Once a top-secret training manual for CIA field agents in the early Cold War Era of the 1950s, The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception--a key component of the infamous MK-ULTRA campaign--is now available to the general public.
An amazing historical artifact, this eye-opening handbook offered step-by-step instructions to covert intelligence operatives in all manner of sleight of hand and trickery designed to thwart the Communist enemy. Part of MK-ULTRA, the CIA's secret mind-control and chemical interrogation research program, this legendary document, the brainchild of John Mulholland, then America's most famous magician, was believed lost forever. But thanks to former CIA gadgeteer Bob Wallace and renowned spycraft historian H. Keith Melton, The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception is now available to everyone, spy and civilian alike.
I bought it as a gift for a friend, and He is very happy for having it,because His hobby is to read those kind of books.After He had read it,was very glad that He had this book in His hands.
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Kudos to authors Wallace and Melton for sharing this time capsule from the past and spicing it up with their own commentary and annotations. One Thing: There is a typo on p. 58, regarding the Hollow Nickel Case. The nickel was found in 1953, not 1935 (that would have been quite a trick, given that the nickel in question was dated 1948)...this is probably something that has already been remedied in subsequent printings. But...
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I found the book to be very interesting. If you are in to Magic as I am, then you will find this book interesting as to how it has been used, in this case by the CIA. I would recommend it to anyone interested in something that is different and interesting.
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The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception, Fun read, if it's a true CIA manual, then this world is run by clowns.
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Stage magician John Mulholland wrote this pair of manuals for the CIA in the early 1950s. All copies were believed to have been destroyed, though stories of the sleight of hand and secret communication documents have carried down through the decades. One copy of each manual were discovered though, and now declassified, appear here in print. It's an interesting book for both the stage magic and the history of CIA spycraft folks...
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