Rating: 
Summary: A totally different slant than I expected...
Review: I will be honest in that I couldn't get all the way through this book. When the initial monologue started off with the author's assessment that The Agency was "founded on a basis of deceit", I winced. Then, shortly after, the author talked about his motivation for the book. Speaking about those on the wall, he wrote "They are people that, given the life they chose, probably would prefer to be in anonymity up there on the wall. But, I decided that it was important to me to tell their story." That statement made me shut off, because it was obvious this book was not about honoring those who had died in their country's service. Rather, their lives were an intellectual curiousity to the author, and what they would have wanted was less important than the author's belief that as a journalist, his needs are most important.Bottom line is that if you are looking for an exposé that attempts to make the US look bad in an attempt to sell books, go for it. If you are looking for something that is honoring those fallen in the way they wished to be honored, do not buy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A fine book
Review: I will not get into plot sumaries (other reviewers have). This book was an excellent one. I picked it up to give to my father as a Father's Day gift. I ended up reading it before he had the chance and was not let down. If you are at all interested in either history or intelligence this is the book. Not only did it cover numerous historical events in great detail, but it allowed us a glimpse at what a lonely life a spy must lead. As another reviewer mentioned, if you are looking for intelligence-James Bond-conpiracy related information this is not the book. If however, you want to learn an appreciation for an otherwise vailed profession, I suggest you read BOOK OF HONOR.
Rating:
Summary: Meet the Real Heroes
Review: I'm a surefire fan of spy novels but this isn't one of those, its much better, its the real thing. It's 'real' in the way that Studs Terkel's "Working" is real - it's the well-researched asnd simply stated truth about actual peoples' lives. That these people happened to be employed y the CIA is almost incidental. The stories in this book attract us in the same way that shows like 'Survivor' attract us - here we're a witness to real lives that never knew they would be seen, that lived in a world of secrecy and camouflage - and died there. I feel that I'm in mourning now for these people who have died, willingly I think, for a cause that they believed in. These people in the Book of Honor have become alive to me in the way that friends and family members are alive - I've heard their wives and sisters voices, seen their snapshots, visited their home towns, climbed Himalayan passes and traveled jungle roads in their company. Thank you, Ted, for bringing these people into my life. If I do forget their names and missions I will never be able to forget their heroism; in these days of such cynicism about patriotism, thank you for renewing my faith. They would be pleased!
Rating:
Summary: Asleep at the Switch - Gup
Review: Many brave men and women have paid the ultimate price for their country. The stars on the wall at CIA Headquarters represents some of them. It is sad that Mr. Gup does not have a clue.
Rating: 
Summary: Thorough reporting on the people behind the job.
Review: Mr. Gup has done an incredible job on the putting together the lives and missions of some of America's unknown and unsung heroes. This is not a Clany-esque book by any means. What this is is a collection of biographies of some of the men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the CIA and USA. It is an in-depth view at the types of character it takes to work a thankless job in remote, hostile and harsh environments. It talks of the resolve (to the point of stubborness) of some men who faced life in a foriegn prison, rather than admit they were a spy (and subsequently be released back to the US - something happening to others around them). Although some of the people died in random acts of violence that did not specifically target them, they are still powerful and moving stories of their lives surrounding service, and the families they left behind. He chronicles some of the stories of the families who suffering immense loss, were lied to or had information with held from them in the name of "national security". Not even in death could the truth come out about many of these people. The irony is, there are many cases for national security. However, there seems to be no time frame for the grieving for when they may find out the truth (some waiting more than 30 years), or be able to celebrate the fact that deceased died for America rather than for a dummy corporation as a "civilian employee". Overall, this is a humbling book that proves no matter how trivial some of the work may seem, no matter how much information is received on "America's interests", the true value of that work and that information can be very costly.
Rating:
Summary: Thorough reporting on the people behind the job.
