Books About Commando/Special Forces/Unconventional War/Intelligence
| See also "By Any Means Necessary" in Air Force and Military Aviation. |
| The Book of Honor: Covert Lives and Classified Deaths at the CIA by Ted Gup. Paperback: 432 pages, Anchor Books (May 1, 2001). Gup is an investigative reporter who shows his skills in this book by revealing the life stories of three dozen CIA men and women who died in the line of duty, often in obscure corners of the world. These never-before-disclosed facts are inspiring as lessons in the dedication of these patriots and the price of freedom and liberty, while also often troubling as revelations of ill conceived operations and excessive secrecy that increased the pain of operatives' families. The detailed biographies of these CIA officers are embedded in a wide ranging history of the CIA and its OSS roots. Gup published the book despite objections by the CIA -- much of the material is still classified -- another example of the tension between official secrecy and the value these stories to the public. |
| Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage by Sherry Sontag, Christopher Drew, Annette Lawrence Drew. Paperback: 544 pages, HarperTorch (October 6, 1999). This is the most detailed description available of the U.S. submarine espionage operations against the U.S.S.R. during the Cold War and the Soviet response. |
| Official Assassin : Winston Churchill's SAS Hit Team by Peter Mason. Engrossing first person account with operational details of the author's years as a British agent. Starting in the closing months of WW II, tracking down Nazi war criminals, and continuing into the cold war and the British struggle with the IRA. |
| Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs by Patrick K. O'Donnell. 384 pages. (March 2004) No longer satisfied with gentlemanly intelligence gathering, with the advent of WWII the United States changed its espionage policy and opted for more daring tactics like decoding secret messages and detonating exploding cigars. Under the guidance of decorated WWI hero William "Wild Bill" Donovan, the Office of Special Services, the CIA’s predecessor, assembled a motley assortment of agents who set the stage for the Allied armies’ most important missions, like the invasion of North Africa and the storming of Normandy. Through first person narratives from a slew of OSS operatives, O’Donnell explores the thrilling world of spying before satellites and computer hacking boxed agents into cubicles. The WWII OSS hauled hardened criminals out of jail to burgle enemy embassies and culled spies from the Free French who fled to England and North Africa. The sophisticated seductress "Cynthia" used her sex appeal to gather ciphers for breaking Polish, Italian and Vichy codes from high-ranking military men. Elsewhere, Virginia Hall supplied the French Resistance with arms and continually sabotaged the Gestapo while limping with a wooden-leg. The book also chronicles psychological operations by the Allied "Sauerkraut agents" who demoralized German troops by spreading rumors of defeat, disease and desperation. The chapter on the OSS’ covert weapons, like exploding baseballs and umbrella pistols, vividly recalls 007’s pre-mission encounters with "Q." |
| Operation Rollback: America's Secret War Behind The Iron Curtain by Peter Grose. At the end of WW II the US and its allies faced the unprecedented task of organizing intelligence operations behind the new Iron Curtain. This detailed book provides careful accounts of the overall strategic plan, ultimately an overreaching failure, and the many tactical successes and operational flops during the early stages of the Cold War. |
| Air Commando : Fifty Years of the USAF Air Commando and Special Operations Forces, 1944-1994 by Philip D. Chinnery, Harry C. Aderholt. Reprint Edition. Published by St Martins Mass Market Paper, January 1997 |
| Jungle Snafus ... and Remedies by Cresson H. Kearny, Major of the Infantry, United States Army, Ret. Major Cresson's had years of service as the first and only Jungle Experiments Officer in the Panama Mobile Force or in any other organization. That service began eight months before Pearl Harbor, and included direct involvement in the development and adoption of many of the specialized items used by Americans in jungles in World War II and in the Vietnam War. In the book he covers useful equipment needed to live, work, and fight in the jungles of the world based on his personal experiences of the testing and procurement difficulties as well as makes specific recommendations for the most useful and lifesaving items every soldier should have. |
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