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Showing 1 - 20 of 241 items
By Ronald Drabkin. 2024
In the spirit of Ben Macintyre's greatest spy nonfiction, the truly unbelievable and untold story of Frederick Rutland—a debonair British…
WWI hero, flying ace, fixture of Los Angeles society, and friend of Golden Age Hollywood stars—who flipped to become a spy for Japan in the lead-up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Frederick Rutland was an accomplished aviator, British WWI war hero, and real-life James Bond. He was the first pilot to take off and land a plane on a ship, a decorated warrior for his feats of bravery and rescue, was trusted by the admirals of the Royal Navy, had a succession of aeronautical inventions, and designed the first modern aircraft carrier. He was perhaps the most famous early twentieth-century naval aviator. Despite all of this, and due mostly to class politics, Rutland was not promoted in the new Royal Air Force in the wake of WWI. This ignominy led the disgruntled Rutland to become a spy for the Japanese navy. Plied with riches and given a salary ten times the highest-paid admiral, shuttled between Los Angeles and Tokyo where he lived in large mansions in both Beverly Hills and Yokohama, and insinuating himself into both LA high society and Japan's high command, Rutland would go on to contribute to the Japanese navy with both strategic and technical intelligence. This included scouting trips to Pearl Harbor, investigations of military preparedness, and aircraft technology. All this while living a double life, frequenting private California clubs and hosting lavish affairs for Hollywood stars and military dignitaries in his mansion on the Los Angeles Bird Streets. Supported by recently declassified FBI files and by incorporating unique and rare research through MI5 and Japanese Naval archives that few English speakers have access to, author Ronald Drabkin pieces together to completion, for the first time, this stranger-than-fiction story of one of the most fascinating and enigmatic characters of espionage history. Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobookBy Rebecca Valley. 2022
"Introduce middle-grade readers to the intriguing and exciting history of true crime, including capers, stories, unsolved crimes, daring escapes, famous…
art heists, and much more, in this first-ever true crime book specifically for kids. True crime is a genre that captures readers of all ages, but oftentimes the stories are too intense-even for kids who love spooky books and movies. |Curious Cases: True Crime for Kids| presents a slew of fascinating stories that are all age-appropriate, including: the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft, the cold case of D. B. Cooper, the disappearance of Masterpiece the poodle, two brothers' cunning escape from Alcatraz, Sherlock Holmes and the fairy photographs, real-life Ghostbusters, and much more! Plus, kids will love the breakdowns of some of the most iconic pop culture detectives and mystery writers like Agatha Christie. The book even includes some fun forensic science activities that kids can do at home to help them better understand how evidence is found and how mysteries can be solved." -- Provided by publisherBy John Carré. 2016
DON’T MISS THE PIGEON TUNNEL DOCUMENTARY—IN SELECT THEATERS AND STREAMING ON AppleTV+ OCTOBER 20TH! "Recounted with the storytelling élan of…
a master raconteur—by turns dramatic and funny, charming, tart and melancholy." – Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times The New York Times bestselling memoir from John le Carré, the legendary author of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy ; The Spy Who Came in from the Cold ; and The Night Manager , now an Emmy-nominated television series starring Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie. From his years serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War, to a career as a writer that took him from war-torn Cambodia to Beirut on the cusp of the 1982 Israeli invasion to Russia before and after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, le Carré has always written from the heart of modern times. In this, his first memoir, le Carré is as funny as he is incisive, reading into the events he witnesses the same moral ambiguity with which he imbues his novels. Whether he's writing about the parrot at a Beirut hotel that could perfectly mimic machine gun fire or the opening bars of Beethoven’s Fifth; visiting Rwanda’s museums of the unburied dead in the aftermath of the genocide; celebrating New Year’s Eve 1982 with Yasser Arafat and his high command; interviewing a German woman terrorist in her desert prison in the Negev; listening to the wisdoms of the great physicist, dissident, and Nobel Prize winner Andrei Sakharov; meeting with two former heads of the KGB; watching Alec Guinness prepare for his role as George Smiley in the legendary BBC TV adaptations of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley’s People ; or describing the female aid worker who inspired the main character in The Constant Gardener , le Carré endows each happening with vividness and humor, now making us laugh out loud, now inviting us to think anew about events and people we believed we understood. Best of all, le Carré gives us a glimpse of a writer’s journey over more than six decades, and his own hunt for the human spark that has given so much life and heart to his fictional charactersBy Anthony Summers. 1995
