Article Review – The Guardian Another great article came out on August 28, 2016 via The Guardian. This one was written by Ian Cobain, author of Cruel Britannia. The Guardian Article is entitled Secrecy and firing squads: Britain’s ruthless war on Nazi spies. The article begins with the story of the first four spies who […]
The Book A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City; Anonymous; Metropolitan Books, 2005. Summary In April 1945, the author, a female journalist living in Berlin, began to keep a daily diary as her city collapsed around her. The Russians arrived a few days later and the author writes in detail about the
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Wander through the bookstore at the Imperial War Museum and you’re likely to spy a book entitled Horrible Histories – Spies. It’s a children’s book designed to awaken young minds to the horrible history of World War 2 espionage. It does a rather admirable job. The book is full of all sorts of interesting stories
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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog about German spymaster Nikolaus Ritter and his American wife, Mary Aurora Evans. I based the blog on information I had dug up on Ritter as well as several book reviews on Aurora’s biography (written by her daughter, Katharine (Ritter) Wallace). The biography sounded quite fascinating and
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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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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.
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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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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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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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