The Wolf and the Watchman: A Father, a Son, and the CIA

This was a book club choice. There are two books by the same title, one takes place in 18th century Stockholm and the other one is this one. The other book is quite gory. This was more about the dynamics between a father and son and the life of a CIA agent. True story. Scott Johnson is a journalist and wrote for Newsweek. He never truly understood his father until he took an assignment in Iraq. Good read.

Scott Johnson is a fine writer, but his real strength is his interest in truth-telling, curiosity about moral choices, how do we become the people who do the right thing? Looking back over his extra-ordinary childhood as a son of a CIA agent, we feel in his memoir the confusion of a young boy trying to understand why they moved so many times, why his Dad's driver's license had a different name and address, why there were high wire fences around the housing compound he and his 12 yr. old pals rode their bikes in, why did his Mom divorce his Dad ? Beyond the charged atmosphere of anxious confusion comes the maturation of the questioner, as he follows the best of his Dad's motivations and goes to Iraq and Afghanistan as a NEWSWEEK reporter to find the truth of the conflict for himself. What he finds, so many of the children of "men who serve" will resonate with immediately; the impact of serving one's country does not simply fall upon the servers, but way beyond, unsettling and wounding far into families,sometimes especially for future generations in those with a TRADITION to uphold. Wise, strong, sweet and sad. A jewel from this universe. BRAVO! The voice at each age of this memoir shines with truth.For me, in this moving primary source reportage from Iraq and Afghanistan II, there is an unspoken request for the truth to be fully told by those who engineered what we did there, so injustice may be replaced by justice, even if long in coming.NEWSWEEK continues its long tradition of excellence in its support for fine global writers. Bravo also to them.

I love reading books about spies and spying, but this is not a favorite. I didn't end up finishing it because I found the author really annoying. The focus of the book was how his father's work as a spy affected the author: in other words, it's all about him, him, him. Yes, he had a very unusual childhood and by necessity, his father had to lie a lot -- to him and to everyone else. (And apparently not very effectively, since it seems everyone they knew suspected his dad was a spy!) Even so, it doesn't seem that Johnson's early life was that different from the lives of many children of divorced parents. I can understand how he would have felt confused and needed to work through his feelings about his dad when he was young, but as the book moves along into later adulthood and he moves into journalism, he's still whining and childish. At that point I wanted to yell "get the f*** over yourself, grow up and move on!"

This book provides an inside look at how information, as innocent as it can be, has different meaning to different people. How information given to another can be taken out of context and rearranged to have totally different meanings. Kieth Johnson, Scott's dad, opened his secret world to his son at the age of 14. Kieth's intent seemed to be aimed at showing Scott that he was trusted with a secret unfathomable to most families. At first, Scott was in awe of the facts presented to him, but soon found this secret tearing him apart. How could his father spend his life manipulating the minds of possible informants and then turn this skill off at home. Was his father who he seemed to be or did he have underlying secrets, too sisister to devulge? Did Kieth manipulate the minds of his family or was he a sincere father who truely cared for his son. The book is very well written, a must read, and flows from start to finish. I recommend this book if you are looking for a book that you can read from cover to cover in one or two sittings. I could not put the book down, but when I did, found myself searching the internet looking for articles on the history of the conflicts mention in this book. Great Read!!

I guess in some way, I had hoped that the real-life story of someone growing up a son of a spy would be a little more interesting. Instead, it's a pretty one-note story: "My father lied to me my whole life and that's why I'm screwed up." I was hoping for some redeeming qualities either in the author or his father, making me feel some empathy for them, but just didn't get that.It's not all bad, though, hence the 3 stars. There are some interesting insights in how the business of espionage really works and how one gets started in the business. And the exotic international locations are fascinating.

This is an excellent book that works on many levels. The story explores the tensions and complications between Scott and his Dad who was employed as a spy for the CIA. Scott weaves into the story a number of life events, including a couple harrowing experiences he had as a journalist in Iraq's. All of this makes for a gripping, hard to put down read. Beyond being a well told story, however, this book was a honest and insightful meditation on the relationship between fathers and sons. Scott's relationship with his Dad was obviously more complicated than most father/son dynamics but it was surprising to me the number of ways in which it resembled my own relationship with my Dad. Finally, the writing in this book is beautiful and clearly displays Scott's gifts as an author and also his love of language. I would highly recommend this book...best I have read in a long time.

This is apparently a pretty good description of what it's like to have a family member who works for the company. The book tells the story of journalist who grew up with a father in the CIA and the ambiguities of their relationship over the years. The author can't quite come to grips with what its is that he doesn't feel comfortable about his Dad's work. I came to the conclusion that his problem wasn't his Dad's involvement with the agency but his father's infideleties. Dad didn't like to answer questions and because of his line of work he didn't have to.