By Adam Sisman. 2023
The extraordinary secret life of a great novelist, which his biographer could not publish while le Carré was alive. Secrecy…
came naturally to John le Carré, and there were some secrets that he fought fiercely to keep. Adam Sisman's definitive biography, published in 2015, provided a revealing portrait of this fascinating man; yet some aspects of his subject remained hidden. Nowhere was this more so than in his private life. Apparently content in his marriage, the novelist conducted a string of love affairs over five decades. To these relationships he brought much of the tradecraft that he had learned as a spy - cover stories, cut-outs and dead letter boxes. These clandestine operations brought an element of danger to his life, but they also meant deceiving those closest to him. Small wonder that betrayal became a running theme in his work. In trying to manage his biography, the novelist engaged in a succession of skirmishes with his biographer. While he could control what Sisman wrote about him in his lifetime, he accepted that the truth would eventually become known. Following his death in 2020, what had been withheld can now be revealed. The Secret Life of John le Carré reveals a hitherto-hidden perspective on the life and work of the spy-turned-author and a fascinating meditation on the complex relationship between biographer and subject. "Now that he is dead," Sisman writes, "we can know him better."By National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, Thomas H. Kean, Lee Hamilton. 2004
Independent, nonpartisan commission analyzes facts and circumstances surrounding the fatal September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda attacks on the United States…
homeland. Summarizes failures of intelligence and other U.S. agencies before and after that date. Recommends government reorganization to provide a safer, more prepared nation. 2004By Liza Mundy. 2023
The acclaimed author of Code Girls returns with a “rip-roaring” (Steve Coll) history of three generations at the CIA, “electric…
with revelations” ( Booklist ) about the women who fought to become operatives, transformed spycraft, and tracked down Osama bin Laden. “This masterful book cements Liza Mundy as one of our foremost historians.”—Kate Moore, bestselling author of The Radium Girls One of Kirkus Reviews’ Most Anticipated Books of the Fall Created in the aftermath of World War II, the Central Intelligence Agency relied on women even as it attempted to channel their talents and keep them down. Women sent cables, made dead drops, and maintained the agency’s secrets. Despite discrimination—even because of it—women who started as clerks, secretaries, or unpaid spouses rose to become some of the CIA’s shrewdest operatives. They were unlikely spies—and that’s exactly what made them perfect for the role. Because women were seen as unimportant, pioneering female intelligence officers moved unnoticed around Bonn, Geneva, and Moscow, stealing secrets from under the noses of their KGB adversaries. Back at headquarters, women built the CIA’s critical archives—first by hand, then by computer. And they noticed things that the men at the top didn’t see. As the CIA faced an identity crisis after the Cold War, it was a close-knit network of female analysts who spotted the rising threat of al-Qaeda—though their warnings were repeatedly brushed aside. After the 9/11 attacks, more women joined the agency as a new job, targeter, came to prominence. They showed that data analysis would be crucial to the post-9/11 national security landscape—an effort that culminated spectacularly in the CIA’s successful effort to track down bin Laden in his Pakistani compound. Propelled by the same meticulous reporting and vivid storytelling that infused Code Girls , The Sisterhood offers a riveting new perspective on history, revealing how women at the CIA ushered in the modern intelligence age, and how their silencing made the world more dangerousBy Dayna Baer. 2011
" Ils se sont rencontrés à Sarajevo pendant la guerre civile. Lui, Robert Baer, auréolé de ses missions en Irak,…
en Iran, au Liban..., une légende de la CIA qui a obtenu la Career Intelligence Medal. Elle, Dayna Williamson, jeune officier de terrain, formée aux opérations de protection, sachant manier les armes, les explosifs, et s'évader dans les pires circonstances. En planque, à Athènes, Damas ou au Tadjikistan, en action à Beyrouth, Islamabad et à Nicosie... ou encore dans les couloirs de la CIA à Langley, ils vont finir par s'aimer et se marier. Voici le témoignage exceptionnel d'un couple d'espions qui raconte au jour le jour leur vie dans l'ombre. Il nous dévoile avec une multitude de détails, les opérations secrètes, les modalités d'exécutions, comment le jeu fonctionne véritablement et par quel miracle une histoire d'amour peut s'épanouir dans un contexte si singulier. " -- 4e de couvBy Rita Katz. 2003
