Peculiar Liaisons in War, Espionage, and Terrorism in the Twentieth Century -- a Review

Available from Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com

Reviews

Synopsis by G. A. Bixler, IBookReviewer: During a time when "war on terrorism" is a household word, many of us reflect on events that have touched our lives. The old questions of "who, what, when, and where" somehow have become more real as we ponder what would lead individuals to force the crash of planes into buildings. Why would young people become suicide bombers? To many of us, it's "not quite real." Many times, there are no answers.

The assassination of John F. Kennedy is one of those mysteries. He was murdered the year I started my career. We were all called into the boss' office and we stood, stunned, confused, and somehow, afraid. John S. Craig in Peculiar Liaisons: In War, Espionage, and Terrorism in the Twentieth Century brings back memories of that time. He provides no answers; however, he provides a consolidation of names beyond the one we all know-Lee Harvey Oswald. Many of us have been unsatisfied that one man was behind the assassination of Kennedy. Books have been written examining what happened and proposing alternatives to solve the mystery. Mr. Craig, however, has provided a major chapter bringing together facts-clues of those individuals who may have had ties to Oswald, highlighting, especially, David Ferrie, who may have been an accomplice. He's made a major effort to compile what factual information is available and present it for the reader's use-to consider or to research further.

Peculiar Liaisons reads almost like a novel. Indeed for those who buy this book to gain a deeper understanding of what may have brought about today's events, it captures our interest and provides sufficient narrative to satisfy our needs. However, historians will want to add this book to their personal library. By selecting personalities who have played major roles in the century's history, Craig has provided a significant research effort that pulls together important individuals who played roles, sometimes behind the scenes and with less notoriety.

Captain Dragutin Dimitrijevic, was the first highlighted in Peculiar Liaisons. Known as "The Bull" or "Apis," Dimitrijevic slaughtered the Serbian king and queen, and later formed The Black Hand (with the aim of uniting all Serbs). He recruited young men infected with tuberculosis and promised these men with terminal disease a way to "make a mark" for Serbia through assassinations of enemies. One of his liaisons, a teenager named Gavrilo Princip, assassinated Austria-Hungary's heir apparent, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This act helped trigger the nightmare of World War I.
Chapter Two provides an excellent overview of two historical legends, the "Queen and Ace of Spies." Mata Hari is one of the most famous spies, having been featured in several movies and books. About herself, she said, "she was a much better harlot than traitor." Her supposed liaisons included the Ace of Spies, Britain's Sidney Reilly, Admiral Wilmelm Canaris, as well as many other high-level officials during World War I. Interestingly, their legends may have become so complicated that their allegiance is still in question--for which countries did they spy and to which countries were they loyal? Even today, their lives remain mysteries.

Tactical Deception, a skill much used throughout history, dates back to times surrounding familiar stories such as the Trojan Horse and the Japanese Ninja who used their stealth techniques in the twelfth century to gather intelligence for warlords. Participants in both world wars used deception as a major weapon. Thomas Lawrence-also known as John Hume and T. E. Shaw-used even the minor deception of different names to further his exploits. Most of us automatically picture this man with his Arabian robes and headdress flying behind, as he races across the desert as Lawrence of Arabia. Indeed the chapter covering his exploits and other operations at this time provide an exciting read. Discussions and actions surrounding the development of bombs began in the late 30's.

Einstein wrote to President Roosevelt, which helped impel the creation of the Manhattan Project. The race for the atomic bomb was on! In 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The role of Colonel James Doolittle and others highlight this dramatic time in Chapter Four.

It turned out for me that I became intrigued with Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, who served as head of the German military intelligence bureau. We all remember Adolf Hitler and may also know about Reinhard Heydrich who carried out orders from Hitler and, on his own initiative, to cause the death of millions. Two excellent chapters report on involved individuals. It was a welcome note to me, of German descent, to learn that Admiral Canaris (and others) was anti-Hitler and worked to sabotage Hitler's plans as much as possible and was even willing to refuse direct orders to assassinate individuals.

Peculiar Liaisons, in focusing on involved individuals and their relationships, has provided a solid base of information beyond headlines and the average history text.

In addition to covering significant historical actions since the beginning of the century, including World Wars I and II, Craig includes small tidbits from his research that often bring a smile or cause one to ponder:

Zoroaster, a man born in the sixth century BC, in what is now Iran, claimed to be the spokesman of the one true God. Zoroastrianism was the principal religion in Persia for approximately one thousand years. Three major religions followed. Many wars have been fought, presumably based on religion.

