Product Description

This is the autobiography of one of the Cold War's hottest warriors: the CIA Station Chief in the Congo during the tumultuous years of independence. Larry Devlin arrived as the new chief of station for the CIA in the Congo five days after the country had declared its independence, the army had mutinied and governmental authority had collapsed. As he crossed the Congo River in an almost empty ferry, all he could see were lines of people trying to travel the other way - out of the Congo. Within his first two weeks, he found himself on the wrong end of a revolver as militiamen played Russian-roulette with him, Congo style. During his first year, the charismatic and reckless political leader Patrice Lumumba was murdered, and Devlin was widely though to have been entrusted with (he was), and to have carried out (he didn't) the assassination. Then he saved the life of Joseph Desire Mobutu, who carried out the military coup that presaged his own rise to political power. Devlin found himself at the heart of Africa, fighting for the survival of perhaps the most strategically influential country on the continent, its borders shared with eight other nations. He met every significant political figure, from presidents to mercenaries, as he took the Cold War to one of the world's hottest zones. This is a classic political memoir from a master spy who lived in wildly dramatic times.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #444754 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 312 pages

Review
"His voice had the gravely timbre of a man who smoked three packets of cigarettes a day until a brush with open heart surgery. His hands - creased by a million experiences, the wedding ring so deeply set in the flesh it seemed welded to the bone - would give a palm reader pause for thought. But his brain was as keen and irreverent as ever. And with his defiant insistence that he regretted nothing about the CIA's support for Mobutu, Larry Devlin was a reminder that whatever happened in the end there was a time when Mobutu was not just the hope of interfering Americans obsessed with domino metaphors." Michaela Wrong, journalist and writer, on Larry Devlin"

The Financial Times Magazine, March 2007
"(A) must-read for those interested in the shaping of independent Africa...

this book is of pressing and immediate relevance."

The Spectator, March 2007
"revealing"...."(f)or devotees of Frederick Forsyth, there is plenty in
these pages about gun-running in the heart of darkness."

Customer Reviews

Fascinating perspective
Really enjoyed this book. If one approaches it as a primary source to better understand the US Cold War 1960's mentality then it is a good as anything that I have read. While this viewpoint seems dated today, to put it kindly, its unapologetic tone does at least enable one to understand the drivers of US foreign policy. Felt that the account was reasonably well balanced, although it clearly irks Mr Devlin that he has been besmirched with an assassination plot that he states repeatedly that he was not involved in. He is sympathetic to many of the African politicians that he comes into contact with and was undoubtedly a successful operator throughout his 2 tours in the Congo as he was able to build and maintain significant relationships with the key players. However, this is not a Tom Clancy page-a-minute yarn, as these political moves take up much of the book with only occasional references to the cloak-and-dagger stuff. A good read though and recommended.