The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America

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The Haunted Wood fills in a valuable part of cold war history: the Soviet Union's attempts to spy on the United States from the time of FDR's New Deal, through the Second World War, and into the 1950s. Allen Weinstein (author of a highly regarded history of the Hiss-Chambers case, Perjury) and Alexander Vassiliev (a KGB agent turned journalist) show that among the Americans caught in the Soviet orbit were many top government officials, including a Congressman from New York and a close advisor to President Roosevelt, as well as an American ambassador's daughter. Most of these early spies were leftists driven by ideology--as opposed to money, which seems to have motivated many of the later cold war traitors, such as Aldrich Ames. (The Congressman, interestingly, is an exception--he demanded so much compensation that the Soviets gave him the code name "Crook.") The greatest windfall for the U.S.S.R. during this period was the acquisition of atomic secrets, with contributions from agents like Ted Hall, Klaus Fuchs, and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (the authors do not believe, however, that the scientist Robert Oppenheimer was a Soviet spook). Yet there were also notable failures, many brought on by Stalin's insatiable appetite for purges; defections by Chambers and Elizabeth Bentley also dealt several mortal blows. By the end of the 1940s, the Soviet spy ring in the United States was in serious breakdown. Weinstein and Vassiliev make use of both American sources and Soviet archives to deliver what will surely be an authoritative account for many years--or at least until more top-secret archives on both sides of the Atlantic become declassified. And don't expect that to happen anytime soon. --John J. Miller

Book Description

Based upon previously secret KGB records, The Haunted Wood reveals for the first time the riveting story of Soviet espionage's "golden age" in the United States throughout the 1930s, World War II, and the early Cold War. Historian Allen Weinstein, author of Perjury: The Hiss-Chambers Case, and Alexander Vassiliev, a former KGB agent-turned-journalist, were provided unique access to thousands of classified Soviet intelligence dispatches that documented the KGB's success in acquiring America's most valuable atomic, military, and diplomatic secrets. The Haunted Wood narrates the triumphs and failures of Soviet operatives and their American agents during the 1930s and 1940s, describing as well the compelling human dramas involved.

Reconstructed from Moscow's messages to its operatives and reports from Soviet recruits in America, The Haunted Wood describes many previously unknown personal tales: struggles for control among contending Soviet operatives and American agents, love affairs, business ventures, defections, and plotted or actual murders. The authors also detail the remarkable range of classified government documents and information stolen for Soviet intelligence during the 1930s and the war years.

Complementing its use of the KGB archives, The Haunted Wood incorporates, also for the first time, a number of the previously classified VENONA cables released in 1995-96 by the CIA and NSA. Among these thousands of translated intercepts sent by Soviet agents in the United States to the USSR during World War II were dozens that matched those found in the Moscow records.

The highly placed Americans who assisted Soviet intelligence operatives during this period included:

  the passionate daughter of the U.S. Ambassador to Nazi Germany
  an influential member of the U.S. Congress
  one of President Roosevelt's personal assistants
  key officials of the OSS, America's wartime spy agency
  a flamboyant Hollywood producer-director
  the head of the American Communist Party

Several chapters provide major new accounts from Moscow's own record of its relations with Alger Hiss and atomic spies Klaus Fuchs, Harry Gold, David Greenglass, Theodore Hall, and Julius Rosenberg, among others, along with fresh information on Soviet espionage in the United States by British agents for the Kremlin--Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, and Harold "Kim" Philby.

The Haunted Wood's pages are filled with extraordinary and previously untold stories, including those of one war-time American spy ring whose head lived in a domestic ménage à trois with other agents, of Soviet involvement in a Hollywood music publishing company and possible major film investments, and of a station chief who proposed (with Moscow's agreement) funding U.S. journalists and congressional political campaigns.

The authors show how defection at war's end by a single emotionally depressed agent, despondent since the death of her Soviet station-chief lover, provoked the swift and virtually complete shutdown of Moscow's intelligence operations in the United States--ironically, years before the FBI and congressional investigations began their decade-long pursuit of "Soviet agents," who, by then, had either returned to Moscow or left the U.S. government!

With its new and uniquely documented information, The Haunted Wood offers the first fresh, realistic, and non-judgmental understanding of Soviet espionage in the United States during the Stalin era.

Customer Reviews:

The Soviet Penetration of the Roosevelt Administration.......2006-11-27

Authors Weinstein and Vassiliev were in the relatively unique position, in writing "The Haunted Wood", of having access to the Soviet as well as the American side of the story. They took advantage of a brief period of access to Soviet espionage achives after the breakup of the Soviet Union. What emerges is an exhaustive study of the penetration by Soviet spies of the U.S. government in the 1930's and 1940's.

The Soviets were materially aided in their espionage efforts by an admiration of Soviet communism shared by some Americans. This admiration looks badly misguided in retrospect, but apparently seemed very rational in the context of the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the subsequent Great Depression and rise of Fascism. This admiration produced a generation of American (and British) traitors who gave away information on American foreign policy, military and industrial secrets.

Some of the names are familiar: Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs, among others. Less familiar may be the names and operating methods of their Soviet handlers, who worked not just against American counterintelligence but also against the increasing paranoia of the Soviet Government they served. Despite the continuing delivery of invaluable information, Josef Stalin repeatedly purged Soviet intelligence. The disruption caused by the purges almost certainly kept the Soviets from acquiring even more information than they did.

