US covert operations and Cold War strategy: Truman, secret warfare and the CIA, 1945 - 53

Based on recently declassified documents, this book provides the first examination of the Truman Administration's decision to employ covert operations in the Cold War. Although covert operations were an integral part of America's arsenal during the late 1940s and early 1950s, the majority of these operations were ill conceived, unrealistic and ultimately doomed to failure. In this volume, the author looks at three central questions: Why were these types of operations adopted? Why were they conducted in such a haphazard manner? And, why, once it became clear that they were not working, did the