The German government published an official statement that no proof of the guilt of Mata Hari, known as the Queen of Spies, could be found.

Officials considered bringing Major T. E. Lawrence, known as Lawrence of Arabia, to provide a positive force to assist Hitler-that Lawrence was the kind of man who could have gotten Hitler on the right track. Lawrence was killed before this could occur.

Major R. Meinertzhagen, known as the Deception Master, once shared that when he met Hitler, Hitler came forward, threw up his arm and exclaimed "Heil Hitler." Thinking it odd to "heil" himself, he responded "Heil Meinertzhagen."
General Jimmy Doolittle led a volunteer group that was essentially a suicide mission, to exact retribution for the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Wernher von Braun, a captured Nazi, later became the chief designer of the rocket that sent Americans to the moon.
Fuchida, flight commander of the assault on Pearl Harbor, later was inspired by an American missionary, Jacob DeShazer, one of Doolittle's Raiders, and became a devout Christian and traveled the world teaching the message of forgiveness.

J.R.R. Tolkien, British author, used what he experienced and witnessed in the trenches and battlefields for material that went into The Book of Lost Worlds, the foundation of The Lord of the Rings, one of the most read pieces of fiction of the twentieth century.

Henry Ford financially backed Adolf Hitler. Hitler told a reporter that he regarded Ford as his inspiration.
Ustasha administrator Vjekoslav Luboric moved hundreds of typhus-infected inmates to war camps that had been disease free in order to spread the disease.

General Heydrich was dishonorably discharged from the German Navy.

Madame Kitty, head of "Salon Kitty," a bordello, used her women to spy on fellow Nazi officers for General Heydrich.
Kerry Thornley, a fellow Marine of Lee Harvey Oswald, said Oswald made such an impression on him that he wrote the novel, The Idle Warriors, months before Oswald's involvement in the assassination was known.

And so it continues...

Peculiar Liaisons is a significant research effort. Are today's actions molded from history? Perhaps, more specifically, are individuals, who may be viewed as heroes or enemies, depending upon your perspective or background, actually who influences us? John Craig has pulled together facts. Interesting facts. Horrible facts. His book can stand alone from which to learn. But, his references and selected bibliography provide a solid basis for further study. In the midst of the "War on Terror," Peculiar Liaisons should be on your bookshelf.

Review: Jim Bless, RoundTable Reviews : "The White Hand, The Golden Dawn. The Black Hand. These and other little known subjects are briefly, yet thoroughly, examined and described in this historic and important work . . . you will discover many things you never read in your history books, and some of the material shocking and incredible. I found this book hard to put down."

Review: Jim Agnew, producer of the Michael Dresser Show, USA Radio Network. "This is my kind of read. Short, well-researched chapters on my favorite events and people: Lawrence of Arabia, JFK and his assassination, Jimmy Doolittle and his raid on Tokyo, and the master-spy Kim Philby. Honest evaluations on historical events of enormous interest. The Middle East and T.E. Lawrence is quite timely. The book flows. Highly recommended."

Review : John Cullen, Far Sector . "Peculiar Liaisons touches all the traditional bases from Mata Hari to Gavrilo Princip, from T.E. Lawrence to Lee Harvey Oswald, in a lively yet believable style . . . shows a tangled skein of connecting threads running among famous as well as infamous individuals . . .one of the best high-brow bathroom books you'll buy in years. You will want to drag your computer in there too, since Craig will have you doing searches on all the marvelous little goodies he has arrayed for you like a grocer arranging apples in a crate for your sidewalk in(tro)spection."

Review : Bob Spear, Publisher and Chief Reviewer, Heartland Reviews. "If you have an interest in the Balkans, this is a must read. It is also excellent background for both WWI and WWII. Finally, if you're a Kennedy assassination follower, there is some interesting material. These diverse subject are drawn together by the thread of the actions of a few unique individuals and how they affected the flow of history. This is an interesting academic read of the history of the last century in terms of war and world conflict . . . extensive bibliography and references."

Chapter 1

The Black Hand that Ignited World War I

Gavrilo Princip and Dragutin Dimitrijevic

The opening chapter traces the troubled history of the Balkans up to the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand by linking the influences of the Greek-Trojan War, Alexander the Great's conquest, the creation of Islam and Catholicism, conflicts with the Ottoman Empire, and the deadly and little known secret societies of Omalinida, Black Hand, Young Turks, the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, and the Croatian Ustasha.