"The Haunted Wood" is written primarily for an audience already fascinated by the topic of espionage. The average reader may find long stretches of dry and sometimes repetitive reading. This book is highly recommended for those studying the history of espionage.

partially an advertisement for two Soviet Agent's talent.......2005-01-02

This book was written with the help of several present and former Soviet Intelligence officers. Be aware that that colored the book with favorable views of these people's talent level and Soviet Intelligence in general. The book does contain valuable information along with important omission and advertising style hot air. I would suggest that you consider Venona by John Earl Haynes or The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors by Herbert Romerstein. The former is an academic description of the 450+ Soviet agents disclosed by the US breaking Soviet codes used during the war. The latter is an inside story by two US espionage agents and experts. One of the gems it reveals is that President FDR was gullible and had several advisors who were Soviet agents. Stalin was afraid of a two front war in Europe and with Japan in the Pacific. He composed an insulting message for his agents to present to FDR who sent as is it to the Japanese government. This provoked the war in the Pacific. Had this not been done, The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor would have been done much later or not at all.

Second thoughts.......2002-06-27

I reviewed this book in 1999, and gave it three stars. Over time, I've decided it was better than I first thought, and came back here to up it to four...

A Critical View of "The Haunted Wood".......2002-06-04

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A Critical View of "The Haunted Wood"

The thesis of this book is that KGB documents prove many New Deal and other US government officials were spies for the Soviet Union. The documentation in the book, however, does not support the thesis, in my opinion.

The co-authors state that one of them, a former KGB agent named Alexander Vassiliev, saw the KGB documents in Moscow on an exclusive basis, in exchange for payments by the publisher, Random House, to an association of former KGB agents. There is no way to verify the authenticity of the KGB documents; no way to check the accuracy of the excerpts and paraphrases printed in the book; no way to study their context, such as the rest of the file from which a particular document came, which every historian and student knows can be crucial to a correct reading and interpretation. We do not even know whether the documents Vassiliev saw are in the Russian language and, if they are, who translated them and how accurately.

The book contains 1099 numbered footnotes, of which 1049 are citations to those off-limits KGB documents. Readers may well ask why those footnotes are there at all. Another frustrating puzzle for readers is the way the co-authors purport to quote KGB documents that contain code names (which the Soviet intelligence agencies routinely assigned to spies and occasionally to non-spies such as Roosevelt, Truman, Churchill, and lesser figures): the co-authors delete the code names and replace them with real names in square brackets -- but often without disclosing what code names they have deleted, and without citing any KGB document or otherwise explaining how or where they got the real names. Compounding the confusion, they state that the Soviets sometimes assigned the same code name to more than one person and sometimes assigned two or three code names to the same person. For instance, the co-authors assert that the American diplomat Alger Hiss had two code names, "Ales" and "Lawyer", while the US Treasury official Harry Dexter White had three code names, "Lawyer", "Richard", and "Reed".

In The Haunted Wood, the co-authors do not explain why they cite no authority or source for ascribing "Lawyer" as a code name for Hiss. For their assertion that "Ales" was another code name for Hiss, they do not cite any KGB documentary source, but they reproduce (and misquote) a so-called "Venona" document, released in 1996 by the US National Security Agency and said to bear a translation of a partially decrypted 1945 KGB cablegram about "Ales". In 1950, an FBI agent tentatively identified Ales as Hiss and said the FBI would attempt to verify the identification; but it never did so, nor could it have done so.

The Venona-KGB cablegram itself, reproduced with the photographs in the book, shows that Ales could not have been Hiss. Ales was a military intelligence (GRU) agent who obtained only military information. Hiss, however, was charged with obtaining only non-military State Department materials; the papers that were used to convict him were copies of State Department documents. Ales was the leader of a group of GRU agents, whereas Hiss was accused of acting alone (except for his wife and his accuser, Whittaker Chambers). Ales conducted espionage throughout the eleven years 1935-45, whereas Hiss was accused of having conducted espionage not later than 1938, etc. etc. But The Haunted Wood does not mention, let alone attempt to explain away, any of those discrepancies that preclude Ales as having been Hiss.

Furthermore, there is an earlier Venona document that tends to exonerate Hiss, but I can not find any mention of it in the book. It contains a fragment of a GRU message that, in the original, included the name "Hiss" spelled out in the Latin alphabet, rather than the Cyrillic. For the GRU to use the Latin alphabet just for the name strongly suggests that the GRU had never before heard of Hiss and wanted to be sure to get the name right. (No first name is given, so we can not tell whether "Hiss" was Alger or his brother Donald, who was also in the State Department.) Moreover, for the GRU to use Hiss's real name suggests that he had no code name and was not an espionage agent, because Soviet intelligence agencies, for reasons of security, normally assigned code names to their agents and referred to them only by their code names. Given the many pages that The Haunted Wood devotes to Hiss, Ales, the GRU, and Venona, it is a serious lapse, in my view, for the co-authors not to tell their readers about this GRU message and not to discuss its implications.

The lack of verifiable documentation in The Haunted Wood, its plethora of errors, and its strategic omissions leave it demonstrably untrustworthy. In my opinion, the book falls too far below minimal standards of scholarly or journalistic rigor for any serious consideration.

Very informative. One of the best. But it is a boring read.......2000-11-25

I have read many books on the issue of intelligence. The insight provided by this book is excellent. In particular, the nature and history of America's volunteer ideological spies is the very best I have ever read. But I have found it a hard read. It is possible to be too through. Honest, it is. I had an easier time with Mitrokhin.

