William Samuel Stephenson Editor (1 results)
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- First Edition
Seller: Chris Fessler, Bookseller, Howell, MI, U.S.A.Chris Fessler, Bookseller
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£ 114.02
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blue & blue hardbound 8vo. 8º (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. very fine cond. mint cond. looks new. like new. as new. binding square & tight. covers clean. edges clean. contents free of markings. price clipped dustwrapper in fine cond. not worn or torn. nice clean copy. no library markings or store… stamps, no stickers or bookplates, no names, no inking , no underlining, no remainder markings etc ~. first edition. first printing ( # 1 in # line). xxxvi+536p. glossary. index. world history. american history. world war ii. conspiracy theory. espionage. secret societies. covert operations. ~In 1940, Winston Churchill dispatched a Canadian industrialist to New York with an extraordinary mission in a neutral country: to set up a secret spy network across both North and South America to cripple and confound Nazi propaganda and to fan the flames of prowar sentiment. Sir William Stephenson (of A Man Called Intrepid fame) set up shop in Rockefeller Center to build a vast intelligence network ~ British Security Coordination (BSC) ~ the full story of which is now told for the first time. Stephenson's mission came at a time when the United States was still deeply influenced by isolationism. Stephenson's people soon launched an astonishing bagful of dirty tricks ~ they unmasked Axis spies, planted propaganda in American newspapers, and slipped beautiful female spies into the Vichy and Italian embassies in Washington to abscond with the naval ciphers of the two Nazi allies. Stephenson's agents also infiltrated American labor unions, harassed their political enemies in Congress, and fed British propaganda and false rumors to such prominent journalists as Walter Winchel and Drew Pearson who were happy to give them wide circulation. Much of this took place before the U.S. had entered the war, when the country was still neutral territory and British spying was illegal. But President Roosevelt winked at the law, and FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover collaborated as well, though reluctantly. After Pearl Harbor Stephenson and the British spies helped William J. Donovan set up the OSS which eventually became the foundation for the CIA. In 1945, Stephenson ordered three of his subordinates ~ Gilbert Highet, Tom Hill and Roald Dahl ~ to prepare an official report of the network's activities, of which fewer than ten copies survived all these years in utmost secrecy. Though there have been many rumors over the years of the existence of the report, this is the first time it has been made public in its complete and unexpurgated form.
