The night watch cover

The night watch

by David Atlee Phillips

For two and a half decades David Atlee Phillips stood "the night watch" as an agent in the arcane profession of espionage. As a Central Intelligence Agency officer he rose to become director of the Western Hemisphere Division. Phillips gives an eminently readable rendering of his experiences in eight countries; his account, sometimes humorous, sometimes harrowing, is always fascinating and the implications are profound. Phillips recalls impromptu meetings with presidents and revolutionaries, statesmen and assassins. While he is candid about the CIA's failures, The Night Watch is an avowedly pro-CIA book.

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?