"[...] L'infiltrée raconte à la première personne le destin d'une femme exceptionnelle. Devenue l'une des meilleures spécialistes de la question…
du terrorisme islamique, elle garde l'anonymat pour des raisons de sécurité. [...] Au péril de sa vie, elle se met à fréquenter les conférences islamiques afin d'y recueillir des témoignages sonores et des enregistrements vidéo, grâce à sa parfaite connaissance de la langue arabe et du monde de l'Islam. Elle pointe du doigt les dysfonctionnements des agences fédérales en montrant combien ni le FBI, ni le Département d'Etat n'ont tenu compte d'informations importantes qui leur ont pourtant été signalées à plusieurs reprises avant le drame du 11 septembre 2001. Enfin, elle infiltre divers groupes terroristes - Al-Qaïda, le Hezbollah et le Hamas - et dévoile plusieurs filières de financement, notamment celles qui mènent à de riches Saoudiens à travers des entreprises ou des organisations caritatives basées aux Etats-Unis. [...]" -- 4e de couvBy Lawrence Wright. 2006
Traces Islamic fundamentalism from 1948 to the 2001 attack on America. Highlights Al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman…
al-Zawahiri. Asserts a historical lack of concern from intelligence agencies except for FBI agent John O'Neill and Saudi prince Turki al-Faisal. Violence and strong language. Bestseller. 2006By Anne Bragance. 2014
" Aventurière, femme légère, épouse brimée éprise de liberté et de beaux officiers, Margaretha-Gertrud Zelle est née aux Pays-Bas en…
1876. Installée à Paris sous le nom de Lady Mac Leod puis de Mata Hari, elle devient l'idole des salons grâce à ses danses d'inspiration javanaise, et s'invente peu à peu une légende flamboyante. Mais elle est frivole, vénale, naïve, et sa gloire sera de courte durée. Aveugle au drame de la Grande Guerre, elle se prend aux filets de l'espionnage et du contre-espionnage. Son destin va bientôt lui échapper et la conduire jusqu'aux fossés de Vincennes, devant le peloton d'exécution. Là, au bout de sa courte existence, celle qui aura négligé de regarder la vie en face affrontera les fusils et la mort avec un courage et une dignité exemplaires. Le mythe de Mata Hari est né, symbole troublant des mirages de son époque. " -- 4e de couvBy Andro Linklater. 2009
Historian uses Spanish archives and first-person accounts to portray the life of the Revolutionary War general, first governor of the…
Louisiana territory--and spy for Spain. Details Wilkinson's double-dealing life, which the author asserts four presidents overlooked because of his influence. 2009By Nima Zamar. 2003
"Un document unique. Une aventure humaine exceptionnelle. Celle d'une jeune Juive française que rien ne prédestinait à ce genre d'aventure…
avant qu'elle soit embrigadée dans une unité spéciale israélienne, initiée à la guerre de l'ombre, au grand jeu. Sous le nom de code de Nima Zamar, elle subit un entraînement rigoureux pour intégrer un camp du Hezbollah en Libye, où, formée aux méthodes impitoyables et sanguinaires des terroristes, elle tue. Nima Zamar fait revivre pour la première fois dix années de l'incroyable violence d'une guerre qui continue chaque jour au Proche-Orient. Infiltrée dans les réseaux de combattants palestiniens, elle découvre les manipulations médiatiques de l'Intifada, subit les tortures syriennes, participe à la formation de troupes américaines trop sûres d'elles-mêmes et se heurte à des Russes discrets mais omniprésents." -- 4e de couvBy Steve Sheinkin. 2012
Award-winning author recounts the history of the atom bomb and the race among the United States, Nazi Germany, and the…
Soviet Union to build--or steal--the deadly weapon during World War II. For junior and senior high and older readers. 2012By Brian Kilmeade, Don Yaeger. 2013
Relays the exploits of the New York-based Culper Spy Ring, five men and one woman whose activities enabled General George…
Washington to defeat the British during the Revolutionary War. Profiles the group's leader, Quaker merchant Robert Townsend, and describes the unmasking of traitor Benedict Arnold. Bestseller. 2013By Jeanne Vertefeuille, Sandra Grimes. 2012
Retired CIA veterans Grimes and Vertefeuille describe their efforts to track down a spy within the agency whose actions led…
to the exposure--and execution--of multiple double agents in the Soviet Union. Highlights their work with an FBI team that led to their colleague Aldrich Ames. Basis for television miniseries. 2012By Jason Bell. 2023
The thrilling true story of Agent A12, the earliest enemy of the Nazis, and the first spy to crack Hitler's…
