Books

German Spy, Josef Jakobs breaks into the world of Fiction

Josef Jakobs has broken into the world of fiction. Susan Elia MacNeal, an American novelist, has written a mystery series that features heroine Maggie Hope. Maggie swirls through the espionage corners of Britain. In His Majesty’s Hope, Maggie takes on an undercover mission behind enemy lines in Germany. While Maggie is tip-toeing through the minefield […]

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Book Review – Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in and around the Fens – Glenda Goulden – 2008

The Book Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in and around the Fens; Glenda Goulden; Wharncliffe Books, Barnsley, South Yorkshire. 2008. Review Every once in a while, I come across a “true crime” book that makes me shudder, not because of the gory crime scenes but because of the poor research. This is one such book.

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Book Review – Operation Sealion – Leo McKinstry – 2014

The Book Operation Sealion: How Britain Crushed the German War Machine’s Dreams of Invasion in 1940; Leo McKinstry; John Murray, London. 2014. Summary In the summer and fall of 1940, England was faced with the very real threat of a German invasion. Pushed off of the Continent by the German Army, the Allied forces were

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Book Review – Cruel Britannia: A Secret History of Torture (2012)

The Book Cruel Britannia: A Secret History of Torture. Ian Cobain. Portobello Books, London. 2012. Summary Since the tragedy of 9/11, there has been much in the news about the war on terror, and the questionable interrogation methods used by the United States of America. While many point fingers at the United States, Great Britain

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Book Review – Execution: A History of Capital Punishment in Britain – Simon Webb (2012)

The Book Execution: A History of Capital Punishment in Britain. Simon Webb. The History Press. Stroud, Gloucestershire. 2012. Summary [Disclaimer – I did not read the entire book, only the sections on Josef Jakobs and Karel Richter] The author of this book takes a look at the various methods of execution used throughout Britain’s history.

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Book Review – Fighting to Lose: How the German Secret Intelligence Service helped the Allies win the Second World War – John Bryden (2014)

The Book Fighting to Lose: How the German Secret Intelligence Service helped the Allies win the Second World War. John Bryden. Dundurn. 2014. Summary There have been many books written about the triumph of the British double-cross system run by MI5 during World War II. The inept German Abwehr (German Secret Intelligence Service) sent poorly

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Book Review – In the Highest Degree Odious: Detention without Trial in Wartime Britain – A.W. Brian Simpson (1984)

The Book In the Highest Degree Odious: Detention without Trial in Wartime Britain. A.W. Simpson. Clarendon Press. 1984. Review This book was riveting and eye-opening. It is perhaps best encapsulated by a quote from Churchill, part of which forms the title of the book: The Power of the Executive to cast a man into prison

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Book Review – Unternehmen Seelöwe [Operation Sealion] – Monika Siedentopf (2014)

The Book Unternehmen Seelöwe: Widerstand im deutschen Geheimdienst [Operation Sealion: Resistance in the German Intelligence Service]. Monika Siedentopf. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, München, 2014. Review In the last year I have read several English-language books which have suggested that during World War 2, the German Intelligence Service (Abwehr), far from being stupid and incompetent, actively undermined

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Book Review – Banged Up: Doing Time in Britain’s Toughest Jails by David Leslie (2014)

The Book Banged Up: Doing Time in Britain’s Toughest Jails. David Leslie. Black & White Publishing, 2014. Review According to the publisher’s website, David Leslie “was a senior journalist with the News of the World for over forty years, latterly as Scottish Crime Editor. He is the author of several books including Crimelord, the story

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Book Review – Camp 020 by Col Robin Stephens, editted by Oliver Hoare

The Book Camp 020: MI5 and the Nazi Spies, Lt Col. R.W.G. Stephens, introduced and edited by Oliver Hoare, Public Record Office, 2000. Review This book might not be what you would expect, in that it is not a “book” per se. In the 1990s, MI5 declassified a document entitled A Digest of Ham written

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