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Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't Put It Down
Review: A little choppy in places, but all in all very enjoyable reading. If you liked "Bodyguard of Lies" (Anthony Cave Brown) you'll like this too!I keep wondering if the democracies are still capable of producing men and women of such incredible bravery and selflessness. I hope so, because it looks as though we are going to need them again.
Rating: 
Summary: Horribly written book on topic of major importance
Review: As for content and significance of the topic, I join with the other reviewers who gave this history of Allied intelligence operations in World War II a five-star rating. The facts adduced by the book present a powerful argument that the combined efforts of the American and British intelligence agencies proved to be the winning factor in the defeat of Nazi Germany. However, William Stephenson is, simply put, one of the worst writers I have every encountered. It is not that he utilizes poor grammar, makes irrational statements or lacks knowledge of the subject matter - none of those sorts of criticisms are accurate. Instead, he utilizes a very eccentric, verbose, upper crust British style of writing that is simultanously formal, yet is very conversational in a fashion that manages to be extremely tedious to read. Stephenson drifts off on tangents very frequenly and makes many, many offhand references to people or organizations that he either hasn't mentioned previously or last discussed fifty pages earlier, making full comprehension of his assertions difficult and time consuming. It was truly a chore to wade through the stylistic muck of this book written by an author who had no idea of the meaning of the word concise. Ultimately, I recommend this book to historians, amateur or academic, based solely on the significance of its substance. Readers contemplating this book should be prepared for a long and difficult struggle through sometimes numbingly disjointed prose. If only another writer had transcribed its contents, rather than Stephenson, I would have given this book five stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Forrest Gump
Review: Five stars if it was true. One star if it's not true. So I give three stars because no one knows if it's true or not. The history is fabulous and amazing. But this fellow doesn't back up anything. Shouldn't there be some government documents or something to prove at least a few of the fantastic statements regarding Intrepids role in WWII history? Intrepid seems more like a literary tool, used to link together stories from history in a readable way. Kind of like Forrest Gump. Again, I liked the book, if it were true. I'm just not sure I believe it.
Rating: 
Summary: History Repeats Itself
Review: I have been reading this book while the 9-11 hearings have been in session and I am struck by the parallels of our present dangers and the impending turmoil of WW2. The public should be more aware of the need for secrecy for our intelligence forces to work. It is remarkable to read about the naysayers and anti-war voices of 1939-41 America and how the enemy manipulated them in hopes of destroying us from within. Michael Moore would have been right at home in the early dark days of the war trying to destroy FDR and Churchill for standing up to fight against the powers intent on destroying or enslaving the free people of the world. Joe Kennedy (like father, like son) is revealed as an appeaser loudly promoting political and economic partnership with Hitler and writing Britain off as a lost cause. This is AMAZING stuff! Obviously, we need a William Stephenson now. Men like him would make short work of Al Queda. We also need to stay out of their way and let the dirty work get done. This book reveals how so much of our war efforts succeeded by the efforts of dedicated people risking their lives in a "secret war" for no acclaim and little reward. And that is the main lesson of it: For a free people to survive, secrecy and unorthodox methods in combat must be used. Blasting these methods and people across the internet and other public forums only does damage to our own cause.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful read
Review: I read this book when I was a young teenager at the request of my father and grandfather, each of whom read it before me. It's a great book. If you're a WWII buff, then you will certainly garner some great enjoyment from this book. To read and seemingly witness the acts of espionage first hand is truly astounding. Give it a shot...well worth anyone's time.
Rating:
Summary: read between the lines - do not only read this book - use it
Review: The contents of this book is amazing... The book is designed and written in the way it is for the reader to think. To go into detail of any of the many operations mentioned would cost the author more than a life time, also much of the information is still protected by the secrecy act or simply not available. The reader should notice the intention of the information not written, he is called to read between the lines. High concentration is needed to try understand the politics and intricate relationships displayed in this book. I have read this book 16 times and will read it even more. Each time I finish this book I find a little more of a deep message, not from the author but from the man called intrepid, buried within the not so detailed written operations and information. My thoughts and feelings on information and our free world become more unyielding and clear. I can highly recommend this book to people, not looking for entertainment, but education on important matters that have especially been thrown in the light since the 11 September 2001. I have no ties to the author, this book was recommended to me by a late war vertreran.
Rating: 
Summary: Distorted historical Nonsense
Review: This is a very important subject, but this is an inaccurate unsourced book - a fictionalized version of true events. For the real story - foreworded by the CIA's staff historian, read the Canadian Bill Macdonald's 'sourced' book "The True Intrepid."
Rating:
Summary: A Man Called Intrepid
Review: Until very recently, my knowlege about WWII was what I had learned in history class in high school. Reshelving books one day at the library, a book caught my attention and I have been reading about this war ever since. Stevenson brought to life for me the desperate struggle the English people went thru to save their country. My history class never mentioned the infiltration of nazi spies and cohorts in America, and until I read this book I never knew of this. Desperate times called for desperate measures, but to fullfill those measures required many heroes. The men and women who willing went behind enemy lines to do their duty for the greater good of mankind, knowing that the chances of coming out alive were slim to none is simply breathtaking. Stevenson's book is full of these heroes. This is what this book is about.
Rating:
Summary: A Man Called Intrepid
Review: Until very recently, my knowlege about WWII was what I had learned in history class in high school. Reshelving books one day at the library, a book caught my attention and I have been reading about this war ever since. Stevenson brought to life for me the desperate struggle the English people went thru to save their country. My history class never mentioned the infiltration of nazi spies and cohorts in America, and until I read this book I never knew of this. Desperate times called for desperate measures, but to fullfill those measures required many heroes. The men and women who willing went behind enemy lines to do their duty for the greater good of mankind, knowing that the chances of coming out alive were slim to none is simply breathtaking. Stevenson's book is full of these heroes. This is what this book is about.
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