The Obrenovic and Karadjorde dynasties of Serbia are examined. Both of these competing dynasties, created by two illiterate pig farmers in the 19 ^th century, had profound affects in creating the political composition of the Balkans in the early twentieth century. The assassination of King Obrenovic in 1903, which was led by the same man who created the secret society that assassinated Franz Ferdinand in 1914, is detailed along with the importance of the Balkan League and Balkan Wars on European history.

The Serbian terror group the Black Hand is disclosed as the force that ignited the worldwide cataclysm of World War I and the legacy that the War to End All Wars left the world. This chapter uncovers the motives of the Black Hand and the possibility that other secret societies and political forces joined in the plot. It investigates the legacy of the war that created the Bolshevik Revolution and themes for film, literature, and religion that have shaped Western culture. The Bosnian Serb assassin Gavrilo Princip's relationship and affiliation with the Serbian intelligence officer Dragutin Dimitrijevic is explored, as well as Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Emperor Franz Joseph, the six other conspirators against Franz Ferdinand, the Young Bosnians, the Young Turks, the failed assassin Bogdan Zerajic who inspired Princip, Dimitrijevic's chief aide Major Vajislav Tankosic, authors Rebecca West's and Robert Kaplan's works on Balkan issues, Zionist Thomas Herzel, the visions of Fatima and how they influenced the Catholic Church's fight against the Russian Soviets, Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic's contemporary Serbian war, and secret Balkan murderous organizations that continue to affect the peace of the world.

Chapter 2

The Ace and Queen of World War I Spies

Mata Hari - The Dutch Courtesan & Sydney Reilly - The Ace of Spies

The two legendary "spies" and their impact on World War I and the perception of the twentieth century spy are compared and contrasted. The legends and truth that surround Mata Hari's persona as the courtesan spy and Reilly's reputation as the master spy of the twentieth century are examined in detail. This chapter focuses on Mata Hari's overall career as an artistic dancer and her alleged role as a German and French spy. Mata Hari's role as an espionage agent is compared to other women spies: the French spy Marthe Richard, the Belgian spy Marthe McKenna (who won both an Iron Cross for Germany, a death sentence from Germany, and the highest accolades from Winston Churchill), and two who were martyred, Edith Cavell and Sarah Aaronson. Other relationships of Mata Hari are examined that include Sidney Reilly, Admiral Canaris, her Russian lover Vadime de Masloff, Baron von Mirbach of German Intelligence, Capt. George Ledoux of French Intelligence, her abusive husband John MacLeod, the mysterious deaths of her son and daughter, and the Japanese Red Army's Fusako Shigenobu. Various biographers who created her false and unflattering public image are explained and exposed.

Sidney Reilly, the so-called ace of spies, was the Russian born British agent that created such a mystifying persona that no one is really sure what his real motives were as an espionage agent. This chapter investigates Reilly's reputation as an immoral megalomaniac who used intelligence agencies for various countries to help him amass a huge personal fortune that he used in trying to topple the Bolsheviks. Additionally this chapter details his involvement in the Lockhart Plot, his possible role as a quadruple agent, his life as a model for the twentieth century super spy in film and literature, as well as his mysterious disappearance. Reilly's relationships and affiliations include the first head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, Sir Mansfield Cummings, financier J.P. Morgan, British agents George Hill, Paul Dukes, Augustus Agar, British occultist Aleister Crowley, Jack Philby, Lenin, Trotsky, the Czar's secret police Ochrana and the Bolshevik's Cheka, British writer and agent Somerset Maugham, French journalist and Bolshevik sympathizer Rene Marchand, failed Lenin assassin Fanya Kaplan, British agent Bruce Lockhart, the Bolshevik intelligence network The Trust, anti-Bolshevik leader Savinkov, Japanese intelligence, the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, Stalin, and Mata Hari.

Interest in Mata Hari and Sidney Reilly continue long after their death. Their lives have been the subject of numerous books and film works. Several Hollywood projects concerning Mata Hari's life are being planned in the near future.

Chapter 3

Tactical Deception - Lawrence of Arabia ,The Haversack Trick, Operation Mincemeat

T.E. Lawrence - Lawrence of Arabia

Richard Meinertzhagen - Deception Master

Major William Martin - The Man Who Never Was

The British soldier T.E. Lawrence and the Arabian monarch King Feisal rallied the Arabs against the Turks and created a unique theater of war during World War I that shaped the Middle East as we know it today. The British soldiers and politicians that successfully used military and personal deception to change the course of the world wars of the twentieth century are analyzed.

