The CIA

Children's Literature - Amber Hurt

Overall, this is a comprehensive and evenhanded introduction to the CIA. Hamilton starts with history and finishes with the future. There is also a delineation of the CIA pre and post September 11, 2001. A timeline and "fun facts" are included after the introduction. Other chapters look at the workings of the CIA, different kinds of intelligence, and jobs at the CIA. There are more chapters, but they fall under the workings of the CIA. A glossary is also included. Aside from a cartoonish drawing on the "Fun Facts" page, the book is illustrated with relevant photographs. From a diversity standpoint, the photographs are lacking. Only two photographs feature women, and the only non-Caucasian person is one of these women. It can be argued this lack of diversity is due to the past lack of diversity in the upper levels of government. While that argument is valid, it would be nice to see more inclusive photographs, especially since Hamilton's text is fairly gender neutral. The other, more minor flaw, involves the glossary. The words chosen for definitions seem random, and the pronunciation guides for some of the words are not quite right. It also would have been nice to see CIA jargon included in the glossary—as it is, the jargon is not set apart from the rest of the text, which could be confusing. This is part of the "Defending the Nation" series.