2024 the best spy agency in the world review

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The New York Times Bestseller by the Author of A Man Called IntrepidIdeal for fans of Nancy Wake, Virginia Hall, The Last Goodnight by Howard Blum, The Woman Who Smashed Codes, The Wolves at the Door by Judith Pearson, and similar worksShares the story of Vera Atkins, legendary spy and holder of the Legion of HonorWritten by William Stevenson, the only person whom she trusted to write her biography
She was stunning. She was ruthless. She was brilliant and had a will of iron. Born Vera Maria Rosenberg in Bucharest, she became Vera Atkins. William Stphenson, the spymaster who would later be known as “Intrepid”, recruited her when she was twenty-three. Vera spent most of the 1930s running too many dangerous espionage missions to count. When war was declared in 1939, her many skills made her one of the leaders of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a covert intelligence agency formed by, and reporting to, Winston Churchill. She trained and recruited hundreds of agents, including dozens of women. Their job was to seamlessly penetrate deep behind the enemy lines. 

As General Dwight D. Eisenhower said, the fantastic exploits and extraordinary courage of the SOE agents and the French Resistance fighters “shortened the war by many months.”They are celebrated, as they should be. But Vera Atkins’s central role has been hidden until after she died; William Stevenson promised to wait and publish her story posthumously. Now, Vera Atkins can be celebrated and known for the hero she was: the woman whose beauty, intelligence, and unwavering dedication proved key in turning the tide of World War II.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005V2EEL8
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Arcade; 1st edition (October 11, 2011)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 11, 2011
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3706 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 402 pages
Reviewer: Joseph J. Hines
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A book that will fill you with admiration and dread
Review: Excellent. This book displays, better than most of the dozens I have read, the complexity and importance of information, espionage, counter-espionage, spreading false information and other deceptions. This deadly game of matching wits with the enemy in a war that will decide the fate of the world is as disturbing as it is fascinating.More disturbing are the horrors of war- torture of agents, retribution against collaborators- is sickening and shows a side of Western civilization we prefer to pretend never existed.The impact of underground activities like sabotage cannot be understated s to their importance. For example, a thousand trains were disrupted trying to carry German troops to Normandy to push the allies back into the sea. Germany might well have prevailed had these fighters made it to the fragile beachheads.I have always admired the England for its tenacity and fighting spirit that led the world against Nazi Germany. However, when reading of the personal ambition, palace intrigue, politics and anti-Jewish prejudices, one wonders how a single battle was won by the British.The book also brings to light the many crucial contributions of other European nations, especially the Polish. The description of Polish pilots training British pilots new, modern tactics to fight the Luftwaffe is enlightening.When you finally close this book you will be filled with admiration for Vera Rosenberg, amazed by her resolve, strength and intellect and grieved by the crushing weight of the burdens she bore. Equally, or at least in my experience, you will fear the horrors of war, and fear more the consequences of weakness and appeasement that set the stage for war.

Reviewer: maidindetroit
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Vera Atkins is All That And More
Review: How can you not fall totally in love with Vera Atkins? What an outstanding heroic figure -- and so little has ever been known about her role in the second World War. Yet this book brings her to life with so much arresting detail. Very grateful to the author for doing such due diligence in making this book happen and filling it with so much information about Vera & her heroism. My only reason for marking it at 4 stars is because the details, as written, can be overwhelming and confusing and needed more of a gifted editor's touch. I forgive that thought because it just forced me to slow down and absorb the material even more deeply. Love you forever, Vera...thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you did...

Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Absolutely Stunning!
Review: I found this book in a thrift s hop for 50 cents. I didn't have time to read it so I gave it to my uncle, who is a 26 year U,S. Marine veteran with lots of recon experience. He liked it so well that he read it twice. He said it was one of the most personal discipussions of espionage that he ever read.Finally, I has time to read it for myself and was shocked. I have read extensively about World War 2, but there are so many things revealed in this book that I had never read before. This book is a must read for anyone interested in WW2. Plus, there are references available in the notes in the Notes to this book so more information should be available for those interested. It is sad that apparently the British government decided to destroy much of the SOE records. The U.S. is probably not much better.Anyway, I highly recommend this book for t he WW2 history enthusiast. One of the most shocking tidbits that both my uncle and I recognized was statistically how much more efficient the spy network and the resistance were in hampering and/or destroying Nazi resources than the Allied military. No wonder the military - industrial complex wants to keep espionage a secret; otherwise they would be fired by the taxpayers!I hope those who pickup this book enjoy it as much as my uncle and I did. In fact, I may read this book a second time as well.Btw, pay attention to who wrote this book. He was the one they called, "Intrepid".