Review: Mr. Gup has done an incredible job on the putting together the lives and missions of some of America's unknown and unsung heroes. This is not a Clany-esque book by any means. What this is is a collection of biographies of some of the men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the CIA and USA. It is an in-depth view at the types of character it takes to work a thankless job in remote, hostile and harsh environments. It talks of the resolve (to the point of stubborness) of some men who faced life in a foriegn prison, rather than admit they were a spy (and subsequently be released back to the US - something happening to others around them). Although some of the people died in random acts of violence that did not specifically target them, they are still powerful and moving stories of their lives surrounding service, and the families they left behind. He chronicles some of the stories of the families who suffering immense loss, were lied to or had information with held from them in the name of "national security". Not even in death could the truth come out about many of these people. The irony is, there are many cases for national security. However, there seems to be no time frame for the grieving for when they may find out the truth (some waiting more than 30 years), or be able to celebrate the fact that deceased died for America rather than for a dummy corporation as a "civilian employee". Overall, this is a humbling book that proves no matter how trivial some of the work may seem, no matter how much information is received on "America's interests", the true value of that work and that information can be very costly.
Rating:
Summary: Book of Honor
Review: Scanning through CSPAN a book review caught my attention. After watching Ted Gup on the program I ordered The Book of Honor. For anyone who has spent time in the military or close to US Intelligence programs, it will raise the curtain of secrecy on a few more of the unsung heroes who served our country willingly. It will also confirm that politicians, agency heads and senior military officers made terrible blunders that costs lives and proved embarrassing to the common citizen of America. The flow of the book is a little difficult to follow as the stories and lives of the various members of the CIA are intertwined. The story is presented as a factual account of events that have been held hostage by a sense of secrecy that is perhaps unnecessary except to hide details that could reveal inept planning and execution by self-centered bureaucrats. The idea of secrecy for its own sake is especially personal to me. As a 17 year-old Airman, I served in the Far East as a member of the USAF Security Service's 15th Radio Squadron, Mobile. After Korea, the base was closed and turned over to the Japanese. Over fifty years later, a group of former members tried to get a copy of the unit history and a roster of all who served there. The request was turned down as it is still classified. During my year of combat in Viet Nam, I flew in Air America aircraft and helicopters and knew many who could only have been working for "The Company". Prior to President Nixon's incursion into Cambodia, I unloaded a strange looking single engine aircraft that had a multi-bladed wooden propeller and a muffler system that extended well beyond the tail of the aircraft. The civilian pilot who accompanied it said it was so quiet that at 35 mph over the treetops, it sounded like an owl landing on a branch. The belly was filled with ports for cameras or infrared devices. It was also my sad duty to supervise the loading of far too many of those shiny steel boxes onto military aircraft for return to the US. They contained the remains of those whose names are inscribed forever on the Viet Nam Wall. Ted Gup has done us all a service in balancing the sacrifices of those whose star he attached a name to and the revelation of a few more details on the blunders of those in command. Those in charge should have given the orders and taken their lumps instead of trying to micromanage operations from the DOD or White House while refusing to acknowledge that the events even happened. I remember the night a U-2 fell from the sky over Russia and later hearing President Eisenhower tell the world it was never there. And of many similar events, heroic as well as tragic, that I must still be silent about. I highly recommend this book to all who are history buffs or who want to know more about some of the facts our government hides from us.
Rating:
Summary: READ MY SLIPS
Review: Seventy-one CIA employees have given their lives; more than half were robbed of identity and recognition. The book is a collection of cover stories intended to conceal criminal acts and top-level blunders. How did this book get publshed? America's intelligence agencies now boast of hacking into all phone and e-mial communications world-wide; they can quash any expose. A reader has to suppose that one or more CIA chiefs wanted this book to be read. Why? George Bush Sr. headed the agency for a time; there's a thought. Tragic biographies suggest these dead died in vain, some at least in psychotic delusion. Their survivors were cruelly tormented into silence. Cynical condolence letters fill many pages. Apparently, nothing the CIA attempted went right - that's an impression, anyway. Spy stories can be entertaining (e.g. James Bond). Or they can be political disinformation (the TV series on Sydney Reilly, for example). Usually the excuse for ugly real-world spying and spy-catching is war. But here is evidence that addicted sneaks invent wars and fabricate dangers to indulge in barbarism. Neither "good Germans" nor "good Americans" have stood up to palpable paranoia. Must we lose a war to regain our honor?
