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The Irregulars
- Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
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Publisher's summary
Among them were writers Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming, and the flamboyant Canadian industrialist turned professional saboteur William Stephenson, known by the code name "Intrepid", upon whom Fleming would later base his fictional M16 agent James Bond. Richly detailed and carefully researched, Conant's narrative uses never-before-seen wartime letters, diaries and interviews to create a fascinating, lively account of deceit, double dealing and moral ambiguity - all in the name of victory.
Critic reviews
"Reads like a classic spy novel....With this excellent history of personalities and politics during World War II, Conant adds successfully to her previous books that have made vivid the war's background players. Highly recommended." ( Library Journal)
"Simon Prebble, fastidiously pukka in his accent, has a fine 'top-secret' voice, shaded with condescension and understatedly urgent. Coming from him, the expression 'rumor mill' sounds especially insidious, and the deeds he describes - 'eavesdropping and peering over people's shoulders,' forgery, political subversion and general backstabbing - seem wonderfully dastardly." ( Washington Post Book World)
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The fascinating, improbable true story of Maxwell Knight - the great MI5 spymaster and inspiration for the James Bond character M. Maxwell Knight was perhaps the greatest spymaster in history. He did more than anyone in his era to combat the rising threat of fascism in Britain during World War II, in spite of his own history inside this movement. He was also truly eccentric - a thrice-married jazz aficionado who kept a menagerie of exotic pets - and almost totally unqualified for espionage. Yet he had a gift for turning practically anyone into a fearless secret agent.
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Outstanding in every way!
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By: Henry Hemming
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A Spy Among Friends
- Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal
- By: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Who was Kim Philby? Those closest to him—like his fellow MI6 officer and best friend since childhood, Nicholas Elliot, and the CIA’s head of counterintelligence, James Jesus Angleton—knew him as a loyal confidant and an unshakeable patriot. Philby was a brilliant and charming man who rose to head Britain’s counterintelligence against the Soviet Union. Together with Elliott and Angleton he stood on the front lines of the Cold War, holding Communism at bay. But he was secretly betraying them both: He was working for the Russians the entire time.
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The narrator is incorrectly identified.
- By Greenlake DD on 07-30-14
By: Ben Macintyre
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The Hawk and the Dove
- Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War
- By: Nicholas Thompson
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
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Overall
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Only two Americans held positions of great influence throughout the Cold War; ironically, they were the chief advocates for the opposing strategies for winning---and surviving---that harrowing conflict. Both men came to power during World War II, reached their professional peaks during the Cold War's most frightening moments, and fought epic political battles that spanned decades.
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Two outstanding people in the US Government
- By Nina Donnard on 11-05-09
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Kissinger
- A Biography
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By the time Henry Kissinger was made secretary of state in 1973, he had become, according to a Gallup poll, the most admired person in America and one of the most unlikely celebrities ever to capture the world’s imagination. Yet Kissinger was also reviled by large segments of the American public, ranging from liberal intellectuals to conservative activists. Kissinger explores the relationship between this complex man's personality and the foreign policy he pursued.
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A dissapointment
- By Mike From Mesa on 12-16-13
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The Accidental President
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The dramatic, pulse-pounding story of Harry Truman's first four months in office, when this unlikely president had to take on Germany, Japan, Stalin, and the atomic bomb, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
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Exceptional
- By Jean on 11-14-17
By: A. J. Baime
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Inga
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In addition to her romance with Kennedy, Arvad married four times - including to an Egyptian prince, the brilliant filmmaker Paul Fejos, and the famed cowboy movie star Tim McCoy. She had affairs with Wall Street financier Bernard Baruch, the noted surgeon Dr. William Cahan, and Winston Churchill's right hand man, Baron Robert Boothby. But by all accounts her admirers among the European and American elite loved Inga not for her physical beauty, but for her joie de vivre.
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Excellent Kennedy Read
- By James P. Barraza on 04-14-17
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Going Home to Glory
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After President Dwight D. Eisenhower left office in 1961, he retired to a farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Living next door was his teenage grandson, David; they would be neighbors for the rest of the decade. Based on personal stories, letters, diaries, and the reminiscences of Eisenhower’s closest friends, Going Home to Glory is both an intimate chronicle of the elder statesman’s final years and a coming of age story.
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Wow - Living History - Right Before Our Eyes
- By Amazon Customer on 12-16-11
By: David Eisenhower, and others
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Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy
- Ernest Hemingway's Secret Adventures, 1935-1961
- By: Nicholas Reynolds
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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While he was the curator of the CIA Museum, Nicholas Reynolds, a longtime military intelligence expert, began to discover tantalizing clues that suggested Ernest Hemingway's involvement in the Second World War was much more complex and dangerous than has been previously understood. Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy brings to light for the first time this riveting secret side of Hemingway's life - when he worked closely with both the American OSS and the Soviet NKVD to defeat Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.
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So entertaining you'd think it was fiction
- By Austin on 03-16-17
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Truman
- By: David McCullough
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Hailed by critics as an American masterpiece, David McCullough's sweeping biography of Harry S. Truman captured the heart of the nation. The life and times of the 33rd president of the United States, Truman provides a deeply moving look at an extraordinary, singular American.
