'The Company' by Robert Littel

The Company, Robert Littel (3.0)

This book, as indicated by the title, is about the CIA.  The timeframe it covers is from post WWII through the 1990’s, including most of the major conflicts between the US and the USSR.  This very long novel (~900 pages) was interesting to read but turned out to exemplify my pet peeve with historical fiction: the blend of fact and fiction.  Mr. Little has many times at critical plot points included famous people from history alongside his fictional characters.  More troubling is that the real people (JFK, Reagan, Gorbachev, Kim Philby, etc.) act or speak in ways he could not possibly know.  In some cases, his assumptions (i.e. JFK was working with the mafia while president; Reagan’s lack of cognition during his daily work) are controversial.  Throughout the reading I struggled with differentiating what I knew, what may have come out lately with released documents or tapes, and what was likely the author’s take on the matter.  The book moved quickly and, through it’s fictional characters gave a very interesting account of what issues the CIA operatives had during some of our most interesting spy entanglements.  I think it could have been done without creating words and intentions for the real leaders of the time. I know I would have enjoyed it more.