Spy Memoir

"Eloquent… An uplifting, heart-rending, and terrifyingly real account of frontline air combat. A first-rate military memoir." – David Eastman, US Army retired and author. In this true story, Robert Stanek delivers a raw and unforgettable narrative, revealing what it’s like to be in war waged from the skies above. Day by day, step by step, he brings readers into the secretive world of combat fliers, and tells the story of the men and women who flew dangerous combat missions during the largest air war of the 20th century. Experience the extraordinary events through the author’s ...

In January 2003, 28-year-old GCHQ translator Katharine Gun received an email from the US National Security Agency that would turn her world upside down. The message requested Katharine’s assistance in co-ordinating an illegal US-UK spy operation which would secure UN authorisation for the Iraq invasion. Horrified, she decided to leak the information to the British press. Katharine’s decision would change her life forever, as she was arrested under the Official Secrets Act whilst becoming a cause célèbre for political activists.

In Manitoba, Winnipeg, a bronze statue of Sir William Stephenson proudly stands as a testament to this hero’s legacy. He was a dedicated soldier, a gifted inventor, an extraordinary businessman, and a spy. From his humble Canadian beginnings, William Stephenson enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps and rapidly moved through the ranks of the armed forces.

In November 1974, British MP and former cabinet minister John Stonehouse walked into the sea off a beach in Miami and disappeared, seemingly drowned. Then he was found—on the other side of the world, in Australia—and his extraordinary story began to come to light: a Labour cabinet minister and a devoted family man, also in a long-term affair with his secretary, and a spy for the Czech State Security agency, who had committed fraud and attempted to fake his own death to escape catastrophic business failures.

PENNINE CRIME - Four Crime Tales from the North of England 1 - The Revenge of Darian Devlin: Darian Devlin, the most merciless job centre adviser for miles around, is not amused when he leaves work to find that his car has been tampered with. He sets out to ascertain which of his reviled customers might be responsible and on narrowing his list of suspects down to three he hits back with a vengeance, unleashing a spiral of retribution that soon gets out of control. 2 - A Singular Murder – My Grandfather’s Secret crime: When young Tom Turnbull’s grandfather gives him a large envelope to...

The Skripal Files is the definitive account of how Skripal’s story fits into the wider context of the new spy war between Russia and the West. The Skripal Files explores the time Skripal spent as a spy in the Russian Military Intelligence, how he was turned to work as an agent by MI6, his imprisonment in Russia and his eventual release as part of a spy swap that would bring him to Salisbury, where on that fateful day he and his daughter found themselves fighting for their lives.

This is the riveting account of one of the first Americans to spy for Joseph Stalin. A brilliant Columbia University graduate, Isaiah Oggins went to Berlin to establish a safe house and spy for his country - but he turned coat. Working for the Soviets, he was nevertheless poisoned in 1947 on Stalin's orders. Classified for decades, Oggins' story is a cloak-and-dagger tale to rival the best novels.

For over a decade, Michelle Slatalla wrote drolly about everything from online shopping to gorilla shoes, in the Style pages of the New York Times. Equal parts Erma Bombeck and Jean Kerr, with just a dash of Shirley Jackson, she peered into every corner of her life - then investigated her three daughters, husband and and her dogs, mainly because she needed the money. Now the editor and founder of the immensely popular blog, Gardenista, she needs the money more than ever. Hence this compendium of never-told anecdotes about her life in Northern California.

Prior to World War II, Josephine Baker was a music hall diva renowned for her singing and exotic dancing, her beauty and sexuality; she was the most highly paid female performer in Europe. When the Nazis seized her adopted city, Paris, she was banned from the stage, along with all 'negroes and Jews'. Yet, instead of returning to America, she vowed to stay and to fight the Nazi evil. Overnight she went from performer to Resistance spy. In The Flame of Resistance, best-selling author Damien Lewis uncovers this little known history of the famous singer's life.

1920s India. Flames of revolt against colonial rule had engulfed the country, making the British tense. They knew domestic spies were essential to track and quell the calls for independence. Nandlal Kapur, like many young Indian men, was recruited as a spy. But, while the pay was good and the life adventurous, Nandlal restless and uneasy, his love for his country at constant odds with his new reality. As he travelled through India on various missions, and met revolutionaries from all walks of life demanding freedom from oppression, he grew determined to attack the beast from within.

