Curveball clarifies a large number of points hitherto only dimly discerned which, if true, explain the biggest fiasco in the history of secret intelligence over 500 years. Even if only half of this is true, those who led us into the Iraq war on the basis of a tissue of lies should be impeached and indicted

Curveball is the factual equivalent of Catch 22. It is impossible to read this book and then look at our world leaders without thinking , 'F*ck. Oh f*ck. Oh my God, oh f*ck.'

Thank God for Bob Drogin. It's books like Curveball that give many of us a sliver of hope that we can turn things around

A story of willful blindness masquerading as secret intelligence worthy of Somerset Maugham or Graham Greene

Bob Drogin is an ace newspaper man, who raked through the muck of so-called intelligence that was used to justify America's invasion of Iraq -- and struck journalistic gold in this story of a con-man who told his CIA handlers exactly what they wanted to hear. If this twisted tale of deception and credulity could be read simply as a thrilling farce it would be pure delight -- but much more importantly, it is a history of our time

Bob Drogin is a brilliant reporter; in Curveball, he has produced a riveting and important investigation, full of startling and carefully documented detail, laying bare the anatomy of an intelligence failure and its contribution to a catastrophic war

Bob Drogin accomplishes what only the best reporters can; he forces you to wonder how he could possibly know that! If you want to know how the CIA could have possibly been so wrong about Iraq, here is a big part of the answer. It is a case study in how even the most intelligent and capable people can, when determined enough, hear only what they wish to hear

A crucial study in the political manipulation of intelligence. Understanding how Curveball got us into Iraq will arm us for the next round of lies coming out of Washington

Curveball is a true story, marvelously reported, about a descent into the nether world of deceit and duplicity, where the lies of a single man in an interrogation cell in Germany grew like a malign spore in the dark. When it emerged, on the lips of the President and the Secretary of State, it infected the course of world events.

Here we go again: the self-deception, the corruption of intelligence, and the abuse of authority, amid a full cast of the usual suspects in the White House and the Pentagon. It's a crucially important story, and it comes wonderfully alive in Curveball. It would be almost fun to read if the message wasn't so important-and so devastating to the integrity of the American processes.

pacey, insightful and compelling

Miranda Carter writes with lusty humour, has a fresh clarifying intelligence, and a sharp eye for telling details. This is traditional narrative history with a 21st-century zing. A real corker of a book

A highly original way of looking at the years that led up to 1914

Carter deftly interpolates history with psychobiography to provide a damning indictment of monarchy in all its forms

A depiction of bloated power and outsize personalities in which Carter picks apart the strutting absurdity of the last emperors on the eve of catastrophe

Takes what should have been a daunting subject and through sheer wit and narrative élan turns it into engaging drama. Carter has a notable gift for characterisation