From the late 1960s until his death in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut, CIA operative Robert Ames held increasingly influential posts in the Middle East and Washington. An ardent and accomplished Arabist, he was particularly skilled at forming valuable and trusting relationships among major intelligence figures, most notably with Ali Hassan Salameh, Yasir Arafat's intelligence chief, who may have been the mastermind behind the 1972 Olympic murders in Munich. This particular relationship opened what was effectively a back door for American contacts with the PLO. Incorporating personal letters and interviews with covert coworkers, Bird (Divided City) here writes a book that is half biography and half espionage thriller, offering fascinating insights into the murky world of spycraft and the vagaries of Middle Eastern diplomacy under four presidents. It is also a tale of a devoted family man working to avert often pointless internecine conflict and of missed opportunities for peace. The narration by veteran actor Rene Ruiz is clear and engaging. VERDICT Highly recommended for students of the Middle East and late 20th-century history. ["This is a moving biography within a balanced presentation of the complex diplomacy over the Palestinian quest for statehood and the Israeli need for security, complicated by a disintegrating Lebanon and a revolutionary Iran," read the starred review of the Crown hc, LJ 3/1/14.]—Forrest E. Link, Coll. of New Jersey, Ewing Twp.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Bird (coauthor, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer) presents CIA intelligence officer Robert Ames (1934–83) as a serious intellectual, a devoted family man, and a hardworking, idealistic professional. After preparing readers for Ames's death in the massive 1983 bombing of the American embassy in Beirut, Bird takes us back through Ames's development as an expert in Arabic languages, history, and politics who increasingly focused on the Arab-Israeli conflict. By 1980, he was a recognized policy advisor within the CIA, state department, and White House. Bird interweaves his subject's commitment to finding a solution to the Palestine dilemma with tracking the mounting unrest in Lebanon and increasing terrorism by Palestinians, Israelis, and militant Shiites. Readers are drawn to Ames and his effort to be a "good spy," building solutions, even as the U.S. government, buffeted by partisan pressures, adhered to no one constructive policy. VERDICT This is a moving biography within a balanced presentation of the complex diplomacy over the Palestinian quest for statehood and the Israeli need for security, complicated by a disintegrating Lebanon and a revolutionary Iran. Bird's view of a CIA committed to analysis and policy development contrasts with the agency depicted in Hugh Wilford's recent America's Great Game. A worthy addition to collections. [See Prepub Alert, 11/22/13.]—Elizabeth Hayford, formerly with Associated Coll. of the Midwest, Evanston, IL

Given continuing tensions in the Middle East, pay attention to Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Bird's account of CIA agent Robert Ames, one of America's most important assets in the region until his life was cut short by the bomb that exploded outside the American Embassy in Beirut in April 1983.

More exciting than le Carré's George Smiley or Fleming's James Bond, Bird (Crossing Mandelbaum Gate) recreates the life of C.I.A. superspy Robert Ames, an operative with a skill for appreciating the turns and twists of Mideast politics. Ames, a detail-oriented, Philadelphia-bred scholar, was offered a job by the Agency as a junior officer in 1960, rising quickly through the ranks. Later, one colleague said Ames "would have stood tall in his All American shoes as a Louis L'Amour hero." Whatever the assignment—Beirut, Aden, Asmara, Kuwait—Ames cultivated key Arab sources, befriending such unlikely personalities as Mustafa Zein, a strategic advisor to the ruling sheik of Abu Dhabi, and Ali Hassan Salameh, a favorite of Yasir Arafat, through such flashpoints as the Jordanian civil war, the Munich massacre, and the Iran hostage crisis. Although Ames was an essential player in the 1977 Camp David accords, the C.I.A. Mideast expert with so much potential to unify the opposing factions died in a 1983 bomb explosion outside the U.S. embassy in Beirut, setting back the process of reconciliation between the Israelis and Palestinians. Bird's meticulous account of Ames's career amid an ongoing Mideast climate of caution and suspicion is one of the best books on American intelligence community. (May)