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The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception Kindle Edition

by H. Keith Melton (Author), Robert Wallace (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,108 ratings
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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 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 the Company’s infamous MK-ULTRA—a secret mind-control and chemical interrogation research program—this legendarydocument, 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.

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  1. Print length
    274 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    HarperCollins e-books
  5. Publication date
    October 14, 2009
  6. File size
    957 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
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  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Intelligence historian Melton and retired CIA officer Wallace (coauthors of Spycraft) reunite for this unremarkable reproduction of a long-lost cold war–era relic. In 1953, the fledgling CIA hired professional magician John Mulholland to adapt his techniques of stealth and misdirection to the craft of espionage. Mulholland produced two illustrated manuals featuring a range of tricks from placing pills into drinks to stealing documents and avoiding detection. The classified manuals were believed to have been destroyed in 1973, but the authors discovered a copy in 2007 among recently declassified CIA archives. The manuals are reproduced along with enhanced illustrations and an extended introduction by Melton and Wallace. Despite the authors' best efforts to promote their discovery of Mulholland's work as a rare piece of historical evidence of the CIA's legacy of black arts, the manuals, with their earnest, how-to descriptions of surreptitiously spiking drinks, palming documents and signaling colleagues with a feather in a hat band seem more quaintly anachronistic than revealing or sinister. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“Melton and Wallace have achieved the ultimate mastery of the shadow world where CIA’s smoke and mirrors meet Hollywood’s art of magic, deception and illusion. Like any good stage show, the never-before-disclosed techniques are spellbinding. The history of espionage is expanded by this factual, fascinating account.”

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002SVQCXI
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins e-books; Illustrated edition (October 14, 2009)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 14, 2009
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 957 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 274 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,108 ratings

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  1. H. Keith Melton

    H. Keith Melton

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  2. Robert Wallace

    Robert Wallace

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    Robert Wallace, a retired intelligence officer, also publishes under the name Bob Wallace. His first book, NINE FROM THE NINTH, is a memoir of 1969 while assigned to Company E, 75th Infantry (Rangers) Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol company in Vietnam. This was followed by SPYCRAFT: The Secret History of the CIA Spytechs from Communism to al-Qaeda and THE OFFICIAL CIA MANUAL OF TRICKERY AND DECEPTION.

    Look for his newest project with co-author H. Keith Melton, SPY SITES OF PHILADELPHIA. This volume completes a three book series of spy sites in Washington, Philadelphia and New York which, together, provide the only-one-of-its-kind historical perspective of the impact of spying in American from the Revolutionary War to the 21st century.

    Wallace books are definitive bestsellers in the field of intelligence and espionage history.

    Robert Wallace lives in Virginia and may be contacted at bobwq@hotmail.com.

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
1,108 global ratings
Not what I thought it was.
2 Stars
Not what I thought it was.
At first glance I thought would be a book that would give an understanding of the deep psychological aspects of trickery and deception. I don't believe that this was a CIA manual, this is more of a book that explains and illustrates some concepts of "magic" such as "slight of hand" and fooling someone while using props. Basically, the book is useless to me because I don't really care much about magic.
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Top reviews from the United States

Joanna D.
5.0 out of 5 stars Great for Cold War Spy era buffs
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2023
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While dated and including spy tricks with cigarettes that today would be less useful.. this book has a lot of interesting stories of deception and trickery by espionage agents and their handlers.

The chapter on magician tricks and how they work for hiding spy activities is particularly good. Even in the digital age, these techniques are still valid.

An easy, fun read and great if you are a Cold War spy buff and fan of the books of John Le Carre.
5 people found this helpful
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CN
5.0 out of 5 stars The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2023
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The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception

Many people don't realize that this manual was written by a magician. The techniques used by the CIA during the Cold War era used techniques including sleight of hand, otherwise known as black magic. You'll learn lots of interesting tidbits of CIA history, including placing notes in mouse carcasses, only to have cats eat them. The CIA's solution to the problem? Cover them in hot sauce. Then drive around at a 90-degree angle, toss the carcass out of a window to avoid detection (creates a visual blind spot), and have another agent intercept the note.

As a woman and a Criminology and Psychology major, I found this book to be an enlightening read. I don't think I'll ever look at anything the same way again, literally.