The Spy Wore Red: My Adventures as as Undercover Agent in World War II

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Amazing autobiography
Great books
A counterfeit spy
Fascinating Page-Turner
A Spanish teacher recommends "The Spy Wore Red"...to ALL!

The Spy Wore Red: My Adventures as as Undercover Agent in World War II
Aline Countess Romanones
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0394556658
Release Date: 1987-05-12

Customer Reviews:

Amazing autobiography.......2007-06-12

Aline, Countess of Romanos has written a spectacular book. I had to keep reminding myself that I was reading an autobiography and not a work of fiction. Aline is an agent for the OSS during World War II. She blends into Spanish high society and manages to complete her mission and introduce the reader to the thrills and chills of being an undercover agent. She also gives us a glimpse of Spanish Aristocracy, bull fighting and the inner workings of a nineteen year olds dilemma of befriending people who may be targets of her investigation. I have read all of her books but like this one the best. It is full of action, drama, and even a touch of romance. I have recommended it to all of my friends.

Great books.......2007-03-20

I have purchased 4 books by Aline Romanos. I absolutely love them. The fact that there is truth behind the story and that she really was an upper-class lady as well as a spy excites me. I find myself wishing I lived an adventurous life. She has a talent when it comes to recreating her life and exploits. I could not put it down!

A counterfeit spy.......2006-01-28

The most respected historian in the field of espionage, Nigel West, studied all of Aline's spy books marketed as nonfiction and concluded "...all four of Aline's books should be regarded as fiction, and nothing more..." Read "Counterfeit Spies, Chapter 3, by Nigel West, 1998.

Fascinating Page-Turner.......2005-01-13

Written like a fiction novel, this factual, first-person account of a young woman spy during World War II is absolutely enthralling. You'll get a first-hand look into what it's like to be recruited and trained as a spy, then go on your first assignment, mingling with the highest Spanish society while secretly risking your life to uncover essential Axis secrets. The characters in the novel are rich and compelling, and you never know what's going to happen next to the protagonist/ingenue Aline.

I read this book in the '80s and have remembered it ever since. I finally found it again and reread it. It's just as fascinating now as it was then.

The only drawback: If you read at night, you won't get much sleep because this book is nearly impossible to put down.

A Spanish teacher recommends "The Spy Wore Red"...to ALL!.......2004-04-29

Reading and re-reading The Spy Wore Red is a wonderful experience! Most of your other reviewers agree, but there are two aspects they seem to miss: the richness of Spanish cultural information and the possibility of a change in role for women. Aline Griffiths is bright, well educated, and departs from traditional women's work to lead a daring, adventurous, downright-dangerous job.

As a Spanish teacher, I have recommended The Spy Wore Red to my high school students for years. Several students who later spent their college junior year in Spain have come back to tell me how much this book meant to them and how much more they appreciated it following their sojourn there. They could catch glimpses of the old Spain in the new, simply because they had read this thriller.

Book Description

The only insider's account ever written on America's most powerful weapon in the war against terrorism

Customer Reviews:

Good book on the unit, but Haney's is better..........2007-06-27

I really enjoyed this book. It gives a great history of the formation of Delta Force, but if you are only going to read one book on the subject; INSIDE DELTA FORCE by Eric Haney is much better. That said, this book is a page-turner and well written. There's a bit of self-congratulation; but Beckwith was an impressive individual.

Not quite as good as Haney's book, but still good.......2007-05-19

If I had not read Eric Haney's book "Inside Delta Force" before I read this one, I probably would have loved it. The inherent problem is that both books cover roughly the same time frame, with Beckwith's book beginning earlier (going back to Vietnam inspirations) and ending while Haney was still in Delta. Both books provide detailed coverage of Operation Eagle Claw, which can be a little redundant, but that's no one's fault really. What I liked about Beckwith's book was the understanding it gave about where the idea for Delta came from, what his operational credibility was, and the intense opposition he faced in birthing this elite unit. Some folks will be bored with the various political machinations at work, but I found it interesting to see how something like this comes to be. Less interesting to me was Beckwith's account of Selection and the like because he didn't have to go through it like Haney did. I'd definitely recommend this book, but if you only want to read ONE book on Delta, I'd recommend Haney's first. And while there is certainly some overlap in information between the two works, I read them back to back and still enjoyed them.

Delta Force: the Army's Elite Counterterrorist Unit.......2007-05-12

The book was in excellant condition, arrived on time.

High Level Overview.......2007-03-10

A great story about the birth of Delta Force from the founder himself. Beckwith takes you from the original idea, based on his experience with the British Special Air Service (SAS), through their first mission (to free the hostages in Iran).

Because of his rank and the role he played in this story, you get a high level overview instead of the view from an operator on the ground (as in Eric Haney's book - Inside Delta Force). One item that was particularly interesting to me was the test (based on the SAS) they ran prior to their first real mission to determine if their operators would actually engage the terrorist. Although it was successful, they later decided to not use this test again and surmised that the British needed to determine if their operators would fire their weapons but the US needed to create rules on when to not fire their weapons. Not sure what that says about the two cultures, but it was interesting none the less.

Beckwith is definitely a strong personality who does not compromise. You learn much about the man and the government bureaucracy he fought for so many years. In the end, he was successful and we are a safer nation because of his efforts

Delta Force: The Army's Elite Counterterrorist Unit.......2007-03-08

I read this book years ago and just had to read it again.

