First and foremost, let me say that this is one of the books that every American citizen should read. If you only intend to read one book this year, this book is just as viable a candidate to be that singular book as any other. James Clapper grew up in the American intelligence community because his father was an American intelligence officer. His wife's parents also raised her in the intelligence community and she spent her career working in that area also. Clapper rose from the lowest entry level position to be in charge of the entire seventeen agency American intelligence service. He served honorably and well at all levels of the intelligence service and is one of the most experienced former intelligence administrators to ever work in the field. His co-author Trey Brown served as his speech writer for several years both as an intelligence agency head and as Director Of National Intelligence. The two men have produced an informative, honest, well written book.
The one real drawback to the book in my mind lies in the fact that both authors are incredibly well versed in the language of acronyms which permeates all levels of government service. The average reader is not likely to be so and the book is filled with hundreds of acronyms for numerous agencies at all levels of the federal government. In defense of the authors, editor, and publisher, the book does have a Glossary of Abbreviations in the back which actually covers more than three pages. But, if you are not particularly adept at reading and remembering those acronyms, you find yourself flipping back and forth to that glossary as you read which makes it time consuming and mildly irritating. But, once again in defense of the team which produced the book, eliminating the glossary and printing the full names of all those government agencies every time they appeared would have added a sizable number of pages to the book, expense to the purchaser, and a different set of problems. But nothing I have said in the preceding sentences should ever be considered justification for not reading the book. If you love America, American Democracy, and world peace, you should definitely read it.
There is a common misconception about this book that it is intended as an indictment of the crimes of Donald Trump just as there was a similar misconception about James Comey's book, "A Higher Loyalty...". Nothing could be farther from the truth in both cases. These are books about the lives of loyal, patriotic, American public servants and heroes and not remotely about the TRAITOR who is illegally occupying the White House due to his TREASON. Any and all references to the TRAITOR Trump are necessary as a part of the story being told and support the greater threads of discussion in the book. This is a book about patriotism, heroism, and honorable government service by a man who will someday be clearly and universally honored as the hero his is, always has been, and will always be. James Clapper would much rather have been allowed to end his government service quietly and peacefully in the company of his family and friends instead of finding it necessary to continue to serve his country as a retiree in order to further the defenses of America, American Democracy, and a peaceful world in the face of a Russian originated and directed plot to destroy all the aforementioned. James Clapper is an American hero. Read this book and you will understand to just how great a degree his heroism has grown as his country has been faced with the worst constitutional crisis in our history.
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