The art of military tactical deception and the creation of false identities are as old as war itself. A summary of this kind of deception is presented with a focus on three figures who refined the art of deception in war and their public image: T.E. Lawrence, Richard Meinertzhagen, and Major William Martin.

T. E. Lawrence and his many personas and relationships are probed, especially his role as a World War I hero in the Middle East and particularly his capture of the Turk-controlled port city of Aqaba, a military act that sealed his reputation as a legend. Lawrence and his alter egos of T.E. Shaw and John Hume Ross are presented along with his relationships with Winston Churchill, King Feisal, the leader of the Abu Tayi tribe Auda, journalist Lowell Thomas, Lawrence's female counterpart, rogue British intelligence agents and historians Jack Philby (Philby of Arabia) and Gertrude Bell (The Queen of the Desert), General Allenby, filmmaker David Lean, biographers John Aldington and Dr. John Mack, George Bernard Shaw, and Richard Meinertzhagen.

Another fellow British officer Richard Meinterzhagen is spotlighted along with his role as a master of military deception illustrated in his famous Haversack Trick during World War I. Declared by Prime Minister David Lloyd George as one of the most "successful brains I had met in any army," Meinertzhagen distinguished himself as military man, author, ornithologist, and, like his friend Lawrence, an extraordinary liar. Meinertzhagen's liaisons with famous and infamous characters and military operations are examined, which include, T.E. Lawrence, General Allenby, the tragic Franks Deceit, the Haversack Trick, the Zimmermann Telegram and the real reason behind the Balfour Declaration, Hitler, his obsession with Zionism, and proclivity to exaggerate his accomplishments.

Ewen Montagu's Operation Mincemeat took the art of placing false papers in the hands of the enemy to another level during World War II in what has been called The Man Who Never Was. A dead body packed with false information is used to deceive the Nazis into believing there was an Allied attack planned other than Sicily. Much of this legendary operation has been documented in several sources including Montagu's "official" book version (The Man Who Never Was) and a Hollywood film, but several facts have been left out of these versions of the story, which include the real identity of the Man Who Never Was and how he became the dead hero who told lies.

Chapter 4

Courageous Strikes Against the Axis

General Jimmy Doolittle - Leader of Doolittle's Raiders

General Knut Haukelid - Norwegian Commando -- Operation Gunnerside

Euripedes wrote that a coward turns away but a brave man's choice is danger. For Jimmy Doolittle and Knut Haukelid danger was the only choice. These are the stories of two men honored by their countries with the highest military honors for bravery during military operations against the Triple Axis that were considered impossible but completed with exceptional courage and determination.

An explication of Doolittle's Tokyo Raid is compared to Knut Haukelid's team of Norwegian commandos who successfully crippled the Nazis effort to develop the atomic bomb by sabotaging the Nazi heavy water plant at Vemork, Norway.

Doolittle's famous raid in response to the Japanese's surprise attack at Pearl Harbor has been considered as one of the most impressive military strikes in American history. Doolittle's relationships with numerous men of war are examined, which include George Marshall, President Roosevelt, and all the Raiders who survived the experience. This chapter studies the remarkable relationship between the Pearl Harbor-attack Commander Mitsui Fuchida and one of Doolittle's men Cpl. Jacob DeShazer. Also analyzed is the theory that the execution of three of Doolittle's men by the Japanese deeply affected President Roosevelt and may have been a major force in his refusal in rejecting Hirohito's offer of a conditional surrender as early as 1943.

Haukelid's role in Operation Gunnerside and the role of various other operations and men are investigated, which include atomic scientists Werner Heisenberg and Niles Bohr, MI6 Director Stewart Menzies, Leif Tronstad, the disaster of Operation Freshman, the hunt for the Nazi atomic bomb (the Alsos Mission), the unlikely OSS agent and American professional baseball player Moe Berg, and the legendary Vemork Raid itself.

Chapter 5

The Dirge of the Black Orchestra

Adolf Hitler - Nazi War Lord

Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg - Nazi War Hero, Anti-Nazi Hero, and Failed Assassin

Adolf Hitler was the target of over forty assassination attempts during his political career, but none were more dramatic than the one executed by the German aristocrat and Nazi war hero, Col. Claus von Stauffenberg . The ancestry, accomplishments, ambition, and final demise of Hitler and Stauffenberg are compared.