Secret Warriors: Inside the Covert Military Operations of the Reagan Era

Average customer rating:

Interesting read
Updated review
Good historical foundation on US Special Ops
Secret Warriors: Good little stories about Army Operatives
Goverment Cover Up

Secret Warriors: Inside the Covert Military Operations of the Reagan Era
Steven Emerson
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Military Science | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0399133607

Customer Reviews:

Interesting read.......2004-03-05

A facinating book regarding this particular topic. It seems to have been fairly well researched and the writing style was maintained my interest throughout.

Ironically, Emerson seems to fall prey to the very flaw he attaches to the subjects of this book;
"what happens when some men think they know what's best for the country".
Obviously authors like Emerson seem to think THEY know what's best for the country when they reveal leaked classified information in their writing without a regard to the men and women they are unknowingly placing in jeopardy.
But thanks to Emerson, at least if these operators are killed in the line of duty, we can rest easy knowing our own curiosity was satiated.

Updated review.......2003-09-10

Most of the information contained here seems to have been cross checked with multiple sources. Mr. Emerson has produced a fascinating look at the capabilities and foibles of the special and covert operations community during the 80's. Highly recommended for folks wanting to learn more about the "silver age" of US special operations.

Good historical foundation on US Special Ops.......2002-07-22

After waiting quite some time to get a copy, I found the book to be an interesting insight on the genesis of the US Special Ops community. Today, Emerson has capitalized on this early research and is now in the forefront of documenting terrorism. It would be interesting to see if he is utilizing many of the sources he obtained while writing this book.
I thought he had excellent sources, and many of these chapters could have been easily expanded into more in-depth stories. The Iran-Contra mess certainly weighed heavily while writing this book, and unfortunately, Emerson tried to cover the scandal without getting too bogged in that mess...that being said, I don't think he succeeded very well in drawing the ties between IRan-Contra and the organizations he covered so well throughout the book. Nevertheless, a must have for any library on US intelligence operations...a great read!

Secret Warriors: Good little stories about Army Operatives.......2000-06-06

This book is the only one I have seen of its vintage which discusses operations of US Army counterintelligence agents. Some of the stories have been confirmed by people I have had the chance to speak with. Some of the the details were altered to protect certain items. Careful research of the ESP/PSI related bits in other publications may reveal differing views on the outcome of some operations.

It's relatively high level of veracity, easy flow, it was written at the 10th grade level, and humor made it a good read for anyone interested in this topic.

Goverment Cover Up.......2000-02-05

Mr. Emerson sheds more light on the amount of cover ups the government has conducted. The book shows how scary our intelligence and covert operations apparatus is. Although most of the operations are hair brained schemes, it shows us how misinformed the public is to the true nature of out government.

First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan

Average customer rating:

Good Inside Look
Disappointingly dull
stellar account
Best CIA book I've ever read
Tip of the Spear

First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan
Gary Schroen
Manufacturer: Presidio Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Afghanistan | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

General | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

General | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Intelligence & Espionage | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Terrorism | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0891418725
Release Date: 2005-05-10

Book Description

While America held its breath in the days immediately following 9/11, a small but determined group of CIA agents covertly began to change history. This is the riveting first-person account of the treacherous top-secret mission inside Afghanistan to set the stage for the defeat of the Taliban and launch the war on terror.

As thrilling as any novel, First In is a uniquely intimate look at a mission that began the U.S. retaliation against terrorism–and reclaimed the country of Afghanistan for its people.

Customer Reviews:

Good Inside Look.......2007-07-29

This is a great first hand account of what was going on after 9/11. While we were at home wondering what our government was doing, these guys were getting things done.

Disappointingly dull.......2007-06-19

This book is more a lesson in the stifling bureaucracy of the U.S. government -- even when engaged in one of the most important foreign operations in its history. Schroen's book is filled with operational minutiae that, while providing a detailed account of the CIA operation in Afghanistan after 9/11, is bled dry of any context.

I feel for Schroen and his team as time and again, their efforts are hampered by intra-agency turf wars, mistrust and miscommunication with the U.S. military, not to mention the substantial obstacles they had to overcome vis-a-vis their Northern Alliance hosts.

It comes across in Schroen's writing -- he's at the center of the operation, but is largely beholden to other forces, in Washington and in Afghanistan. And you only get a glimpse at his frustration, probably due to the diligence of the CIA editorial oversight. I can't help but think that I'm reading a highly sanitized and watered-down version of what Schroen *really* wanted to say. (Note that unlike Gary Berntsen's "Jawbreaker", this book was published with the CIA's full approval, with nary a redacted line.)

In the end you get the sense that the CIA team were little more than clerks or administrators, doling out the cash to keep Afghan allies, well allied, and making requests for travel, fuel, etc. That's too bad because clearly Schroen and his teammates deserve acknowledgment (and praise) for what they were able to accomplish on the ground, despite being hamstrung and their own operational limitations.

stellar account .......2007-06-02

This book represents a stellar account of the disconnect betwen the policymakers in Washington and those charged with the execution of U.S. foreign policy. Schroen's book also chronicles the insidious influence lobbyists representing foreign nations can have on defense or foreign policy. Pushing forward Pakistan's agenda cost lives of our true allies, those in the Northern Alliance who laid it all on the line to take the fight to the Taliban.

Best CIA book I've ever read.......2007-05-18

Mr. Schroen is the first author coming out of the CIA that I've ever read that has a shred of humility. It was refreshing to read his perspective and look into his amazing paradigm without all the macho horse-crap. This was a very interesting topic to me, and I really enjoyed this author's telling of it. I am into the details and there were a lot of them in this book. It's not a thriller-spy story, but it is a great read in my opinion.

