Bodyguard of Lies

Toronto: Bantam Books, 1976. First Bantam Printing. Trade paperback. Fair. [10], 947, [1] pages. Wraps. Illustrations. Map. Appendices. Glossary. Sources and Notes. Bibliography. Index. Some page staining. Some pages darkened. Covers soiled and worn, especially at spine. Rear cover creased. Anthony Cave Brown (March 21, 1929 - July 14, 2006) was an English-American journalist, espionage non-fiction writer, and historian. Brown's first major work to attract widespread attention was Bodyguard of Lies (1975), which examined the strategical elements of World War II, including codebreaking and its effect on the war's outcome. He followed up on this theme with a book, The Last Hero: Wild Bill Donovan, about William J. Donovan, the director of the American Office of Strategic Services during World War II; the Office of Strategic Services later evolved into the Central Intelligence Agency. Another espionage-related effort was a 1987 biography of Sir Stewart Menzies, who served as head of British MI6 (Secret Intelligence Service) during World War II. The book was titled C: The Secret Life of Sir Stewart Graham Menzies, Spymaster to Winston Churchill. His book Treason in the Blood: H. St. John Philby, Kim Philby, and the Spy Case of the Century, published in 1994, examined the interconnected lives of the famous British spies Kim Philby and Harry St. John Philby, son and father. His final 1999 book Oil, God and Gold: The Story of Aramco and the Saudi Kings, examined the Aramco company in Saudi Arabia. Derived from a Kirkus review: A narrative of intelligence coups during WW II, which Brown sees as a fight against the upstart Hitler led by an alliance between Americans and that "group of men who represented the aristocratic cream of a caste of blood, land and money." Brown begins with the 1938 reproduction of the German code machine, a coup so devastating that Churchill reportedly forbade warnings of Luftwaffe attacks against Coventry lest the Germans suspect the code-breaking. Fifty thousand homes were blitzed; however, the British did sacrifice the code secret to trap the battleship Bismarck. Other Allied triumphs are familiar but well-told. Camouflage and double bluffs at E1 Alamein; the Special Operations Executive undercover work in occupied Europe. A high point is Operation Bodyguard, the decoy of the Wehrmacht away from the Allies' Normandy landing sites. Brown also bestows praise on Admiral Canaris' attempts to stop Hitler and aid the British, presenting Canaris to a "deeply moral and tragic" figure. A rich source in a perennially demanded genre.