Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion

In my quest to understand more about the history of intelligence and intelligence studies, I realized I needed to learn more about the Contras and the role of the CIA during that time. I am happy to have chosen Gary Webb’s book ‘Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion’. It was published in 1998, and it is one of the best pieces of investigative journalism that I had the pleasure to read. Detailed and backed up with good research, Gary Webb manages to provide a detailed (and not boring at all) account of the rise of crack cocaine in the US, its impact in Central America, the role of the CIA, and many other aspects that are often not easy to find.

Being from Argentina, you grow up hearing about the meddling of the CIA in South American affairs, and it’s hard to distinguish what is true and what is an exaggeration. In many sections of the book, I was surprised and shocked (the joke’s on me; I should know better!) to learn that many of the things I did hear were actually true and probably worse than what I heard.

If you read one book on this, this is a good choice. The audiobook version is equally good in quality.