Fair Play : The Moral Dilemmas of Spying

By James M. Olson

Book Overview

"A unique, compelling read."--Midwest Book ReviewRevolutionary War officer Nathan Hale, one of America's first spies, said, "Any kind of service necessary to the public good becomes honorable by being... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1574889494
• ISBN13: 9781574889499
• Release Date: August 1970
• Publisher: Potomac Books, Incorporated
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 0.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A Peek Into the World of Espionage

Fair Play offers the reader a peek into the murky world of espionage. CIA veteran Jim Olson has a unique perspective that few other authors can offer to anyone interested in intelligence. Fair Play is not your standard historical narrative. It is an interactive experience, which invites the reader to participate in fifty realistic and morally challenging scenarios that our spies must contend with. Olson adds further credibility to Fair Play by sharing with the reader a cross section of responses to his very realistic scenarios. These elicited responses are from accomplished professionals, whose vocations vary from the former Deputy Director of the CIA to practicing physicians. Fair Play includes chapters on Olson's under cover career in the CIA, changing U.S. attitudes toward espionage from the Revolutionary War to the present, and historical, biblical, and philosophical justifications for committing espionage. Armed with this requisite knowledge, the reader is thrust into true-to-life situations that U.S. spies actually face in the shadows today. This approach redirects the reader from the role of arm chair quarterback to active participant by asking what he/she would do in that same situation. Among the many topics covered are assassinations, kidnappings, interrogation, torture, drugs, seduction, sexual entrapment, and blackmail. Morality and espionage are not mutually exclusive. As Olson says, it is about time someone started thinking about how morality and spying fit together in today's world. The community he continues to serve faces monumental challenges. Its operators need to have a clearly defined moral code with which to take the fight to our enemies. This book represents a great first step towards providing such a moral code to our clandestine warriors.

Even the general-interest lending library will find it a unique, compelling read.

FAIR PLAY could've been featured in our Military Shelf section - after all, it's by the former chief of CIA counterintelligence - but deserves a much broader reading audience than those who frequent military libraries. FAIR PLAY presents both a survey of the real world of spying and espionage and a concurrent survey of moral and ethical issues involved in spying, and dilemmas which come from field experience every day. The blend of intelligence history, political insights, and social issues makes for a survey which advocates a clearer moral sense in U.S. intelligence officers - and that holds many lessons for civilians as well. Even the general-interest lending library will find it a unique, compelling read. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

Outstanding contribution to International Intelligence literature

Jim Olson has done an excellent job in providing realistice examples of ethical isues involved with conducting intelligence activities in today's hostile world. I use this book as a source for my graduate course.

exhilarating read

I can't put this book down. It is a wealth of information on CIA operations in general, but also deals with some very tough questions of morality. All U.S. citizens should inform themselves on this topic, especially as so many people have lots to say about it---but are relatively uninformed. Highly recommend it.