Dark Invasion: 1915: Germany's Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America - Softcover

Blum, Howard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062307568 ISBN 13: 9780062307569

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2015

Synopsis

[ Dark Invasion: 1915: Germany's Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America By ( Author ) Feb-2015 Paperback

About this title

Review:

"Howard Blum's riveting and perturbing Dark Invasion...is well-researched and written, and it maintains a fairly high level of suspense, which is difficult to bring off in a book about historical events."--Wall Street Journal

"Dark Invasion...will move you to the edge of your seat with the facts alone, but the author's suspenseful detective-mystery narrative is what keeps you there."--USA Today

"Dark Invasion is a must-read for lovers of suspense and anyone who wants to understand how the basis of our homeland security system was born."--Tom Reiss, New York Times bestselling author of The Black Count and The Orientalist

"History is all about retelling tales that need telling. In Dark Invasion, Howard Blum has rescued a batch of compelling ones and woven them into grim, fascinating remembrance."--Dallas Morning News

"Blum briefs us on early homeland security with tales of German terrorists, including military officers, a germ-warfare expert, a Harvard prof and a document forger."--New York Post, "Required Reading"

"a spy thriller of the first order....Dark Invasion is another page-turner that is compelling.... [Blum] has a remarkable talent for both uncovering history's most inexplicably forgotten stories...and for writing non-fiction paced like a big-budget thriller."--Daily Beast

"Compelling ... a grim, fascinating remembrance."--Columbus Dispatch

"Blum's narrative of America's first exercise in homeland security is a worthwhile page-turner, combining the best features of a police procedural and a spy novel with a firm base in verifiable events."--Publishers Weekly

"A suspense-filled tale, Dark Invasion uncovers a fascinating corner of history when courageous New York City police officers fought insurmountable odds to defend America against sophisticated German saboteurs at the start of World War I."--Ronald Kessler, author of The Secrets of the FBI and In the President's Secret Service

"In his gripping and expertly crafted narrative, Blum demonstrates that the best stories are true. Told in the great tradition of spy thrillers, Dark Invasion is the startling tale of German secret agents operating in the United States."--Scott Miller, author of The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century

From the Back Cover:

In the summer of 1914, New York City Police captain Tom Tunney is preoccupied by Manhattan's raging gang rivalries and has little idea that, halfway around the world, a much more ominous threat to the city is brewing. As Germany teeters on the brink of war, its ambassador to the United States is given instructions to find and finance a team of undercover saboteurs who can bring America to its knees before it has a chance to enter the conflict on the side of the Allies.

Overwhelmed and undermatched, Tunney's small squad of cops was the David to Germany's Goliath, the operatives of which included military officers, a germ warfare expert, a gifted Harvard professor, a bomb technician, and a document forger. As explosions leveled munitions plants and destroyed cargo ships, particularly in and around New York City, panicked officials talked about rogue activists and anarchists--but it was Tunney who suspected that these incidents were part of something bigger and became determined to bring down the culprits.

Through meticulous research--and enhanced by more than fifty images sourced from global archives--Blum deftly reconstructs an enthralling, vividly detailed saga of subterfuge, bravery, and the birth of Homeland Security.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0062307568
• ISBN 13: 9780062307569
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 496