Johanna van Haarlem never wanted to abandon her son, Erwin. But the Nazis had occupied Europe and the teenager felt she had little choice. Her father had kicked her out, telling her she could return, without the child—or not at all. Johanna realized that together, she and her newborn wouldn’t survive; separated, at least Erwin had a fighting chance. So she surrendered the baby to an orphanage and tearfully went back home, vowing to return for Erwin one day.

The United Kingdom. A story based on real events. Few people are deemed smart enough to be selected and trained as a spy for Her Majesty’s Government, fewer qualify. The author is one such man, who, uniquely, was chosen at the age of 16, the only person still to pass selection without an education through the university system. Andy describes his unbelievable life, from the beginning, as a child, playing in the woods and fields around his home in Maple Cross, Hertfordshire, learning the skills he had no idea he would need in his future spy world.

This story traces the childhood experiences of an African-American CIA officer. Unlike most books about the CIA, this one is deeply personal and offers an insight into the mind of an African-American spy. Learning from his positive and negative experiences proved essential to his success as a case officer in the covert services of the Central Intelligence Agency and helped him formulate a rewarding philosophy of life to live by....

What's it like to be a spy? Glamorous and exciting? Just like James Bond? Find out in these true tales of international espionage. Hear about the Internet spy who hacked into military secrets - and ended up dead; the ruthless emperor who spied on his own army; and the double agent who was awarded medals for bravery - by the country he had betrayed. Discover amazing facts about equipment, codes and disguises and enter the intriguing world of real-life spies!

Raised in a lush suburb of 1920s Paris, Noor Inayat Khan was an introspective musician and writer, dedicated to her family and to her father’s spiritual values of harmony, beauty, and tolerance. She did not seem destined for wartime heroism. Yet, faced with the evils of Nazi violence and the German occupation of France, Noor joined the British Special Operations Executive and trained in espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance. For crucial months of the war, Noor was the only wireless operator in France sending critical information to London.

One morning in May 1671, a man disguised as a parson daringly attempted to seize the crown jewels from the Tower of London. Astonishingly, he managed to escape with the regalia and crown before being apprehended. And yet he was not executed for treason. Instead, the king granted him a generous income, and he became a familiar strutting figure in the royal court's glittering state apartments. This man was Colonel Thomas Blood, a notorious turncoat and fugitive from justice.

Wen Ho Lee, a patriotic American scientist born in Taiwan, had devoted almost his entire life to science and to helping improve U.S. defense capabilities. He loved his job at Los Alamos National Laboratory and spent his leisure time fishing, cooking, gardening, and with his family. Then, suddenly, everything changed and he found himself in the spotlight, accused of espionage by members of Congress and the national media and portrayed as the most dangerous traitor since the Rosenbergs.

In 1949 Noor Inayat Khan was awarded the George Cross posthumously. How did this young lady from a noble upbringing with a pacifist belief have the desire, dedication, and willingness to risk everything to become one of the bravest and courageous agents during World War II? Starting her career with the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, Noor soon wanted to make more of an impact on the war effort. This, combined with her incredible willpower and determination were soon noticed and she was recruited as a Special Operations Executive.

Recruited by a foreign power in postwar Paris and sent to Washington, Winston Bates is without training or talent. He might be a walking definition of the anti-spy. Yet he makes his way onto the staff of the powerful Senator Richard Russell, head of the Armed Services Committee. From that perch, Bates has extensive and revealing contacts with the Dulles brothers, Richard Bissell, Richard Helms, Lyndon Johnson, Joe Alsop, Walter Lippman, Roy Cohn, and even Ollie North - to name but a few of the historical players in the American experience Winston befriends - and haplessly betrays for a quarter century.

Why did the US intelligence services fail so spectacularly to know about the Soviet Union's nuclear capabilities following World War II? As Vince Houghton, historian and curator of the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, shows us, that disastrous failure came just a few years after the Manhattan Project's intelligence team had penetrated the Third Reich and knew every detail of the Nazi's plan for an atomic bomb. What changed and what went wrong?