[.ca] Espionage: The Greatest Spy Operations of the Twentieth ... (ISBN 0471161578)

Very Good Book:
Very well written. The pages fly by. Gives breezy summaries of some of the leading espionage capers in modern times. It was a joy to read.

I Spy:
This book is basically a series of short stories dealing with major spy operations, mostly involving World War II. The stories are interesting and well written but there is a certain similarity and synergism to the stories that does not come out well in this format. Also, the author gives compelling evidence that Amelia Earhart was on an espionage mission when she disappeared but the story leaves you wanting more. I would use this book as an introduction to this genre and if you are interested there are a number of novels dealing with the individual stories. A number of books have been written about the Walker spy ring as well as other spy operations.

Great book on espionage/ history/ mystery:
I have read a number of books dealing with some of the same cases Volkman describes. Volkman is not only easy to read, but also does a great job presenting the facts of the case, the milieu of each case, and how each case affected history. He describes, somewhat, the mindset of espionage officers who sometimes prefer quantity over quality, and tradecraft and history as incidental to the cases. He includes some photographs and a helpful index. He often throws in details I don't remember seeing in other more detailed and lengthy works. Some of the cases Volkman writes about are the "Trust" operation (early Soviet sting of anti-Soviets), Cuban doubling of US agents, British doubling of Nazi agents (Double Cross), code-breaking, atomic bomb secrets, the Wallenbergs in WWII, WWI German sabotage in U.S., the Angleton/Philby mole affair, etc. Volkman is both willing and able to point out each country's successes and failures -- even when success is based on happenstance and failure is based on incredibly poor judgment. Here's one passage: "\oin 1978\c, Hu Simeng worked for the Chinese, who did not know that she also worked for the East Germans, who did not know that she was a Chinese asset, but who did know that she worked for the CIA, which didn't know she also worked for both the Chinese and the East Germans. The material she provided the Chinese was in fact East German and KGB disinformation, but the Chinese knew that, so they provided disinformation for Hu Simeng to give to the East Germans...." Criticisms include that he occasionally reaches too facile a conclusion (Wallenberg was killed by Soviets in 1947 instead of the lengthy imprisonment other sources describe), and at least one minor factual error (the bomb "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki, not Hiroshima). In sum, an excellent book for anyone mildly interested in the topic, or very interested.

An excellent book.:
From beginning to end a very gripping tale. This book revealsthe story behind the story on many of histories great espionage cases.Mr. Volkman masterfully weaves history into an exciting tale. You will learn things that you didn't know and at the same time read a book that doesn't put you to sleep. I had trouble just putting it down. If all history books were written this well I would have gotten better grades in school. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in espionage, the inner workings of politics, or just looking for a good book to read.

A Good Book But:
While I thought this was a good book and covered some very interesting topics I found myself a bit disappointed that the stories did not delve deeper into what they initially touched on. I would have enjoyed this more had the book been, say, three times as long and the stories gone deeper. I finished each chapter, or case, realizing that this was quite interesting and insightful to what had happened, many times in a historical concept. But found myself wondering about the little intricacies that would have been necessary to pull these capers off. This book is would be a good start to preview some espionage cases and pick the ones you like to research further.