CIA History a National Book Award Winner

Tim Weiner

Saratoga Springs, NY (November 15, 2007) - Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, Tim Weiner's chronicle of the federal agency from its creation after World War II through its near-collapse after 9/ll, won the 2007 National Book Award for nonfiction, it was announced last night in New York City.

Mr. Weiner worked on the book during a 2006 residency at Yaddo, when he was named the first recipient of the Nora Sayre Residency for a Nonfiction Writer. He is a reporter for The New York Times and has written about American intelligence for 20 years. Mr. Weiner, a 1988 Pulitzer Prize winner for his reporting on secret national security programs, has traveled to Afghanistan and other nations to investigate CIA covert operations firsthand. He is the author of two other books: Betrayal: The Story of Aldrich Ames, an American Spy and Blank Check: The Pentagon's Black Budget. Legacy of Ashes was released by Doubleday in August.

The National Book Foundation administers the awards. The finalists were announced last month by author and social critic Camille Paglia at Philadelphia's Library Company, the oldest public library in America. The finalists were selected by panels of independent judges. This year's judges included Yaddo writers Andrew Sean Greer, Walter Kirn, David Means, Joy Williams, and David Shields, who chaired the nonfiction panel.

The winners in each of four categories – fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young people's literature –were announced at the National Book Awards Benefit Dinner and Ceremony in Manhattan last night. Each winner receives $10,000 plus a bronze statue; each finalist receives a bronze medal and a $1,000 cash award.