"The Book of Honor" is an extremely well written account of the lives and families of CIA agents who died for their country. Unfortunately, the author spends more time describing the homes where these heroes grew up rather than the circumstances under which they perished. Not only does it not place enough emphasis on covert operation (or the reasons for them), the book is written from an antagonistic perspective. Throughout the book, the author continually takes jabs at the CIA and U.S. covert operations community. There are some interesting historical facts lightly sprinkled through out its pages, but not nearly enough to make it worthwhile. If you want a little action and insight into the lives of individuals as CIA operatives, please look for another book to read. If you are looking for mundane letters between boyfriend and girlfriend or mother and son, this book is for you.

This is a good book! It is good reading for anyone age 16 or older, casual reader to university professor. It is required reading for anyone serving in the intelligence or diplomatic fields - soldier or statesman. I was impressed that this is Ted Gup's first book, it is truly superb. Gup's research is among the best and most complete I have ever reviewed regarding this subject area. Book of Honor is about a small part of the CIA called the Deputy Director for Operations or DDO and about an even smaller part of the DDO that conducts clandestine, covert, and surreptitious operations overseas. It is a series of true action stories about the events of the men and women that died in the service of the CIA from its inception after WW II to the present. The author is fidelis honoring those who died and earned a listing in the "Book of Honor." You'll meet real heroes here. My favorite, whom I have long considered one of the bravest men I ever knew - Dick Holm. But, that's only part of the value of this living history. There is a second story between the lines for the more experienced reader. It is a story about an intelligence agency often more involved with nitwitery (like that in Laos) than sound objective or purpose. The reader will bounce between admiration of exceptional individual accomplishment and disbelief at the level of institutional incompetence by often unqualified managers - more mangers than leaders. This is a story too often about "playing army" than spying. Readers will cringe at a bureaucratic contest between better equipped and better trained military special operations units and CIA teams usually comprised of ex-military contract employees. Policy and law makers will see first hand the inherent problems of an intelligence agency wasting limited resources and valuable time trying to fight violent enemies at the expense of making sound intelligence about critical issues needed by others. The author includes a lucid passage attributed to members of US Army Detachment Delta - You just didn't know if you could trust the CIA. They were speaking about the reliability of both CIA intelligence and operational truthfulness and their assessment is directly on target. The CIA plays games when professionalism is needed. Too many CIA secrets are maintained more to protect incompetence than national security. The author with the help of many within the agency provides needed sunshine with the right blend of integrity and caution. There is no horse manure in this book.

Ted Gups' efforts to pierce the secrecy of the Central Inteligence Agency has revealed the human side of covert operations . My father , John Merriman ,was assigned to the Congo in the summer of 1964 , to provide logistical assistance to an "Instant Air Force " comprised of T-28 , counter- insurgency aircraft and the Cuban exile pilots that crewed them . It is a difficult task to investigate the result of years of secrecy and denial , but Ted Gup has reaffirmed the courage and patriotism of not just the men and women whose names are inscribed in the Book of Honor , but also their families who had to sometimes live with a lie . His work has produced a written legacy to all the othewise nameless menbers of the CIA who made the ultimate sacrifice in unknown circumstances. My fathers story and those of all the others , can come out of the shadow of secrecy and into the light of American history .