deadliest secret code: the framework of the Final Solution In public life, Dr. Winthrop Bell of Halifax was a Harvard philosophy professor and wealthy businessman. As MI6 secret agent A12, he evaded gunfire and shook off pursuers to break open the emerging Nazi conspiracy in 1919 Berlin. His reports, the first warning of the Nazi plot for WWII, went directly to the man known as C, the mysterious founder of MI6, and to prime ministers. But a powerful fascist politician quietly worked to suppress his alerts. Nevertheless, his intelligence sabotaged the Nazis in ways only now revealed. Bell became a spy once again in the face of WWII. In 1939, he was the first to crack Hitler's deadliest secret code: the Holocaust. At that time, the führer was a popular politician who said he wanted peace. Could anyone believe Bell's shocking warning? Fighting an epic intelligence war from Ukraine, Russia and Poland to France, Germany, Canada and Washington, DC, A12 was the real-life 007, waging a single-handed fight against madmen bent on destroying the world. Without Bell's astounding courage, the Nazis might just have won the war. Informed by recently declassified documents, Cracking the Nazi Code is the first book to illuminate the astounding exploits of Winthrop Bell, Agent A12By Huda Mukbil. 2023
Huda Mukbil shares her experiences as a Black Arab-Canadian Muslim intelligence officer with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Her dazzling…
account reveals how racism, misogyny, and Islamophobia undermine not only individuals, but institutions and the national interest – and how addressing this can tackle populism and misinformation.By Sergueï Jirnov. 2022
Le parcours de S. Jirnov, espion soviétique choisi à 17 ans par le KGB pour intégrer l'élite des éclaireurs, qui…
a pour mission d'infiltrer l'ennemi occidental sur la durée et en profondeur, en se faisant passer pour l'un des siens. Après une formation clandestine durant laquelle il apprend à mentir et à manipuler, il officie notamment à l'ENA, à Paris.By Beverly Gage. 2022
Winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Biography Winner of the 2022 National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography, the…
2023 Bancroft Prize in American History and Diplomacy, and the 43rd LA Times Book Prize in Biography | Finalist for the 2023 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography Named a Best Book of 2022 by The Atlantic , The Washington Post and Smithsonian Magazine and a New York Times Top 100 Notable Books of 2022 "Masterful…This book is an enduring, formidable accomplishment, a monument to the power of biography [that] now becomes the definitive work"— The Washington Post "A nuanced portrait in a league with the best of Ron Chernow and David McCullough."— The Wall Street Journal A major new biography of J Edgar Hoover that draws from never-before-seen sources to create a groundbreaking portrait of a colossus who dominated half a century of American history and planted the seeds for much of today's conservative political landscape. We remember him as a bulldog—squat frame, bulging wide-set eyes, fearsome jowls—but in 1924, when he became director of the FBI, he had been the trim, dazzling wunderkind of the administrative state, buzzing with energy and big ideas for reform. He transformed a failing law-enforcement backwater, riddled with scandal, into a modern machine. He believed in the power of the federal government to do great things for the nation and its citizens. He also believed that certain people—many of them communists or racial minorities or both— did not deserve to be included in that American project. Hoover rose to power and then stayed there, decade after decade, using the tools of state to create a personal fiefdom unrivaled in U.S. history. Beverly Gage’s monumental work explores the full sweep of Hoover’s life and career, from his birth in 1895 to a modest Washington civil-service family through his death in 1972. In her nuanced and definitive portrait, Gage shows how Hoover was more than a one-dimensional tyrant and schemer who strong-armed the rest of the country into submission. As FBI director from 1924 through his death in 1972, he was a confidant, counselor, and adversary to eight U.S. presidents, four Republicans and four Democrats. Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson did the most to empower him, yet his closest friend among the eight was fellow anticommunist warrior Richard Nixon. Hoover was not above blackmail and intimidation, but he also embodied conservative values ranging from anticommunism to white supremacy to a crusading and politicized interpretation of Christianity. This garnered him the admiration of millions of Americans. He stayed in office for so long because many people, from the highest reaches of government down to the grassroots, wanted him there and supported what he was doing, thus creating the template that the political right has followed to transform its party. G-Man places Hoover back where he once stood in American political history—not at the fringes, but at the center—and uses his story to explain the trajectories of governance, policing, race, ideology, political culture, and federal power as they evolved over the course of the 20th century