Overview

From one of the foremost historians of the period and the acclaimed author of Inferno and Catastrophe: 1914, The Secret War is a sweeping examination of one of the most important yet underexplored aspects of World War II--intelligence--showing how espionage successes and failures by the United States, Britain, Russia, Germany, and Japan influenced the course of the war and its final outcome. Spies, codes, and guerrillas played unprecedentedly critical roles in the Second World War, exploited by every nation in the struggle to gain secret knowledge of its foes, and to sow havoc behind the fronts. In The Secret War, Max Hastings presents a worldwide cast of characters and some extraordinary sagas of intelligence and resistance, to create a new perspective on the greatest conflict in history.

Full Product Details

9781504732703

Table of Contents

Reviews

""A marvelous book--smart, carefully and exhaustively researched, and highly informative. Even those exceptionally knowledgeable about World War II will find it extremely valuable. It is compelling and fascinating reading."" -- ""Christian Science Monitor"" ""A superb survey of an always interesting aspect of warfare."" -- ""Booklist"" ""A total thriller with a full cast of killers, swashbucklers, and beautiful adventuresses. The best history of war intelligence yet."" -- ""Simon Sebag Montefiore, New York Times bestsellling author "" ""Brilliantly depicts the byzantine world of intelligence agencies, with dry humor and perception."" -- ""New York Review of Books"" ""Embodies a herculean research effort down to the minutest detail. Fear not. In spite of its heft, this tome is a real page turner...These chapters blend first-rate reportage, finely chiseled portraits, and in-depth research. They brim with true tales of sacrifice and petty-mindedness, miraculous breakthroughs and cynical betrayal."" -- ""New York Times Book Review"" ""Hastings returns to World War II with the usual entirely satisfying results. There are plenty of excellent accounts of the war's espionage, codebreaking, and secret operations...A masterful account of wartime skulduggery that has relevance still today."" -- ""Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"" ""Narrator Steven Crossley's British accent gives his narration a winsome and academic-sounding quality...The production is long and will take a lot of stamina from the listener but will be worth it for those who persevere. That Crossley was able to make it to the end of this with such consistency and strength of voice is a feat in itself."" -- ""AudioFile"" ""Provides readers with a thorough understanding of how intelligence operated during the conflict...Recommended."" -- ""Library Journal""

Author Information

Max Hastings is the author of twenty-eight books, most about conflict, and between 1986 and 2002 served as editor in chief of the Daily Telegraph, then as edi-tor of the Evening Standard. He has won many prizes, for both his journalism and his books, the most recent of which are the bestsellers Vietnam, The Secret War, Catastrophe, and All Hell Let Loose. Knighted in 2002, Hastings is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, an Honorary Fellow of King's College London, and a Bloomberg Opinion colum-nist. He has two grown children, Charlotte and Harry, and lives with his wife, Penny, in West Berkshire, where they garden enthusiastically. Steven Crossley, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, has built a career on both sides of the Atlantic as an actor and audiobook narrator, for which he has won more than a dozen AudioFile Earphones Awards and been a nominee for the prestigious Audie Award. He is a member of the internationally renowned theater company Complicite and has appeared in numerous theater, television, film, and radio dramas.

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