Reviewer: PierrePetit
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Entertaining but challenging
Review: I would say that, while this book is well written, insightful, and even entertaining in certain passages, it is also quite challenging to get through because each paragraph contains so much detailed information. Unless you’re familiar with the overall period, you may well find your journey through all the names a most challenging one. Be forewarned.

Reviewer: Jim Byrne
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: More Than Intrigue
Review: Vera represents how how what is necessary appears on the scene without notice to fulfill a necessity that no one even knows what is needed!

Reviewer: M. L. Cockerill
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Zard review of "Spymistress"
Review: I enjoyed this book even though it was a tough read. It was like reading Churchill's books on WWII. You simply cannot try to remember all of the names and dates. You read to catch the flow of events. Churchill's books take you inside WWII at the top level. Spymistress takes you in at the bottom level and an invisible one at that. Vera was a brave, fascinating and determined women. The books starts with post WWI and takes you through the 30's and 40's and then events that happened after the was that tie the story up into an end.You meet the brave in this book. They are unknown or forgotten or cannot be talked about because of security. And if they were captured they were lucky if they were sent to a prison camp but not a Dachau type of camp. Mostly they were tortured and then killed or shipped off to be killed.Sometime Vera's (The Spymistress) worst enemies were the people she was fighting for, the British and the French. You would think they were the mortal enemies and not Germany. What a lonely job.This is the third type of war story. You have the famous story tellers like Winston Churchill and then you have the stores told by the combat fighters (army, navy, air force, etc.) and then you have the spies. They cannot even tell their story. Vera's story was not told until after her death based on her request. This is another view of WWII and there is no glory here. Just a lot of brave people.

Reviewer: Gloria Mitchell
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent Service
Review: I received the book immediately after ofdering but have not yet had time to read it. IThe subject is one I am sure I will deeply enjoy.

Reviewer: Patricia Lawson
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Little, if anything, was known about this amazingly brave, intelligent woman and those she recruited. A lot of detail in the book but a fascinating read about how "intelligence" worked. Sadly, far too many lost their lives to secure the freedom we now enjoy.

Reviewer: Kindle Customer Julie David
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Of all war and spy books i have read, none was as informative and realistic as this one. I am a great reader of world history, including espionage through the ages, most specifically during the second world war, Spymistress is superb, hard to put down. I am 80 yrs. old, and still would like to recommend this book to the young University students the true real facts of the cause of the ll WW and the fearless dedicated heros instrumental to our victory. We, who are now old, will never forget their sacrifice and love for our country. Thank you, Mr. William Stevenson, may God bless you.Julie David

Reviewer: Maureen Jaeche
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: What an incredible read. Almost, but not quite unputdownable, for which I was thankful. So many brave women and men performing mind bogglingly dangerous tasks. Some of the attitudes of others towards a determined, intelligent woman are inexplicable, real old boys club at work. It is a highly recommended read for those interested in the clandestine, daring, brave efforts of the few to save the many. Thank God this woman was there to direct operations of the SIS. One of the best WWll biographies/stories I have read, and I have read many.

Reviewer: PAD
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This is a book about a true Spymaster/handler. This is possibly the real Miss Moneypenny which Ian Fleming used in his Bond Novels! However she was far more than that she was in charge of agents and she did try to look after them. Is a good read and shows that at times due to her foreign status she could not make waves with her incompetent boss.

Reviewer: JAG
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Dedicated historians of the subject matter hate this book, and it is with good reason. Doing just a little research reveals that the author has been called out several times for playing fast and loose with the truth on other projects.Having said all that - I still think this is a great book!It highlights some very important details about the weird treatment of the Jews by supposedly friendly governments during the war. A lot of that has been glossed over today, and likely forms the basis for why so many war records remain classified. Checking up on the names and events mentioned in the book shows they are factual. The dialogue and personal colouring provided by the author, although dubiously footnoted - do help bring the history alive in the same way W.E.B. Griffin stories do. Alternatively, given Stevenson's previous treatment of Jewish storytelling (Entebbe) and his focus on the Jewish angle in this book - one must wonder if maybe he DID have someone who was close to the events described whispering in his ear - likely someone from the Jewish community who was close to the events described. If that was so, it remains unknown why he felt the need to write it in the form he did. Stylistically, there is an annoying change in the writers voice from the passive to include himself as "me" in chapter 26, and again in the last few pages of the book.All in all - I highly recommend this book! Despite its questionable historic pedigree, it is a great read about a remarkable woman working for a spy agency under incredible circumstances.