Rating:
Summary: CIA's Top Officers Should be Deeply Ashamed
Review: Ted Gup is a humble man who feels an obligation to those menand women who died in the defense of the greatest nation on earth. The author is not hostile towards the CIA. He strongly believes, as I do, that reluctantly this organization has a continuing serious role to play in the defense of our liberties. Alas, we live in a less than perfect world. Human nature is such that forevermore we will likely spy, and at times even discretely perform underhanded mayhem upon our enemies. A democratic society, however, must strictly monitor its spy agencies so that they do not get carried away and violate the limited mandate granted to them by the nation's elected officials. The innate secretive aspect of an intelligence organization's duties can seduce its top officers to perceive their actions as above the law and the consensus moral values of a civilized society. This disturbing book echoes the warning of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan that the bureaucratic mind set of our spy organizations results in often stamping "top secret" on matters not requiring such extreme caution. Bureaucrats are generally timid individuals who virtually always prefer choosing the exaggerated safe option to make sure their careers are never jeopardized. Ted Gup found ample evidence that the CIA's laziness and indifference are usually the only reasons why the names of CIA operatives killed in the line of duty do not receive public acknowledgment. The surviving family members possess neither the financial resources or the political influence to force the CIA's hand. A cynic might justifiably conclude that dead agents are out of sight, and therefore out of mind. I found myself forced to control my rage learning how the names of agents who died 50 years ago are not released because of alleged national security concerns! I am appalled that both the Republicans and the Democrats have allowed this disgraceful behavior to continue. I was also upset to find out that our CIA slandered the Red Chinese by saying the latter had imprisoned a totally innocent business man. The truth of the matter, Gup had discovered, is that not only was the man a CIA agent, but also probably performed acts of sabotage! The Communists of China are vicious monsters deserving of our complete and unhesitating moral condemnation. Nevertheless, their vileness does not excuse our outright lies. I strongly contend that in the long run such contemptible dishonestly only furthers the cynicism and bitterness of those who otherwise might be converted over to the values of our political system. Ted Gup's superb book transcends the sometimes nebulous boundaries of conservative and liberal.... These agents died for our sakes---and thus we have no right to forget their sacrifices.
Rating:
Summary: They Served in Shadow, They Gave Their Lives for Freedom
Review: Ted Gup's "Book of Honor" grew out of an article published in the Washington Post's sunday magazine, in which he told the previously classified stories of some of the men and women whose names are listed in a sealed book in the lobby of the CIA's Langley, Virginia headquarters. "Book of Honor" tells those same stories and others in much greater detail, beginning with agents who died early in the history of the Agency, while serving in newly-Communist China. The book continues through the early 1990s, telling the story of a motorcycle-riding weapons specialist who died on assignment in Somalia. The book itself is well-researched and informative - a truly amazing collection of stories which need to be told, for the sake of both the dead and the living. Unfortunately, in order to keep the book to a reasonable length, some of the stories feel more glossed-over than others, and many could serve as the basis for entire books in and of themselves. Furthermore, Gup, with good reason, does not cross the Agency's classified boundaries and is limited to telling the stories of those whose names have been released, leaving a number of the stars at Langely anonymous and unheralded. Though the stories lack the sex-appeal of a Le Carre novel or the technical details of a Tom Clancy thriller, the fact that these stories are true has a sobering effect while keeping the reader riveted until the end. The book is a much-needed and well-written glimpse into the shadowy history of the CIA and the men and women who gave their lives in its service.
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