The lives of Hitler and the failed assassin Col. Stauffenberg are examined, as well as their relationship with the anti-Nazi groups of the Kreisau Circle and Black Orchestra. Other people and issues examined are Hitler's peculiar ancestry, The German novelist who wrote of the American genocide of Indians that inspired Hitler, Hitler's role as a German Army spy, the English novelist and scholar J.R.R. Tolkien , OSS Chief William Donovan, the Beer Hall Putsch, Landsberg prison, The Protocols of Zion, the anti-Semitic Scotsman Thomas Carlyle who was one of Hitler's favorite German historians, the Philby-Saud-Dulles link that supported the Nazi regime with Middle East oil, the inspiration Henry Ford gave Hitler, the mystical poet Stefan George's influence on Stauffenberg , the probable syphilitic infection of Hitler from a Jewish prostitute in Vienna, the Jewish clairvoyant for the Third Reich Jan Hanussen , the influential occultists (Rosenberg, Eckart , and Himmler ), the Third Reich's hand in the Balkan Holocaust, Hitler's boyhood relationship with the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, and the Wolfsshanze bombing with its horrible aftermath.

Chapter 6

The Dark Secrets of Nazi Intelligence

Admiral Wilhelm Canaris - German Military Intelligence Chief and Nazi Traitor

General Reinhard Heydrich - Final Solution Architect

The two most important and powerful figures in Nazi Intelligence held secrets about each other that shaped the course of the war. While Canaris became part of the plot to end the Nazi regime, Heydrich was the ultimate Nazi iron man who was targeted for assassination by Czech resistance fighters, though the Allies knew there would be terrible reprisals.

Though the Little Fox ( Canaris ) and Hangman Heydrich were neighbors and pretended to be friends, they both worked against each other throughout their short careers as major forces in the Third Reich's intelligence successes and failures.

Both Canaris and Heydrich had numerous relationships with key figures in the war. Their lives had profound affects on the operation of the war and its eventual end, which included the The Night of the Long Knives, Kristallnacht , the SS super spy Walter Schellenberg , the downfall and phony incrimination of anti-Stalinist Marsahl Mikhail Tukhachevsky , the Nazi brothel Salon Kitty created to eavesdrop on officers, Canaris and his treasonous relationship with the Black Orchestra, the phony attack on Poland to start World War II, the atrocious decisions made at the Wannsee conference, Heydrich's and Hitler's Jewish ancestry, the World War I Jewish German hero imprisoned in Dachau and offered freedom if he spied for the Third Reich, Kubis's and Gabcik assassination of Heydrich , the Lidice reprisal, the traitors Canaris and Kim Philby .

Chapter 7

The Assassination of JFK

Lee H. Oswald - Alleged Presidential Assassin

David Ferrie - Mercenary Mystery Man

The curious relationship between JFK's alleged assassin, the supposed left-wing Lee H. Oswald, and his Civil Air Patrol teacher, the brilliant, deviant, and right-wing David Ferrie is presented with a detailed analysis of Oswald's curious acquaintances and their affiliations with espionage, communist, and anti-communist groups. Ferrie and his role in anti-Cuban activities, the CIA, and the mafia are compared with Oswald's mysterious espionage legend. This is the most complete and detailed study of Oswald and Ferrie in JFK assassination literature.

This chapter discloses the peculiar relationships of Franz Ferdinand and President Kennedy, Gavrilo Princip and Oswald, Oswald and his father-in-law Ilya Prusakov , Oswald and the Russian born businessman George deMohrenschildt , Oswald and CIA contract agent and alleged double agent Richard Nagell , Oswald and CIA agents and mercenaries (Jerry Patrick Hemming, and David Atlee Phillips), Ferrie and Jack Martin, Ferrie and Carlos Marcello, Ferrie and Clay Shaw, Ferrie and Sergio Archacha Smith, Perry Russo and Ferrie , Clay Shaw and Permindex , Jim Garrison and Ferrie , Jim Garrison and Perry Russo, Oswald and the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, film and fiction that may have motivated Oswald, Ferrie's alleged pre-knowledge of the assassination, Guy Banister and Oswald, right-wing racist Joseph Milteer's pre-knowledge of the assassination, mind control and hypnosis, Jack Ruby and the mafia.

