The Secret War

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… show more.

Deception comes in many guises in the world of espionage. Hastings has colourfully charted a wealth of new information and research on the history of the secret war—the men and women working in the shadows as spies. With deception operations, he has focused on some extraordinary characters, like Ronald Seth (codename “Blunderhead”), who was a British agent parachuted into enemy territory. Seth was then apparently ‘turned’ by the Germans, but his activities became so complex that at times it was hard to understand for whom he was really working. Neither the Abwehr nor MI5 or MI6 were really sure where… show more.