Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
Audiobook13 hours
Operation Chaos: The Vietnam Deserters Who Fought the CIA, the Brainwashers, and Themselves
Written by Matthew Sweet
Narrated by Steve West
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
()
About this audiobook
Operation Chaos is an untold Cold War story: how the CIA tried to infiltrate a radical group of U.S. military deserters, an audiobook that leads from a bizarre political cult to the heart of the Washington establishment
Stockholm, 1968. A thousand American deserters and draft-resisters are arriving to escape the war in Vietnam. They’re young, they’re radical, and they want to start a revolution. Some of them even want to take the fight to America. The Swedes treat them like pop stars—but the CIA is determined to stop all that.
It’s a job for the deep-cover men of Operation Chaos and their allies—agents who know how to infiltrate organizations and destroy them from inside. Within months, the GIs have turned their fire on one another. Then the interrogations begin—to discover who among them has been brainwashed, Manchurian Candidate-style, to assassinate their leaders.
When Matthew Sweet began investigating this story, he thought the madness was over. He was wrong. Instead, he became the confidant of an eccentric and traumatized group of survivors—each with his own theory about the traitors in their midst.
All Sweet has to do is find out the truth. And stay sane. Which may be difficult when one of his interviewees accuses him of being a CIA agent and another suspects that he’s part of a secret plot by the British royal family to start World War III. By that time, he’s deep in the labyrinth of truths and half-truths, wondering where reality ends and delusion begins.
Author
Matthew Sweet
Matthew Sweet is the author of Inventing the Victorians, Shepperton Babylon, and The West End Front. He is a columnist for Art Quarterly and a contributing editor for Newsweek International, and he presents the BBC radio programs Free Thinking, Sound of Cinema, and The Philosopher’s Arms. He was series consultant on the Showtime drama Penny Dreadful and played a moth from the planet Vortis in the BBC2 drama An Adventure in Space and Time. He lives in London.
Related to Operation Chaos
Related audiobooks
Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power 500 Days: Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Operation Whisper: The Capture of Soviet Spies Morris and Lona Cohen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Sons: The Untold Story of the Falcon and the Snowman (40th Anniversary Edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrue Believer: Stalin's Last American Spy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Lie Too Big to Fail: The Real History of the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kill Anything That Moves Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kill the Messenger: How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs and Cheap Labor in the Black Market Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Operation Gladio: The Unholy Alliance Between the Vatican, the CIA, and the Mafia Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Doing Time Like A Spy: How the CIA Taught Me to Survive and Thrive in Prison Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Site: The CIA in the Post-9/11 World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ghosts of Langley: Into the CIA's Heart of Darkness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself--While the Rest of Us Die Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government's Secret Drone Warfare Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Franklin Scandal: A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse & Betrayal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pentagon Papers: The Secret History of the Vietnam War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Third Terrorist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil's Diary: Alfred Rosenberg and the Stolen Secrets of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
United States History For You
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Land of Delusion: Out on the edge with the crackpots and conspiracy-mongers remaking our shared reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragonfire: Four Days That (Almost) Changed America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wright Brothers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: 2nd Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lafayette in the Somewhat United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bowling Alone: Revised and Updated: The Collapse and Revival of American Community Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related podcast episodes
Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America 0% found this document usefulEpisode 18: Mothman Pt. I: Indrid Cold: Frozen in Fear 0% found this document useful#354: Adventures in war zone countries with Lord Miles 0% found this document useful548-Programmed to Kill-Dave McGowan 0% found this document usefulShia LeBeouf 0% found this document usefulPart One: Edward Bernays: The Founding Father of Lies: Part One: Edward Bernays: The Founding Father of Lies 0% found this document usefulOperation Paperclip 0% found this document usefulEpisode 21: NXIVM Cult Pt. I: Sex, Subjugation & Stripes 0% found this document usefulGary Webb: The CIA, the Contras, and Crack Cocaine (1999): RIP Gary Webb ✊? 0% found this document usefulUkraine and CIA with Whitney Webb 0% found this document usefulOperation Buccaneer. The Largest Piracy Bust of All Time 0% found this document usefulTHIS COUNTRY IS UNDER ATTACK BY RIGHT-WING TERRORISTS - 5.9.23 0% found this document usefulEpisode 49 The Umbrella Man 0% found this document usefulEpisode 58 Lyndon Johnson in the Aftermath Part 1 0% found this document usefulEpisode 2003: Martin Sixsmith on Vladimir Putin and the return of history to Russia and the West 0% found this document usefulGun Rallies, Gulags, And MLK: Week Of 1/22/20 Podcast: Kyle and Ethan discuss the week's stories and MLK Day 0% found this document usefulBonus Episode 135 Attack on the Moncada Barracks 0% found this document useful
Related articles
Why Did the Oath Keepers Do It? The AtlanticArticle
Why Did the Oath Keepers Do It?