Also by John S. Craig

Heroes, Rogues, and Spies -- Historical Essays

207 pages / lulu.com / released April 1, 2012

Twenty-five historical essays on various subjects including the Greek-Trojan War, Alexander the Great, The Vanishing of the Place of the Muses, Medieval Crusades, The Battle of Beecher Island, The Battle of Summit Springs, The Kidder Massacre, George A. Custer, Edgar Allan Poe, The Secrets of Fatima, MK Ultra, Ali Agca, Lee Harvey Oswald, Castro, Sirhan Sirhan, James Earl Ray, Adolf Hitler, Claus von Stauffenberg, Operation Valkyrie, American Sports, Hobey Baker, Byron "Whizzer" White, Blanchard and Davis, Celebrity Spies, Mata Hari, Edith Clavell, Greta Garbo, Noel Coward, Kim Philby, Julia Child, Helen MacInnes, Moe Berg, Somerset Maugham, George S. Patton's Strange Death, James Bond, Ian Fleming, Dusko Popov, Noel Coward, Graham Greene, Kim Philby, William Stephenson, Wild Bill Donovan, Osama bin Laden, Twentieth Century Terrorism, Baader-Meinhof Gang, Ulrike Meinhof, Andres Baader, Bommi Bauman, Carlos the Jackal, Ali Hassan Salameh, Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi, Japanese Red Army, June 2 Movement, Tamil Tigers, Black September, Al Qaeda, and others.

Review by William Beck from Amazon site--

The lessons of history are various, but the first, perhaps, can be derived from the study of historical writing itself: namely, that there is less profit in grand Hegelian schemes of universal synthesis than in an atithetically Kierkegaardian attention to the analysis of individual detail; that the general depends upon the particular, the typical is subordinate to the peculiar; that though from the cosmic perspective of Walter Benjamin's Angel of History the hand of God may be manifest in the shape of events, mere mortals caught up within their flux have no such privileged vision, and in the meantime the Devil is in the details.

From this insight derives the plan of this volume of essays by John Craig [author of Peculiar Liaisons] -- who chooses, simply, to follow his whims wherever they may lead him -- and, in a series of studies
which survey the career of mankind from Alexander to Oddjob, treats topics as various as Olber's paradox, the psychedelic secrets of the Oracle at Delphi, the Plains Indian Wars, the burning of the library
of Alexandria, the origins of the flying wedge, and the influence of The Manchurian Candidate; persons as various as Aristotle, Guy of Lusignan, George Armstrong Custer, Gavrilo Princep, Dusko Popov, "Eric
Starvo Galt", Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, and the Mata Hari of Beirut; and the bizarre hidden networks of coincidence and causal connection which link the land of Mordor with The battle of the Somme, Ludwig Wittenstein with Alan Turing, Adolf Hitler with the Rothschilds, Rudolf Hess with Aleister Crowley, Graham Greene with Kim Philby, E. Howard Hunt with Lee Harvey Oswald, Jean-Paul Sartre with the Baader-Meinhof Gang, spies with movie stars, Arabs with Nazis, Ian Fleming with Umberto Eco. One may learn here that Noel Coward in his wartime career as a spy eschewed the use of encryption, claiming that his handwriting was unreadable even without the aid of invisible ink, that Dashiell Hammett in his Black Mask pulp fiction heyday wrote sentences which averaged thirteen words in length, and that it is inadvisable to attempt to circumsize oneself with a pair of nail clippers; who almost whacked Werner Heisenberg,
who may have whacked General Patton, and who tried to whack the Pope; the true author of The Concologist's First Book, or A System of Testaceous Morphology, Glenn Davis' time in the hundred yard dash; the identity of the real Miss Moneypenny and the fate of Martin Bormann; and even who that guy was Anthony Hopkins was supposed to be playing in Oliver Stone's version of the life of Alexander.

The results are invariably fascinating, unfailingly entertaining, and invariably illuminating; and are less testimony to the kind of narrative unity Spengler or Toynbee imagined they could find in the fabric of history than to the unending diversity of human folly -- and, of course, the inexhaustible curiosity of Mr. Craig, whose energy, mastery of historical detail, and meticulous preparation and research are in this work everywhere on display.

Links to sales for Amazon / iBook / Nook

http://www.amazon.com/Heroes-Rogues-Spies-John-Craig/dp/1105584585/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336957952&sr=8-1

http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/heroes-rogues-and-spies/id521822600?mt=11

http://www.lulu.com/shop/john-craig/heroes-rogues-and-spies/paperback/product-20079607.html