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A review by upyernoz
The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War by Stephen Kinzer
4.0
Really should be 4.5 stars.
A really compelling and readable account of the lives and careers of John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles, brothers who were Secretary of State and Director of the CIA in the 1950s. It was when the US was engaged in a lot of abuses, overthrowing governments, encouraging disorder and violence to advance some supposed cold war objective, et cetera. Despite how influential and famous they were at the time, I had no idea who they were before I read the book. All I knew as the name on the airport near Washington DC.
My only issue with the book is the last chapter, when Kinzer briefly delves into the psychology of the brothers and talks about their wider meaning in the context of American culture. That chapter is only 18 pages long. It raises so many questions the way it tries to address them feels rushed and inadequate. But the history before that is really excellent. Or at least I learned a lot from it.
A really compelling and readable account of the lives and careers of John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles, brothers who were Secretary of State and Director of the CIA in the 1950s. It was when the US was engaged in a lot of abuses, overthrowing governments, encouraging disorder and violence to advance some supposed cold war objective, et cetera. Despite how influential and famous they were at the time, I had no idea who they were before I read the book. All I knew as the name on the airport near Washington DC.
My only issue with the book is the last chapter, when Kinzer briefly delves into the psychology of the brothers and talks about their wider meaning in the context of American culture. That chapter is only 18 pages long. It raises so many questions the way it tries to address them feels rushed and inadequate. But the history before that is really excellent. Or at least I learned a lot from it.