LEGACY OF ASHES: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner Allen Lane £25, 720 pages FT bookshop price: £20

If you are disposed to think badly of the CIA then Tim Weiner's book is for you. It is written to confirm your prejudice and give it historical substance. However, if your interest is in serious intelligence history, a coming subject in universities on both sides of the Atlantic, then "the history of the CIA" that Legacy of Ashes claims to be should be approached with caution.