Way Up In The Sky Is The Leader Of The Greatest Band Of All Time

Attackerman buddy Jeff Stein at CQ takes issue with my assessment of Tim Weiner’s excellent book on the CIA, Legacy of Ashes:

But without examining the very serious allegations themselves, how can Ackerman — a lively, smart reporter himself — possibly write that, it is "not hyperbolic to say that Weiner’s book is the greatest ever written about the CIA"?

Dunno.

OK, the backstory is that the haters came out for Weiner’s book. Jeff wrote a really good piece on the pushback, but he didn’t weigh in on whether Weiner committed any actual journalistic or historical sins. My run through the allegations led me to the same conclusions. Accordingly, I made the call to mention the controversy briefly — and I cited Jeff’s piece to direct interested readers to a further reference — but not let it detract from my extremely glowing review.

As for the line "it is not hyperbole to say…," I suppose that’s Freudian. Mandy Simon once explained me to her friends by saying I don’t speak English, I speak hyperbole. Never trust me when I say I’m not employing hyperbole. I can’t control myself!