The best books on how citizen spies built modern American intelligence in World War II

David was a pioneer. Before Codebreakers there was next to nothing in print about codebreaking. Focused on World War II, he introduced a generation of readers to a secret realm, inviting us to look behind the big green door for the first time. This generous and loyal friend alerted me to the need for comprehensive overview of American intelligence in World War II.

This is another groundbreaking book, but from the White House perspective. Broader in scope, For the President’s Eyes Only is another work that is both scholarly and readable. It may be the single best book on American intelligence, valuable as an introduction or an overview. Not unlike David Kahn, Christopher Andrew did much to invent the field of intelligence history—and to welcome scholars and practitioners (including yours truly) into the field.

An amazing storyteller and unrivalled expert on World War II, Sir Max is best in class when it comes to combining the big and little pictures. He renders pithy judgments on thorny subjects. This may be the best overview of intelligence from east to west, north to south in World War II. Again like David Kahn and Christopher Andrew, Sir Max is generous to fellow writers and gracious to readers. I remember a talk at a Washington, DC bookstore to which a reader brought a stack of Hastings books—perhaps 10 or so—for his autograph. Sir Max did not hesitate, cheerfully reaching for his pen.

Memoirs and diaries open doors to the past. I cherish this obscure book because it is by a man who sat in the wheelhouse of American intelligence in wartime Washington. He was both insider—part of the ruling elite—and outsider—an independent westerner. Rogers was a perceptive observer who religiously recorded events and impressions as they occurred, which makes this book even more valuable. He lets the reader feel what it was like in the nation’s capital, and doesn’t spare the high and mighty when they transgress the bounds of common sense. The descriptions of the OSS leadership alone are worth the price of admission.

Biography, especially this riveting biography, is a great way to learn about intelligence in World War II. Bradley looks into dark corners to uncover the almost unbelievable truth about a Soviet spy in the front office of American spy chief William J. Donovan. Like James Grafton Rogers, Bradley tells us what it was like to live and work in Washington during World War II—but with another layer of intrigue and, yes, treachery. 75 years after the fact we tend to forget that a group of privileged Americans like Lee—a Rhodes Scholar and Wall Street lawyer distantly related to Robert E. Leen—once thought that communism might be a viable alternative to capitalism and the economic misery of the depression.