The Soldier Spy: The Covert Wars of an Army Colonel and the Tragedy of American Power
Jan 2027 · Sold by Knopf
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About this ebook
The larger-than-life exploits of Walter Patrick Lang—the Green Beret at the center of America’s covert conflicts from the Cold War to the War on Terror.
"Full of profound observations about the nature of conflict and nations and Lang’s remarkable experiences and wisdom, this is a tour de force that deserves a wide readership.” —Booklist (starred review)
Army Colonel Walter Patrick Lang led the life that many men would love to live. He faced firefights on three continents and led a band of Pentagon ruffians who stalked some of the world’s worst villains. When America was losing the War on Terror, he leveraged the lessons of his life to correct the course of his country. Yet only after the action, as the tape ran back, did he question the stories that both he and his nation were living.
A decorated combat officer, founder of West Point’s Arab Studies program, and senior Pentagon counterterrorist, he built target folders on famous names. Guevara, killed. Khomeini, contained. Gaddafi, chastened. Saddam, nudged toward the gallows by a hand he never saw. But his gifts were not always rewarded. He chose the Army over Harvard, then was spit on as he shipped out to Vietnam. The same maverick streak that drove his successes led to his downfall.
Informed by a decade of conversations with Lang and his colleagues, The Soldier Spy is not only an epic of wars and spies; it is a moral reckoning with the vanity of spreading freedom by force, an elegy for ideals of manhood that formed an extraordinary warrior, and a warning flare for all who will inherit and defend the American dream.
"Full of profound observations about the nature of conflict and nations and Lang’s remarkable experiences and wisdom, this is a tour de force that deserves a wide readership.” —Booklist (starred review)
Army Colonel Walter Patrick Lang led the life that many men would love to live. He faced firefights on three continents and led a band of Pentagon ruffians who stalked some of the world’s worst villains. When America was losing the War on Terror, he leveraged the lessons of his life to correct the course of his country. Yet only after the action, as the tape ran back, did he question the stories that both he and his nation were living.
A decorated combat officer, founder of West Point’s Arab Studies program, and senior Pentagon counterterrorist, he built target folders on famous names. Guevara, killed. Khomeini, contained. Gaddafi, chastened. Saddam, nudged toward the gallows by a hand he never saw. But his gifts were not always rewarded. He chose the Army over Harvard, then was spit on as he shipped out to Vietnam. The same maverick streak that drove his successes led to his downfall.
Informed by a decade of conversations with Lang and his colleagues, The Soldier Spy is not only an epic of wars and spies; it is a moral reckoning with the vanity of spreading freedom by force, an elegy for ideals of manhood that formed an extraordinary warrior, and a warning flare for all who will inherit and defend the American dream.
The larger-than-life exploits of Walter Patrick Lang—the Green Beret at the center of America’s covert conflicts from the Cold War to the War on Terror.
"Full of profound observations about the nature of conflict and nations and Lang’s remarkable experiences and wisdom, this is a tour de force t...
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About the author
MARK RIEBLING served as Research Director in the NYPD-affiliated Center for Policing Terrorism for a decade after the 9/11 attacks. He is the author of Wedge: The Secret War Between the FBI and CIA and Church of Spies, and his work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. He lives in New York City.
MARK RIEBLING served as Research Director in the NYPD-affiliated Center for Policing Terrorism for a decade after the 9/11 attacks. He is the author of Wedge: The Secret War Between the FBI and CIA and Church of Spies, and his work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. He lives in...
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