Review — The Good Spy
‘The Good Spy’ by Kai Bird is about the life and times of the late Robert ‘Bob’ Ames. Ames was in the CIA and worked his way up to being the Middle East expert in the early years of the Reagan Administration. He was killed in the embassy bombing in Beirut in 1983 which was several months before the bombing at the Marine barracks that killed nearly 300 US and French military personnel. Ames spent a career on the Middle East, worked his way up the agency ladder, was one of the few arabist and was the US conduit to the PLO.
Full disclosure, Bird’s family knew the Ames family and Bird pulls frequently from other books you may have read if you read about the intelligence world. In any event, Ames life and times are no doubt worthy of a book as it provided valuable historical context when it comes to the Israel — Palestine conflict. It does lack a good pace which I found frustrating and prevented me from really diving into it.
Felt like Bird could have streamlined things better. Bird gives good background on each individual but does jump around on names from time to time which is kind of annoying. For example he may go from Ames to Bob and will do the same thing with other people as well.
To that end, during Ames time, there was a whole lot going on to say the least. I would have liked to seen Bird pull that in a little bit so the reader is reminded about the shifts in culture during this time. From hippies to Watergate. For example, Ames was in Yemen in the late 60’s. Vietnam was still raging and the things in America were, we’ll let’s just say there were a few things going on. How did that effect things for him and his work? When the Church Commission was done with it’s work, how did things change? Bird touches on this a little bit during the transition into the Carter Administration but I thought he could have done this more often as opposed to diving into a contact’s life story.
Ames did live and play a very important role in America’s presence in the Middle East from the 60’s through the 80’s. He built relationships across the region that allowed for diplomacy to take hold. While it was unable to flourish, it did provide some wins along the way. Heck the book starts with the peace accords between Israel and Palestine during the Clinton Administration.
This is a read for those who enjoy books about history and the world of intelligence. I don’t like to use the word ‘spy’ because when you use that word people get the image of James Bond or something. If you’re looking for that, go find a novel. But if you want history and are someone who enjoys books about the CIA, check this one out.