Tip of the Spear.......2006-07-07

Gary Schroen was less that 3 months away from retirement from the CIA on 9/11. He'd had a successful career there in "Operations", the guys who do the actual spying (as opposed to "Analysis", the guys who try and figure out what everything means), mostly dealing with the Middle East, and had wound up a Deputy Division head. For 2 years in the early 90s he was the Station Chief in Kabul, Afghanistan, and later in the decade he'd flown into the Northern Alliance's territory and met Ahmed Shah Masoud, the charismatic leader of that group who was assassinated just before 9/11. He had extensive contacts with various friendly figures in Afghan politics, speaks at least one of the local languages, and of course has lots of experience. As a result, 15 days after 9/11, Schroen was flown into the Northern Alliance's Panshir Valley on a CIA helicopter along with a half dozen other CIA guys, various laptops, satellite phones, and radios, a crate of guns, and $3 million in cash. His orders were to find and kill Osama bin Laden, and topple the Taliban government. This book is his account of the mission, how it went, and the adventures they had along the way.

Schroen was sent into Afghanistan at a time when the army didn't consider it safe to deploy troops (apparently now, if the army can't medivac wounded they won't operate in an area, and since there were no friendly airbases close enough, they were skittish about the idea of committing troops or flying combat missions) so Schroen and his friends were on their own for a considerable time period (about a month). They made friends with the locals (some of whom Schroen already knew) spread around money to buy weapons and supplies, and lobbied for airstrikes, Special Forces teams, and generally support while they watched the Northern Alliance fight the Taliban. As time passed, other CIA teams and Special Forces Operators did appear. At one point in the story, several of the CIA guys participate in a cavalry charge (I keep reading books that recount the "last" cavalry charge in history: believe it or not, this one worked) and there are various other interesting anecdotes. The author, 59 at the time he was inserted into Afghanistan, had terrible intestinal troubles that were never entirely resolved, and one of the other guys had gas (apparently from the altitude). While they didn't get Osama (never even got close, really...they landed on the other side of the country) they were instrumental in tipping the war against the Taliban.

This is an interesting, intelligent book. The accounts of the politics in Washington and the Pentagon are of course frustratingly vague, but of course the author was in Afghanistan when the debates were taking place, so he can only recount what he was hearing over the radio or phone. But for an account of the War on Terror from someone who was on the front lines, this book is just about as good as it gets.

British Intelligence in the Second World War: Vol. 3, Part 2 (British Intelligence in the Second World War)

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British Intelligence in the Second World War: Vol. 3, Part 2 (British Intelligence in the Second World War)
F. H. Hinsley , C. F. G. Ransom , and R. C. Knight
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Intelligence & Espionage | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

The Cult of Counterterrorism: The "Weird World" of Spooks, Counterterrorists, Adventurers, and the Not-Quite Professionals (Issues in Low-Intensity Conflict Series)

Average customer rating:

Extraordinarily researched and well written

The Cult of Counterterrorism: The "Weird World" of Spooks, Counterterrorists, Adventurers, and the Not-Quite Professionals (Issues in Low-Intensity Conflict Series)
Neil C. Livingstone
Manufacturer: Lexington Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Intelligence & Espionage | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Terrorism | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Law Enforcement | Criminal Law | Law | Subjects | Books

The Complete Security Guide for Executives (Lexington Books Issues in Low-Intensity Conflict Series)

ASIN: 0669214078

Customer Reviews:

Extraordinarily researched and well written.......2002-01-22

As a fan of espionage, terrorism, and special ops. books I had to check this out. This covers a multitude of the aforementioned groups. It is extraordinarily researched and I strongly recommed it for the avid reader of books about "the weird world of Spooks, Counter-terrorists, Adventureres and the not-quite professionals.

Intelligence, Espionage and Related Topics (Bibliographies and Indexes in Military Studies)

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Monumental Bibliography for Intelligence Studies

Intelligence, Espionage and Related Topics (Bibliographies and Indexes in Military Studies)

Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Intelligence & Espionage | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Military Science | History | Subjects | Books

Espionage | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books

History of Technology | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books

All Amazon Upgrade | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0313292906

Book Description

Calder provides an annotated bibliography of more than 10,000 citations on intelligence, intelligence services, espionage, and related national or domestic security issues published in serial journal article form, mainly in English language sources, from 1844 onward. Many citations to journals in other languages are also cited. The majority of citations are annotated, but non-annotated titles contain information sufficiently clear to indicate the nature of the contents. Citations are arranged alphabetically by author, and all co-authors are indexed. An introductory essay evaluates issues relevant to the exponential growth of scholarly journal literature on the topic, particularly in the last two decades. Brief recommendations are included in the preface on how the bibliography can most effectively be used. Following the annotated bibliography, Calder provides a detailed key word or term index as well as citations to all journals and magazines used. This is an indispensable research tool for scholars, students, and others involved with military and intelligence issues throughout the world.

Customer Reviews:

Monumental Bibliography for Intelligence Studies.......2000-06-10

In a new Century characterised by the Internet, computerised databases and electronic archives, a new traditional hardcover bibliography may at first sound outmoded. But James Calder's new addition to the world of intelligence studies seems to defy both time and scope. Indeed, this monumental bibliography fulfils a need that is long overdue, in covering not books but journal and magazine articles in its field. Whereas a series of books published by ABC Clio Press several years ago cover intelligence bibliographies of individual countries, notably Britain, France and Israel, this new bibliography is far wider in its scope and deals with all aspects of intelligence, espionage and security issues which are related to intelligence as well.

