"A Terrible Mistake" by H. P. Albarelli, Jr. -- Books

[Charles Drago]

Hank Albarelli, Jr., author of the seminal A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Cold War Experiments, graciously has agreed to join us at the Deep Politics Forum.

This extraordinarily important and courageous book is to be lauded not just for the breadth of its subject matters, but also for the manners in which it links them operationally and, for lack of a more precise word, philosophically.

I am starting Albarelli-related threads here and on the JFK and Alchemy/Borderlands sections of our forum -- and that's just for starters. We should focus on the Olson affair here, I'd suggest.

A Terrible Mistake is published by the redoubtable TrineDay. It is not to be missed.

[Ed Jewett]

Thanks, CD. I look forward...

[Bruce Clemens]

I continue to be astounded at the caliber of people we have the privilege to access on this forum. Thank you all once again for your generosity in sharing your time with so many (sincere) neophytes to Deep Politics.

It would be easy (and probably accepted) for many of you to take a haughty, condescending attitude to those of us who are just learning the Ways of the World. But, in my experience, no one here ever does. And it is appreciated. And it will continue to win you converts and add to the growing army of eyes and ears on the Powers That Be.

Thank you.

[Charles Drago]

I continue to be astounded at the caliber of people we have the privilege to access on this forum. Thank you all once again for your generosity in sharing your time with so many (sincere) neophytes to Deep Politics.

It would be easy (and probably accepted) for many of you to take a haughty, condescending attitude to those of us who are just learning the Ways of the World. But, in my experience, no one here ever does. And it is appreciated. And it will continue to win you converts and add to the growing army of eyes and ears on the Powers That Be.

Thank you.

You are most welcome.

[Ed Jewett]

Thanks, CD. I look forward...

I finished this book some time ago. Along with a general lack of time, I must pause before I do a thorough review, wondering what it is that I could say that would do it justice. I am re-reading it to review the parts I highlighted and annotated. I will, perhaps, have more to say in the future. The author is rightly not liberal in his attitudes about quoting from it, perhaps because the tale is braided, not told; to share an early piece of it could be dangerously misleading.

But I can and will say the following:

It is a massive work that runs over 700 pages. It is additionally loaded with appendices, footnotes, and an index. It covers events extending over six decades. It is a tour de force. It will gave any American citizen (as well as those from other countries) both an in-depth look at the mindset inside our security apparatus, the degrees to which it will go, and the degree to which it will go to cover up where it went.

It is a reference book for researchers in addition to a vastly important read.

It belongs on the bookshelf of any serious deep political researcher.

[Magda Hassan]

I'll be looking forward to it Ed.