Audiobook15 hours
Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the CIA, and the Hidden Story of America's Space Espionage
Written by Philip Taubman
Narrated by Michael Prichard
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
"In this exciting, meticulously researched spy story, Taubman takes readers behind the closed doors of the Eisenhower administration to tell about the small group of Cold Warriors whose technological innovations-including the U2 spy plane and Corona, the country's first spy satellite-revolutionized espionage and intelligence gathering." -Publishers Weekly
"New York Times editor Taubman exudes admiration for the contrarian thinking and enterprise that brought into being the U-2, the SR-71, and the Corona series of surveillance satellites." -Booklist
During the early and most dangerous years of the cold war, a handful of Americans, led by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, revolutionized spying and warfare. In great secrecy and beyond the prying eyes of Congress and the press, they built exotic new machines that opened up the Soviet Union to surveillance and protected the United States from surprise nuclear attack. Secret Empire is the dramatic story of these men and their inventions, told in full for the first time.
"New York Times editor Taubman exudes admiration for the contrarian thinking and enterprise that brought into being the U-2, the SR-71, and the Corona series of surveillance satellites." -Booklist
During the early and most dangerous years of the cold war, a handful of Americans, led by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, revolutionized spying and warfare. In great secrecy and beyond the prying eyes of Congress and the press, they built exotic new machines that opened up the Soviet Union to surveillance and protected the United States from surprise nuclear attack. Secret Empire is the dramatic story of these men and their inventions, told in full for the first time.
Related to Secret Empire
Related audiobooks
Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs from Communism to Al-Qaeda Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Site: The CIA in the Post-9/11 World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro, and America's Doomed Invasion of Cuba Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself--While the Rest of Us Die Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Burn Before Reading: Presidents, CIA Directors, and Secret Intelligence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing Kennedy:: Exposing the Plot, the Cover-Up, and the Consequences Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stalin's Secret Agents: The Subversion of Roosevelt's Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Near and Distant Neighbors: A New History of Soviet Intelligence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Broken Arrow: How the U.S. Navy Lost a Nuclear Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A World of Trouble: The White House and the Middle East---from the Cold War to the War on Terror Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Day After Roswell Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Watergate Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The CIA: The History and Legacy of the Central Intelligence Agency Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Spymaster's Prism: The Fight against Russian Aggression Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Philadelphia Experiment: The History of World War II’s Most Unshakable Urban Legend Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ghost: The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Technology & Engineering For You
How to Build a Car: The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Formula 1 Designer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Smart Phone Dumb Phone: Free Yourself from Digital Addiction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-made World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tesla: Wizard at War: The Genius, the Particle Beam Weapon, and the Pursuit of Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Einstein's Fridge: How the Difference Between Hot and Cold Explains the Universe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Design of Everyday Things Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Steve Jobs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Elon Musk Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rust: The Longest War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Future of Geography: How the Competition in Space Will Change Our World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Secret Empire
Rating: 3.8333332777777778 out of 5 stars
4/5
18 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5eye opening read. Do not miss the chance to go behind the curtain.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is the backstory of the development of the U-2 spy plane, the first US recon satellites and the political climate of the 1950's. It mostly covers the period from 1950 to 1960, with a little bit of time spent afterwards. It is very detailed in going over who was involved and some of the work behind both the U-2 and the Corona spy satellite. Surprisingly, both were administered by the CIA with almost no government oversight, which probably explains their success and modest budgets. While I appreciated the information in this book, most of which I was not familiar with, it was a little drawn out. It would have been better in many places if it had been more concise.