I'd highly recommend this manual for reading if you are a nerd or a geek.
7 people found this helpful
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M. Heiss
4.0 out of 5 stars what is the modern-day cultural equivalent of social smoking?
Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2020
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How to do magic tricks

The book is out of date and largely based on behavioral and social customs from the 1950s and 1960s, especially for women tricksters. Many or most of the gestures involve lighting cigarettes, gesturing with cigarettes, offering cigarettes, accepting cigarettes, etc. But helpful: a trickster woman should not make any gesture that would make another woman suspicious. Woman tricksters should move slowly.

N.B.: It is easier to fool someone up close than someone far off

The book emphasizes the importance of knowledge, preparation, practice & patience.
The team operations section was very good.
30 people found this helpful
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Koogle
5.0 out of 5 stars Pay Backs A Bitch !
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2024
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This is a good read. If you’d like lessons on how to get paid back this is the book. I enjoyed it thoroughly that’s why my title is paybacks a bitch .
One person found this helpful
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Carl Thomas Boone
3.0 out of 5 stars PURPORTS TO BE WHAT IS LEFT OF BOOK WRITTEN BY CIA MAGICIAN, JOHN MUHOLLLAND
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2024
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All copies once thought to be destroyed at the order of CIA Director Richard Helm in order to destroy documentation of MK-ULTRA, this consists of the now declassified manual of deception. Amazing - considering how much controversy is still sparked whenever anyone states that Harry Houdini was a "spy". Mulholland holds Houdini in very high esteem (the two are said to have been good friends). Mulholland's life, in many ways, also seems very much to parallel that of Houdini's. Neither were spies in the James Bond image (which like so many other CIA/MI5-6 hero/anti-hero tales most likely are part fiction and part true. This paperbound edition is archaic in light of today's technology. It does make for good night reading if you cannot sleep. Perhaps if we had the entire document (this is as much as the CIA says exists and is probably "complete". Declassified, unredacted, "interesting" - but boring.
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DBerger60
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book. Great read.
Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2023
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Very eye opening. This book spoiled me for other books I purchased later, because they weren't as good as this one was. Full of good info.
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L. J. Oja
5.0 out of 5 stars Delving into the devious and non-linear mind . . . .
Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2014
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Most people have learned to think along specific lines. We make assumptions of how things are, and should be. Deception and Trickery are based on subverting that type of thinking.

The book is a wonderful read, and there are many interesting aspects to this volume, but it is very much ore historical. But of course it is historical. How could it be an up to date book on the subject? I am sure that people working in the business would be a bit nervous and upset at the author if he had published current tricks and deceptions. Nonetheless, an interesting and easy read.
5 people found this helpful
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zyzzyva57
5.0 out of 5 stars Increases your Situational Awareness
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2023
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Centers often on how magicians pull it off, and well worth seeing how it naturally occurs with how others do it
The book's foundation is while the words may change, the melody stays the same
The techniques are worth remembering and watching the watchers, who more and more are doing this to us
I got the book for $1.99 with one of Amazon's Kindle sales, and do not regret the purchase even at this low price
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Bruno marques vilela
5.0 out of 5 stars Grazie mille
Reviewed in Italy on October 4, 2023
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Grazie mille
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Lord Cal
3.0 out of 5 stars Medianamente entretenido
Reviewed in Mexico on July 11, 2020
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El libro se divide en dos partes: la primera establece el contexto histórico y antecedentes de este manual de la CIA. Explican cómo el mundo del entretenimiento (el ilusionismo, la magia) influyó en el entrenamiento de los espías en la guerra fría a través de las técnicas de engaño que estos "magos" utilizaban en sus actos. La segunda parte es en sí el manual de trucos para esconder objetos, aplicar sustancias en bebidas de un tercero, comunicación no verbal, etc. Sinceramente me pareció más entretenida la primera mitad que la segunda. Creo que si te interesan este tipo de historias o si eres entusiasta de la magia, entonces el libro si es para ti. De otra forma no lo encuentro justificable.
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shelley hunter
5.0 out of 5 stars Not what you expect.
Reviewed in Canada on December 5, 2018
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While I purchased this book expecting to read about CIA trade craft, instead I am immersed in a story about how one of the world's greatest magician helped the CIA become what it is today. A fascinating mix of history, diagrams and real world examples of how the techniques have been used in the past, I fully recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Spy Craft and slight of hand.
4 people found this helpful
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Sabine hertel
5.0 out of 5 stars Gut
Reviewed in Germany on December 29, 2018
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Geschenk kam gut an
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars accurate product
Reviewed in Singapore on August 18, 2023
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Collectable
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