James Calder, Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Texas, set out to chart articles dealing with intelligence and espionage, which appeared in scholarly journals and magazine from 1844 to 1998. Over 150 years of articles are listed by author, many with a brief summary or abstract. Also included is an extensive indexing by keywords and terms, as well as a co-author index.

The first thing the reader notices in this new book is its sheer size. The annotated bibliography part encompasses over 1200 pages and includes well over ten thousand individual entries. The meticulously-researched entries include dozens of well known journals, but it also covers numerous journals and sources which the average intelligence scholar may not be familiar with, such as the Colorado Quarterly, Criminal Law Bulletin, Government Publications Review, Joint Forces Quarterly, even the Jerusalem Journal of International Relations. Also included are dozens of journals in foreign languages, including French, Italian, Russian and many more.

Leafing through the entries, one is amazed by the amount of work that must have gone into locating numerous little known or even obscure sources. With so many thousands of entries, a quick search may however turn into a long night's reading, so all you intelligence fans beware. The book is easy to use and is not cluttered with mysterious acronyms or technical jargon.

Book Description

During its clandestine construction in Liverpool, it was known as “Number 290.” When it was finally unleashed as the CSS Alabama, the Confederate gunship triggered the last great military campaign of the Civil War; a maritime adventure unparalleled in our history; an infamous example of British political treachery; and the largest retribution settlement ever negotiated by an international tribunal: $15,500,000 in gold paid by Britain to the United States. This riveting true story of the Anglo-Confederate alliance that led to the creation of a Southern navy illuminates the dramatic and crucial global impact of the American Civil War.

Like most things in the War between the States, it started over cotton: Lincoln’s naval blockade prevented the South from exporting their prize commodity to England. In response, the Confederacy came up with a unique plan to divert the North’s vessels and open the waterways–a plan that would mean covertly building a navy in Britain, a daring strategy that involved an unforgettable cast of colorful characters.

James Bulloch–Northerner by circumstance, Southerner by birth, he risked his life to enter England and build a fleet under the very noses of Northern spies; Lord John Russell–the British foreign secretary who was suspected of subverting his own legal system to allow the secret ships; Charles Francis Adams–son and grandson of presidents, who exhausted every avenue to stop the Confederate-British collusion; Raphael Semmes–the fanatically loyal Southern captain who disabled or destroyed sixty Northern ships before meeting his match near Cherbourg, France; and The Alabama–a wooden gunship that took to the sea named for a Southern state to wreak havoc on the Northern cause.

With The Rebel Raiders, naval historian James Tertius deKay brings to dazzling life an amazing, little known piece of history that is at once an important work of Civil War scholarship and a suspenseful tale of military strategy, international espionage, and a legal crisis whose outcome still affects the world.

Customer Reviews:

One ship, sixty-four captures.......2007-04-09

This is truly the story of the CSS Alabama (nee 290) that was commissioned to be built in Liverpool in 1862 for the exact purpose of being a raider and to search for and destroy members of the Northern Merchant Marine. Along with it's sister ship CSS Florida (nee Oreto), it was built and mostly crewed by Englishmen. Under the Queen's Foreign Services Act, when Britain was neutral it was illegal to build men-of-war for either side.

But there was a weakness in the law such that you could build 'ships' as long as they weren't armed; but you could sell them weapons separately. This is exactly what was done to launch the two raiders, who were then outfitted in the Azores. The rest of the story centers on the efforts of the Alabama and it's crew, and the US Ambassador to the Court of St.James to get the English government to admit they broke their own laws.

DeKay does a fine job in describing the Alabama's effect on the US merchant marine and the popularity of the ship and it's crew in the minds of the world public. In the end, the Alabama causes over $5 million in damages (about $100 million in today's money), and makes the buying of insurance to be prohibitive to drive a large part of the fleet to be sold or kept in port.

He also gives plausible reasons for why the anti-slavery British would be pro-Confederacy. The splitting of the american nation would insure that England would remain the premiere merchant marine for years to come and insure the continued supply of cheap (slave grown) cotton for it's textile mills in central England. There was talk of eventually weaning the South away from Slavery (which was abolished in the Empire in 1818) but it was just lip service.

Amazing History.......2006-12-14

The confederacy's navy during the civil war is a very impressive display of piracy on the high sees. While most of the attention always focuses on the iron ships it is often forgotten that there were several others out there raiding the north's commerce. This book puts quantifiable numbers and daring high sees escapades onto the same page. It is a very fast read and one that gives a new perspective on the civil war. The South's daring strikes and the north's eventual efforts to hunt down and put a stop to these raiders are cataloged here and make for interesting reading. There is also a very interesting subset that looks at European policies towards the United States during this time period and a perspective that is not often gathered can be seen here. This is a must have for true civil war buffs.

Astonishment upon Astonishment.......2003-03-15

Astonishing revelations fill this book. Perhaps you thought that the American civil war was fought in America and was decided at Gettysburg. The story is not so simple. The English ruling class favored the South so strongly that they flaunted their own laws and found ways for the Confederacy to build and outfit raiders in England. These few raiders destroyed the American whaling fleet and ran insurance rates so high that the American mercantile fleet was driven from the seas (and suffers to this day). The cotton textile industry in England was in disaster. Workers were naked and hungry. The ruling class was on the verge of recognizing the South and forcing an armistice on the two parties. Then the North launched the most effective barrage of the war. Charity in the form of food and clothing came from the North to the unemployed textile workers in England. The English under class, against their own short-term interest made its voice heard, and England remained neutral.