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That Mousy Little Man From Missouri Revisited
- By Sara on 07-23-15
By: David McCullough
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Ike and Dick
- Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage
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- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
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Overall
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Richard Nixon was a young Navy officer when he first saw Dwight D. Eisenhower through a storm of tickertape as Manhattan celebrated the end of the war in Europe. Seven years later, Nixon was Eisenhower's running mate on the Republican presidential ticket-the beginning of a political and personal relationship that lasted for nearly twenty years. Despite a gulf that separated them by age and temperament, their association evolved into a collaboration that helped to shape the nation's political ideology.
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He's against NIxon
- By James A. Bretney on 01-20-14
By: Jeffrey Frank
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A Thoroughly Feminist Review of Ancient Egypt
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Robert Oppenheimer
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Robert Oppenheimer was among the most brilliant and divisive of men. As head of the Los Alamos Laboratory, he oversaw the successful effort to beat the Nazis in the race to develop the first atomic bomb – a breakthrough that was to have eternal ramifications for mankind and that made Oppenheimer the “Father of the Atomic Bomb.” But with his actions leading up to that great achievement, he also set himself on a dangerous collision course with Senator Joseph McCarthy and his witch-hunters. In Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center, Ray Monk, author of peerless biographies of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Bertrand Russell, goes deeper than any previous biographer in the quest to solve the enigma of Oppenheimer’s motivations and his complex personality.
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A comprehensive biography
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What listeners say about The Irregulars
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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- Sara
- 10-03-14
Spying in Washington
I have to admit that I had high hopes and expected more from this book. Parts were interesting but a good bit of it lagged, dragged and droned on too long. Heavy on the gossip and light on the facts for my taste. Roald Dahl was a busy man--what with cook books, all his children's books and spying to boot. Sorry to say that I just can't recommend this book.
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25 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Dale
- 02-28-11
Surprising
I downloaded this book on a whim. It was on sale and I've been listening to lots of WWII history and wanted something a bit different. In addition, I've read a lot of Dahl and own most of his children's books. The material is engrossing and the narrator is quite good. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because there is a middle section of the book where the story necessarily goes away from Dahl only to come back to him later that is somewhat confusing in audiobook format. The names and dates can come fast and furious and be a little overwhelming at times. In the end, however, it was a fascinating story and is told well by both author and reader.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- English teacher
- 06-07-09
Witty,entertaining, real spies
This piece definitely gave me the most intimate and realistic feel for WWII espionage. Far from the Hollywood version, but a believable and honest vision of Britain's desparate efforts for American support in their fight against Hitler.
The narration is superb. One of the best I have heard since listening to "Portrait of a Lady". Simon Pebble is brilliant in conveying that wonderful caustic but satirical sense of humour that so British. A great listen.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Linda
- 06-16-09
interesting
I learned a lot about about activities connected with WWII -- British spys in the Americas, Vice President Wallace, and Washington DC society. I had no idea that children's book writer Dahl had been a British spy in the US! It was definitely worth reading. But, the book was not linear and would jump back and forth. I prefer my non-fiction to be chronological.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Barnabasdaughter
- 12-17-09
Fascinating stuff
This is a remarkable book. The reading is "transparent", I didn't notice anything wrong at all. The book is fascinating, If you know WWII era history fairly well, you'll find all sort of people you perhaps didn't expect, for example Lyndon Johnson and Ian Flemming. I didn't even know how well I knew the works of Roald Dahl, in particular. I've listened to it a couple of times, and enjoyed it on the second listening.
My main complaint is that not enough of the darker "undercover" aspect of the history is revealed. Perhaps later more information will be revealed.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Anne A. Kennedy
- 03-05-09
Fascinating, complicated
As the child of a former OSS officer and CIA officer, I found this glimpse into British covert operations in the war-time US fascinating. There are so many threads to this story that it can be easy to lose track of who's who, however. I really enjoyed the portrait of Texas newspaper magnate, Charles Marsh, an intensely interesting character who should have his own biography. He plays a larger role in Dahl's life than many of the other names you will see in reviews (ex: Ian Fleming,Claire Booth Luce, etc.). The "what happened next" section is somewhat truncated, as it should be. I suspect that for Dahl and the others involved in the BSC, it was difficult to create a second act for their lives.
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5 people found this helpful
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Story
- Robert
- 10-31-13
Interesting anecdotes, not enough story
There's very little narrative about the British spy ring and their actual spying activities and lots of gossipy anecdotes about wartime Washington. It doesn't really deliver on the premise.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Sandra
- 01-05-09
Unique Aspect of the War at Home
This is a concise telling of a rather unknown entity that operated in the US beginning in the early years of the war. Many little interesting tidbits of history. A little too much focus on Wallace, FDR's vice president and not enough on the daily workings of the unit. The author covers a lot of territory and you are left wanting more depth in some areas. Fun and easy listen and a new perspective on Britin, our "friend"
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4 people found this helpful
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- Carolyn
- 12-17-08
Thoroughly Enjoyable!
This book was engrossing, educational and entertaining. I learned so much about the relations between Britain and the US during WWII, the inner workings of the White House, and the fascinating persona of Roald Dahl. He was an intriguing, mulit-dimensional person who lived a storybook life as he was writing his own fiction. The references to Ian Flemming and LBJ were interesting as well.
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- William
- 02-09-12
Not exactly a spy story
From the description I expected this to be a spy story, and while there was a good bit of cloak and dagger stuff, it's really more about American politics and high society shenanigans from about 1940 to 1945. Though I have little interest in political history I stuck with this book and was glad I did.
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3 people found this helpful