Synopses & Reviews
Ben Macintyre’s
Agent Zigzag was hailed as “rollicking, spellbinding” (
New York Times), “wildly improbable but entirely true” (
Entertainment Weekly), and, quite simply, “the best book ever written” (
Boston Globe). In his new book,
Operation Mincemeat, he tells an extraordinary story that will delight his legions of fans.
In 1943, from a windowless basement office in London, two brilliant intelligence officers conceived a plan that was both simple and complicated— Operation Mincemeat. The purpose? To deceive the Nazis into thinking that Allied forces were planning to attack southern Europe by way of Greece or Sardinia, rather than Sicily, as the Nazis had assumed, and the Allies ultimately chose.
Charles Cholmondeley of MI5 and the British naval intelligence officer Ewen Montagu could not have been more different. Cholmondeley was a dreamer seeking adventure. Montagu was an aristocratic, detail-oriented barrister. But together they were the perfect team and created an ingenious plan: Get a corpse, equip it with secret (but false and misleading) papers concerning the invasion, then drop it off the coast of Spain where German spies would, they hoped, take the bait. The idea was approved by British intelligence officials, including Ian Fleming (creator of James Bond). Winston Churchill believed it might ring true to the Axis and help bring victory to the Allies.
Filled with spies, double agents, rogues, fearless heroes, and one very important corpse, the story of Operation Mincemeat reads like an international thriller.
Unveiling never-before-released material, Ben Macintyre brings the reader right into the minds of intelligence officers, their moles and spies, and the German Abwehr agents who suffered the “twin frailties of wishfulness and yesmanship.” He weaves together the eccentric personalities of Cholmondeley and Montagu and their near-impossible feats into a riveting adventure that not only saved thousands of lives but paved the way for a pivotal battle in Sicily and, ultimately, Allied success in the war.
Review
"Juan Pujol is deserving of this biography, which captures not only his humanity, but also his humanism. Stephan
Talty has delivered a beautiful report of every impossible day of Pujol's life, and AGENT GARBO is a confirmation of Donne's devotional, that 'when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language.'"
--The Atlantic
"Talty gives us an appreciably richer picture not only of Pujol but also of an interwar period that could produce someone willing and able to undertake the duplicity required of a double agent. Along the way, the author captures the chilling realities of bloody battlefields, tense war rooms and besieged London. Elegantly crafted."
--The Wall Street Journal
"A wonderful book for WWII buffs, a true-life spy thriller with about as much intrigue and excitement as youand#8217;d find in a le Carrand#233; novel."
--Booklistand#160; (starred)
"The exciting, improbable adventures of a young Spanish spy who managed to become Britainand#8217;s most effective tool in deceiving Hitler. A lively, rollicking good read."
--Kirkus Reviews
"Epic intelligence coups of WWII unreel in this colorful caper saga. Taltyand#8217;s Pujol is a captivating character with a talent for operatic confabulation, but Garbo is just the alluring lead in massive deceptions that the author likens to Hollywood productions, complete with rubber tanks, fake ships, and a Montgomery impersonator. The result is a rollicking story of wartime eccentrics and their labyrinthine mind games."
--Publishers Weekly, starred
and#8220;AGENTand#160;GARBO is the fascinating story of a man whose wit, cunning, and steely nerves made the Allied victory possible in World War II. Stephan Talty's unsurpassed research brings forth one of the war's greatest agents in a must-read book for those who think they know all the great World War II stories.and#8221;
and#8212; Gregory Freeman, author of The Forgotten 500
Synopsis
The little known World War II espionage story of Spaniard Juan Pujol, who convinced Hitler's Abwehr that he had a ring of spiesand#160;in Britain, only to pull off one of the greatest feats of any double agent:and#160;he fooled Hitler and disguised D-Day.
Synopsis
Were the D-Day landings saved from failure because of a lone secret agent?Agent Garbo tells the astonishing story of a self-made secret agent who matched wits with the best minds of the Third Reich and#8212; and won. Juan Pujol was a nobody, a Barcelona poultry farmer determined to oppose the Nazis. Using only his gift for daring falsehoods, Pujol became Germanyand#8217;s most valued agent and#8212; or double agent: it took four tries before the British believed he was really on the Alliesand#8217; side.
In the guise of Garbo, Pujol turned in a masterpiece of deception worthy of his big-screen namesake. He created an imaginary million-man army, invented armadas out of thin air, and brought a vast network of fictional subagents whirring to life. His unwitting German handlers believed every word, and banked on Garboand#8217;s lies as their only source of espionage within Great Britain.
For his greatest performance, Pujol had to convince the German High Command that the D-Day invasion of Normandy was a feint and the real attack was aimed at Calais. The Nazis bought it, turning the tide of battle at the crucial moment.
Based on years of archival research and interviews with Pujoland#8217;s family, Agent Garbo is a true-life thriller set in the shadow world of espionage and deception.
About the Author
STEPHAN TALTY is a widely published journalist who has contributed to the New York Times Magazine, GQ, Menand#8217;s Journal, Time Out New York, Details, and many other publications. He is the author of Escape from the Land of Snows, the best-selling Empire of Blue Water, The Illustrious Dead, and Mulatto America.
Table of Contents
Cast of Charactersand#8195;vii
Introductionand#8195;ix
PART I: THE MAKING OF A SPY
1. Tom Mix in Barcelonaand#8195;3
2. The Training Groundand#8195;11
3. Araceliand#8195;22
4. The White Cityand#8195;35
5. The Gameand#8195;43
6. The Snakepitand#8195;55
PART II: GARBOand#8217;S RISE
7. A Fresh Riot of Ideasand#8195;65
8. The Systemand#8195;81
9. The Debutand#8195;91
10. The Blacks and the Santa Clausesand#8195;98
11. The Rehearsaland#8195;109
PART III: THE FAR SHORE
12. The Dry Runand#8195;123
13. An Intimate Deceptionand#8195;132
14. Haywireand#8195;141
15. The Interloperand#8195;153
16. The Ghost Armyand#8195;167
17. The Backdropand#8195;174
18. The Buildupand#8195;186
19. The Prisonerand#8195;197
20. The Hoursand#8195;207
21. The Weaponand#8195;223
PART IV: BREAKOFF
22. The Endand#8195;235
23. The Returnand#8195;241
Appendix A: Organizationsand#8195;253
Appendix B: The Garbo Networkand#8195;255
Notesand#8195;257
Bibliographyand#8195;281
Acknowledgmentsand#8195;285
Indexand#8195;287