A Short Course in the Secret War

Rating:
Summary: An excellent introduction into espionage
Review: A great read, just great. Absolutely fantastic.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent introduction into espionage
Review: Christopher Felix's A Short Course in the Secret War provides the reader with an excellent introduction into the little known world of international espionage. As a reviwer noted earlier, the first part of the book outlines what spycraft is and is not, what the theory of intelligence work is, and how it is practiced. Pay close attention, as the vocabulary used and techniques discussed are put into practice later in the book.

The second half of the book details Felix's work as an operations officer (i.e. "spy") in Hungary at the end of the Second World War. Here the glamourous and mundane work of espionage is recounted in an almost casual manner, as are the daily challenges and frustrations the author experienced while working there.

There are litterally hundreds of books written on the subject - yet in my opinion, A Short History is among the best. The writing is clear and lucid, and captivates the reader's attention; the material related is all first hand, and while a little dated, the lessons taught are relevant and comprehensive. A must read for anyone interested in learning more about the real practice of intelligence gathering.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic of Tradecraft
Review: No need to repeat what is covered below. Christopher Felix is the pseudonym of James McCargar who was a field agent in the late 40s. He was still active in the community when this book was originally published way back when. Then it was one of the few reality based accounts by an American about the postwar era when the Red juggernaut was slowly rolling up eastern Europe.
I still find it of interest and it proves how little tradecraft has changed, just the tools that are used.

Rating:
Summary: Run-on Sentences
Review: This book is informative and the author is obviously intelligent. The reading is hard to follow, however. The author makes a great use of run-on sentences. He is constantly interjecting side thoughts within a sentence that makes the use of many commas with some dashes the norm. Sentences greater than an inch in width down a page are quite common. One must reread continuously to try to connect his thoughts. Except toward the end, this is not a light reading book.