Award in 2002 . For a complete biography see www.peterdalescott.net.

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