Chap 1. Montgomery: Mallory, the Confederacy's Secretary of the Navy selects James Bulloch to build a raider navy in England. Mallory has never met nor heard of Bulloch, but on the recommendation of a mutual friend (Judah Benjamin, the Attorney General) and a brief interview decides Bulloch is the man. It was an excellent choice. Astonishing.

Chap 2. Liverpool: Bulloch arrives in Liverpool unexpected and with no credentials. He presents himself to a man he has never met, Charles Prioleau, the managing director of the Confederacy's unofficial English bank, who agrees to fund the venture. Astonishing. Prioleau introduces Bulloch to an English lawyer who sets about gutting English law to allow the building of warships, on the grounds that warships without guns aren't warships. Astonishing. Do these guys know a secret handshake?

Chap 3. Number 290: Bulloch contracts the building of warship 290. Obviously a warship, but without weapons, the customs inspector ignores it.

Chap 4. Nemesis: American Quaker, Thomas Dudley comes to England to oppose Bulloch.

Chap 5. The Enrica: 290 is named Enrica. Dudley and Bulloch vie.

Chap 6. The Passmore Affidavit: William Passmore, English able seaman attests that he was recruited to join the 290, with clear understanding that it was a warship for the South. This is clearly against English law.

Chap 7. Escape: The English drag their feet and Bulloch barely gets Enrica out of England.

Chap 8. Terceira: Enrica receives her guns and supplies in a neutral port. Semmes takes command. The ship becomes CSS Alabama.

Chap 9. First Blood: American whalers around Azores are destroyed by Alabama.

Chap 10. The Grand Banks: more destruction.

Chap 11. Off the Georges Bank: and more destruction.

Chap 12. The Pirate Semmes: battle in the press.

Chap 13.'An Instance of Sublime Christian Heroism' : England is close to meddling in US affairs. Not so astonishing if you are the biggest baddest nation on the planet. America sends charity to England. The English working class wins one for Lincoln. Astonishing.

Chap 14. USS Hatteras: Semmes lures Union gunboat USS Hatteras out into the Gulf of Mexico, sinks it, and rescues survivors.

Chap 15. Straws in the Wind: CSS Florida joins the war.

Chap 16. Brazil: more ships seized. CSS Georgia joins the battle. Semmes turns a captured ship into his auxiliary vessel.

Chap 17. The Laird Rams: At Laird's, Bulloch is building two seagoing ironclad rams that could pulverize the Union Navy's wooden ships, shell Union harbors, and turn the tide of the war. Congress debates whether to authorize a raider war on British mercantile shipping. The British begin to wonder about the beast they unleashed. They need not worry for about half a century. The US cabinet considers sending a squadron of ships to destroy the rams at dock. US envoy Adams informs Lord Russell that there will be war if the rams put to sea. Russell detains the rams. Astonishing.

Chap 18. Simon's Bay: CSS Alabama is getting worn out and the crew is getting surely. The Sea Bride is captured and sold. Semmes infuriates the crew by using the proceeds for operating funds instead of paying it out as prize money.

Chap 19. Singapore: Semmes finds that the American mercantile fleet won't come out of harbor.

Chap 20. To Cherbourg: Semmes takes Alabama to Cherbourg in France, looking for a dry dock and intending to pay off the crew and request replacement.

Chap 21. Battle: No dry dock facilities are available and the USS Kearsarge shows up. Semmes figures if he waits that more Union ships will show up, so that his best chance is to fight now. The CSS Alabama badly needs repair, is leaking, has moist powder, defective fuses, and broken machinery, but Semmes chooses to fight. Alabama is lost.

Chap 22. The Shenandoah: Bulloch purchases Bombay trader Sea King to be christened CSS Shenandoah, which destroys the American Pacific whaling fleet.

Chap 23. The Claims: the war is over and Britain finds that the side it did not support now has the largest, most-modern, most experienced Navy and Army in the world. The USN has double turreted sea going monitors that could destroy any British vessel without being scratched. The upstart is angry and dangerous and wants reparations. Congress passed a watered down neutrality act, based on the British act, that would allow Irish Republicans to outfit of merchant raiders in America and operate against Britain. Astonishing. Britain's government will not settle, but wealthy interests in England begin to consider that maybe they had more to loose by not settling.

Chap 24. Sumner's Speech: Senator Sumner gives a rousing speech in the senate attributing half the cost of the war to British perfidy. The speech is a sensation.

Chap 25. Geneva: Bismarck's German Confederacy emerges. Britain sees two dangerous upstarts that might unite against her. It looks like a really good idea to settle the Alabama claims.

Chap 26. l'Envoi: The precedent set by the Alabama tribunal eventually becomes international law. Astonishing.

Author of the Monitor does it again.......2002-07-24

James Tertius (is that Ter-tee-us, or Ter-shus?) de Kay is one of the most fun writers of military history alive. He's only hurt by the fact that he writes things on obscure and unusual topics, or treats them from an unusual angle. One of his books (Chronicles of the Frigate Macedonian) is essentially a biography of a ship, and another (Monitor) is that combined with a portrait of the man who designed her. One book mainly recounts a battle (The Battle of Stonington) in which no one was killed. The Rebel Raiders recounts the Confederacy's efforts to build commerce raiders in Britain, and the American authorities' attempts, largely unsuccessful, to stop them.