Dec 1, 2022
6 min readTrump Destroyed the Most Important Virtue in America The AtlanticArticle
Trump Destroyed the Most Important Virtue in America
Jan 20, 2021
7 min readThe Right Response to Threats of Political Violence The AtlanticArticle
The Right Response to Threats of Political Violence
Jun 12, 2023
7 min readWe Now Know The AtlanticArticle
We Now Know
Jun 29, 2022
4 min readRobert C. Koehler: Lynching political correctness Tribune Content Agency OpinionsArticle
Robert C. Koehler: Lynching political correctness
Jan 14, 2021
I still see the noose in front of the capitol building, dangling oh so metaphorically. “No matter how all this plays out, it’s only the beginning,” wrote a user on TheDonald message board, according to the Associated Press. Actually, it’s anything bu
3 min readWorst Revolution Ever The AtlanticArticle
Worst Revolution Ever
Jan 10, 2021
7 min readThe True Costs and Benefits of Fracking The AtlanticArticle
The True Costs and Benefits of Fracking
Apr 16, 2021
8 min readRobert Coover’s Long Lost Seussian Satire of American Politics Literary HubArticle
Robert Coover’s Long Lost Seussian Satire of American Politics
Apr 10, 2018
3 min readThe War Goes On Manhattan InstituteArticle
The War Goes On
Apr 17, 2020
3 min readThe Atlantic Daily: We’ll Always Have Paris(?) The AtlanticArticle
The Atlantic Daily: We’ll Always Have Paris(?)
May 31, 2017
4 min readNovelist Don Winslow Is Out To Save America From Donald Trump — And An Existential Crisis Los Angeles TimesArticle
Novelist Don Winslow Is Out To Save America From Donald Trump — And An Existential Crisis
Apr 6, 2023
8 min readGuardians Of Our Culture The Critic MagazineArticle
Guardians Of Our Culture
Jun 30, 2022
THE DEATH OF MIDGE DECTER, at the age of 94, marks the passing of a golden age of intellectual journalism. Having witnessed all the vicissitudes of the American century from Pearl Harbor to 9/11, and challenged progressive orthodoxies from Lyndon Joh
8 min readHBO Documentary 'King In The Wilderness' Is A Powerful Look At The Last Years Of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life Los Angeles TimesArticle
HBO Documentary 'King In The Wilderness' Is A Powerful Look At The Last Years Of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life
Apr 3, 2018
3 min readWho’s Next, George Washington? Manhattan InstituteArticle
Who’s Next, George Washington?
Aug 16, 2017
4 min readA Murder in Trump's America The AtlanticArticle
A Murder in Trump's America
Feb 28, 2017
10 min readThe President That Never Was The RakeArticle
The President That Never Was
Oct 7, 2021
6 min readThe God That Couldn’t Possibly Fail The AtlanticArticle
The God That Couldn’t Possibly Fail
Apr 6, 2023
5 min readTrump Nation: Dress Rehearsal for a Civil War Literary HubArticle
Trump Nation: Dress Rehearsal for a Civil War
Nov 6, 2019
11 min readWatergate Was A TV Spectacle. Just Wait For The Reboot: Trump Los Angeles TimesArticle
Watergate Was A TV Spectacle. Just Wait For The Reboot: Trump
Oct 4, 2019
4 min readVoices: Did Steve Bannon Just Turn Marjorie Taylor Greene And Matt Gaetz Into Communists? The IndependentArticle
Voices: Did Steve Bannon Just Turn Marjorie Taylor Greene And Matt Gaetz Into Communists?
Jan 6, 2022
4 min readThe Incendiary Photography of Jill Freedman Guernica MagazineArticle
The Incendiary Photography of Jill Freedman
Dec 6, 2017
6 min readAre We Losing The War? New Zealand ListenerArticle
Are We Losing The War?
May 22, 2022
2 min readAn Aneurism of Axe Murders: On ‘The Man from the Train’ The MillionsArticle
An Aneurism of Axe Murders: On ‘The Man from the Train’
Oct 9, 2017
You can’t help but read these murders as a parable of alienation. The lone drifter stalking the country by train, itself a mode of transport from a bygone era, to literally smash apart families with an instrument that evoked America’s timbered fronti
6 min readJussie Smollett’s Alleged Hoax Will Feed Bigger Hoaxes The AtlanticArticle
Jussie Smollett’s Alleged Hoax Will Feed Bigger Hoaxes
Feb 22, 2019
5 min readOPINION - Americans Are Armed To The Teeth And Itching For Strife: A Second Civil War No Longer Looks An Impossibility Evening StandardArticle
OPINION - Americans Are Armed To The Teeth And Itching For Strife: A Second Civil War No Longer Looks An Impossibility
Mar 20, 2024
4 min readRobert C. Koehler: Countering The Fascism To Come Tribune Content Agency OpinionsArticle
Robert C. Koehler: Countering The Fascism To Come
Jan 21, 2021
Normalcy and tradition held sway as — for the first time in my life — I watched a presidential inauguration live, listening to Lady Gaga sing the national anthem and, then, Joe Biden take the oath of office, becoming the 46th president of the United
4 min readMary McNamara: Jan. 6 Is Not A Political Rorschach Test. It Is A Flashbulb Memory, Fixed And Irrevocable Los Angeles TimesArticle
Mary McNamara: Jan. 6 Is Not A Political Rorschach Test. It Is A Flashbulb Memory, Fixed And Irrevocable
Jan 5, 2022
6 min readA Grisly Tale That Should Never Be Forgotten Tribune Content Agency OpinionsArticle
A Grisly Tale That Should Never Be Forgotten
May 16, 2018
Fair warning: this story will disgust you. But this week -- Saturday, to be exact -- marks 100 years since a singular act of barbarism in tiny Valdosta, Ga. And the tale of what happened there demands to be recalled. It began when somebody killed Ham
2 min readAt Gridiron Dinner, Trump Trades Jabs With His 'Opposition Party' NPRArticle
At Gridiron Dinner, Trump Trades Jabs With His 'Opposition Party'
Mar 4, 2018
5 min readWhere Do the Democrats Find These Guys? The AtlanticArticle
Where Do the Democrats Find These Guys?
Aug 2, 2022
10 min read
Related categories
Reviews for Operation Chaos
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
1 rating0 reviews