Barry Broman has led a remarkable life and met some remarkable people along the way during his years as a Central Intelligence Agency case officer. Immediately following service in the Marine Corps, he was recruited by the CIA and spent his first posting in Cambodia at war. He was present at the fall of Phnom Penh in 1975, escaping just before the Khmer Rouge took power. He subsequently served in other Asian postings, one in Europe, and one in the Western Hemisphere.During his career, Mr. Broman was twice a CIA chief of station, once a Deputy Chief of Station, and supervised an international paramilitary project in support of the Cambodian resistance to Vietnamese invaders. He was actively involved in several assignments in counter-narcotics operations in Southeast Asia including a major "bust" that yielded 551 kilograms of high-grade heroin from a major drug trafficker. His "favorite agent" against a variety of "hard targets" was a fellow whose only demand was that his assignments be "life threatening.

" He survived them all. At times, the memoir reads like a travel book with tales of visits to little-known and rarely seen places like the Naga Hills on the India-Burma border; the world-famous, but off limits, jade and ruby mines of Burma; and the isolated Banda Islands of Indonesia, the home of nutmeg. The book is strengthened by many photos by the author, they include Marines in action in Vietnam, the ravages of war in Cambodia at war, and opium buyers forcing growers to sell in Burma.