The first portion of the narrative is devoted to the construction of the ships in Britain, and James Bulloch's efforts in this regard. The second portion recounts Raphael Semmes' cruise in command of the Alabama, culminating in the famous battle off Cherbourg. A third part, shorter than the other two, recounts the efforts of the American government after the war to recoup the losses suffered by the American merchant marine because of the Alabama's cruise. Many ships that weren't sunk were sold to the British, who wouldn't, of course, pay full price or sell them back after the war.

De Kay is especially good at personalities, and this story abounds with them. Bulloch and Semmes are portrayed as interesting characters, and Charles Francis Adams, the American minister in London (a 19th Century ambassador) is active throughout the story. It's fascinating.

I do have a few criticisms. There's no index, and the one map given is inadequate. There was an attempt to recount all of the vessels purchased in Britain during the war, but the Stonewall, which made it out of port, and wound up in Cuba only to find out the war was over, isn't mentioned. Perhaps he's left that out for another book.

Book Description

Either creeping through the landscape or mounted in armored cars and Bren carriers, Reconnaissance Regiments became a vital addition to all British infantry divisions. After the disastrous defeat in France in 1940, at the hands of German forces with strong recce units mounted in light armored vehicles, the Bartholomew Committee called for the formation of a British equivalent. This was achieved by forming the new elite Reconnaissance Corps.Their spearhead role meant that they were consistently at the forefront of all dramatic action, and most famously served with the 1st and 6th Airborne at Arnhem and with the Chindits in Burma.Within every theater of war, ranging from the jungles to the deserts, the Reconnaissance Corps made a critical contribution to the Allied war effort. However, with the disbandment of the Corps at the end of the war, their record has been unjustly forgotten.With a selection of rare and unpublished frontline photographs taken from private collections, this fascinating new insight into a forgotten elite unit of the British Army recounts the experiences of those soldiers who operated ahead of the army throughout the course of the war.

Customer Reviews:

Doesn't Answer the Mail..........2007-05-15

The British Reconnaissance Corps in World War II, written by Richard Doherty and No. 152 in Osprey's Elite series, attempts to cover the role of Britain's division-level recon units in the European, African and Asian theaters. This is an ambitious effort for this short format and unfortunately, the result is likely to disappoint many readers. Given the size limitations, the author chose to focus on capsule summaries of each of the 32 recon-related units in the war. Indeed, there is considerably more "history" in this volume than many other Osprey Elite titles, but it came at the price of sacrificing information on training, tactics and doctrine. Lacking the background on what Britain's recon units were supposed to be capable of doing, it will be difficult for readers to assess their performance in actual combat. This volume is great if you are looking for a synopsis history of British Recon units or a sense of some noteworthy Recon soldiers, but fails to examine or discuss doctrine, tactics or organization in any kind of detail. The actual functioning of British Recon units is left murky and ambiguous.

After little more than a page of background on the requirement to form the Reconnaissance Corps in 1940-41, the author provides a couple pages on initial training of recruits and selection of early vehicles. The bulk of the rest of this volume covers the activities of Recon units in combat, divided into sections on North Africa, the Mediterranean, Northwest Europe and the Far East. The author provides several tables showing the organization of British Recon units in 1941 and 1942, but fails to discuss the make-up or role of critical sub-units. For example, what was the role of the regimental assault troop (or why should a Recon unit HAVE an assault troop?)? Nor does he explain how the carrier and Recce section worked together; based upon the table of organization provided, the carrier section appeared to have almost no troops or weapons assigned. Critical sub-units such as anti-aircraft, anti-tank and mortars are barely discussed - how were they used? Finally, the critical element for any recon unit - communications - is never addressed. What types of radios did the British Recon units use and how far could they communicate? A scout that cannot report what he sees might as well not be there.

The author's descriptions of Recon units in combat are quite good, with a genuine effort to give a feel for "the action," but unfortunately provide little insight into these units' primary mission: intelligence collection. Scouts are send forward to attempt to answer a commander's intelligence requirements (e.g. where is the enemy's main line of resistance?) in order to make tactical decisions based upon the best picture of enemy dispositions. However, this volume tends to emphasize combat roles - such as Recon troops used as infantry, for mine clearing or even portering duties - that makes it difficult to assess their role of intelligence collectors. I don't think there was a single instance in the volume where the author cited an example where British Recon units gathered information that gave a British division an advantage in its mission accomplishment. Indeed, I came away with the impression that the British Army badly mis-used its Recon units as substitute motorized infantry rather than as dedicated tactical intelligence collectors.

The lack of doctrinal information is also a serious omission. Critical information, such as how far forward recon units would conduct route patrols or how many routes a regiment could simultaneously patrol are simply not here. The basic meat and potatoes of recon work - area, zone and route recon plus screening and guard missions - is only mentioned in passing, at best. Although the author mentions a few occasions where British Recon units did dismounted patrolling, I was struck by how `glued' to their armored cars British units were. In one instance, the author sites how dangerous it was to go around a blind corner in a town while mounted, which made me wonder why the troops were not trained to dismount scouts in urban areas. Realizing the size limit was probably a major factor in this volume's short-comings, readers should still be aware that this volume does not `answer the mail' if one is looking for a concise but detailed discussion of British Recon units in the Second World War.

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