Interview · moment 4 of 20
David Talbot Interview Begins: Why He Wrote The Devil's Chessboard
from Slumbering Herds of Cattle · #12
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
2 minGuest
Tim connects with author David Talbot, introduces his background (Salon.com founder, bestselling author) and asks what drew him from his Kennedy biography to investigating Allen Dulles.
- 9:00Tim introduces David Talbot, founder of Salon.com and New York Times bestselling author.
- 9:32The book being discussed is The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government.
- 9:47Talbot took three years to write the book with a research associate helping him.
- 9:58Tim explains the book provides context for current conversations about surveillance and military interventionism.
- 10:20Tim asks whether Talbot was fascinated by Dulles the man or by historical events.
- 10:35Talbot wanted to know who killed JFK, which led him to investigate Dulles after writing a revisionist history of the Kennedy period.
Alan DullesThe Devil's ChessboardCIAnational security apparatusSalon.comDavid