Best Intelligence & Espionage History Books
Here you will get Best Intelligence & Espionage History Books For you.This is an up-to-date list of recommended books.
1. Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Author: by Jocko Willink
1250183863
St. Martin's Press
English
From Jocko Wilnick, the New York Times best selling author of Discipline Equals Freedom and Leadership Strategy and Tactics, an updated edition of the blockbuster bestselling leadership book that took America and the world by storm, two U.S. Navy SEAL officers who led the most highly decorated special forces unit of the Iraq War demonstrate how to apply powerful leadership principles from the battlefield to business and life.
Now with an excerpt from the authors’ new book, THE DICHOTOMY OF LEADERSHIP. Combat, the most intense and dynamic environment imaginable, teaches the toughest leadership lessons, with absolutely everything at stake. Jocko Willink and Leif Babin learned this reality first-hand on the most violent and dangerous battlefield in Iraq.
As leaders of SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser, their mission was one many thought impossible: help U.S. Forces secure Ramadi, a violent, insurgent-held city deemed all but lost. In gripping, firsthand accounts of heroism, tragic loss, and hard-won victories, they learned that leadershipat every levelis the most important factor in whether a team succeeds or fails.
2. The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
Author: by Ben Macintyre
Crown
English
384 pages
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The celebrated author of Double Cross and Rogue Heroes returns with his greatest spy story yet, a thrilling Americans-era tale of Oleg Gordievsky, the Russian whose secret work helped hasten the end of the Cold War.
The best true spy story I have ever read. JOHN LE CARRNamed a Best Book of the Year by The Economist Shortlisted for the Bailie Giffords Prize in Nonfiction If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the infamous British double-agent Kim Philby, it was Oleg Gordievsky.
The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions, the savvy, sophisticated Gordievsky grew to see his nation’s communism as both criminal and philistine. He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and eventually became the Soviet Union’s top man in London, but from 1973 on he was secretly working for MI6.
For nearly a decade, as the Cold War reached its twilight, Gordievsky helped the West turn the tables on the KGB, exposing Russian spies and helping to foil countless intelligence plots, as the Soviet leadership grew increasingly paranoid at the United States’s nuclear first-strike capabilities and brought the world closer to the brink of war.
3. Walk in My Combat Boots: True Stories from America's Bravest Warriors
Author: by James Patterson
Little, Brown and Company
English
416 pages
“These are the stories America needs to hear about the remarkable young men and women who serve.” – Admiral William H. McRaven, US Navy (Ret.. The most moving and powerful war stories ever told, by the men and women who lived them.
Walk in my Combat Boots is a powerful collection crafted from hundreds of original interviews by James Patterson, the world’s #1 bestselling writer, and First Sergeant US Army (Ret. Matt Eversmann, part of the Ranger unit portrayed in the movie Black Hawk Down.
These are the brutally honest stories usually only shared amongst comrades in arms. Here, in the voices of the men and women who’ve fought overseas from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan, is a rare eye-opening look into what wearing the uniform, fighting in combat, losing friends and coming home is really like.
Readers who next thank a military member for their service will finally have a true understanding of what that thanks is for.
4. 100 Deadly Skills: The SEAL Operative's Guide to Eluding Pursuers, Evading Capture, and Surviving Any Dangerous Situation
Author: by Clint Emerson
Atria Books
English
272 pages
A hands-on, practical survival guide from retired Navy SEAL Clint Emersonadapted for civilians from actual special forces operationsto eluding pursuers, evading capture, and surviving any dangerous situation. In today’s increasingly dangerous world, threats to your personal safety are everywhere. From acts of terror to mass shootings, and from the unseen (and sometimes virtual) matrix of everyday crime, danger is no longer confined to dark alleys or unstable regions.
Potentially life-threatening circumstances can arise anywhere, anytime, and Clint Emersonformer Navy SEALwants you to be prepared. 100 Deadly Skills contains proven self-defense skills, evasion tactics, and immobilizing maneuversmodified from the world of black opsto help you take action in numerous worst case scenarios from escaping a locked trunk, to making an improvised Taser, to tricking facial recognition software.
With easy-to-understand instructions and illustrations, Emerson outlines in detail many life-saving strategies and teaches you how to think and act like a member of the special forces. This complete course in survival teaches you how to prevent tracking, evade a kidnapping, elude an active shooter, rappel down the side of a building, immobilize a bad guy, protect yourself against cyber-criminals, and much moreall using low-tech to no-tech methods.
5. The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware
Author: by Patrick K. O'Donnell
B08M12FQ85
May 18, 2021
English
The acclaimed combat historian and author of The Unknowns details the history of the Marbleheaders and their critical role in the Revolutionary War. On the stormy night of August 29, 1776, the Continental Army faced annihilation after losing the Battle of Brooklyn.
The British had trapped George Washington’s army against the East River, and the fate of the Revolution rested upon the soldier-mariners from Marblehead, Massachusetts. One of the country’s first diverse units, they pulled off an American Dunkirk and saved the army by navigating the treacherous river to Manhattan.
At the right time in the right place, the Marbleheaders, a group of white, black, Hispanic, and Native American soldiers, repeatedly altered the course of events, and their story shines new light on our understanding of the American Revolution. As historian Patrick K.
O’Donnell recounts, beginning nearly a decade before the war started, Marbleheaders such as Elbridge Gerry and Azor Orne spearheaded the break with Britain and helped shape the United States through governing, building alliances, seizing British ships, forging critical supply lines, and establishing the origins of the US Navy.
6. Never Mind, We'll Do It Ourselves: The Inside Story of How a Team of Renegades Broke Rules, Shattered Barriers, and Launched a Drone Warfare Revolution
Author: by Bierbauer Alec
B06XD1Z5N1
Skyhorse
January 26, 2021
The Inside Story of How a CIA Officer and an Air Force Officer Joined Forces to Develop America’s Most Powerful Tool in the War on Terror. Never Mind, We’ll Do It Ourselves is the character-driven story behind the origins of the Predator drone program and the dawn of unmanned warfare.
A firsthand account told by an Air Force team leader and a CIA team leader, Never Mind, We’ll Do It Ourselves takes the reader into the back offices and secret government hangars where the robotic revolution went from a mad scientist idea to a pivotal part of global air power.
The story will reveal the often conflicting perspectives between the defense and intelligence communities and put you inside places like the CIA’s counterterrorism center on the morning of 9/11. Through the eyes of the men and women who lived it, you will experience the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and the evolution of a program from passive surveillance to the complex hunter-killers that hang above the battlespace like ghosts.
7. The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War
Author: by Scott Anderson
Anchor (May 25, 2021)
English
608 pages
Enthralling….Lying and stealing and invading, it should be said, make for captivating reading, especially in the hands of a storyteller as skilled as Anderson. The New York Times Book Review A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR At the end of World War II, the United States was considered the victor over tyranny and a champion of freedom.
But it was clearto somethat the Soviet Union was already seeking to expand and foment revolution around the world, and the American government’s strategy in response relied on the secret efforts of a newly formed CIA. Chronicling the fascinating lives of the agents who sought to uphold American ideals abroad, Scott Anderson follows the exploits of four spies: Michael Burke, who organized parachute commandos from an Italian villa; Frank Wisner, an ingenious spymaster who directed actions around the world; Peter Sichel, a German Jew who outwitted the ruthless KGB in Berlin; and Edward Lansdale, a mastermind of psychological warfare in the Far East.
8. X Troop: The Secret Jewish Commandos of World War II
Author: by Leah Garrett
English
368 pages
0358172039
Brilliantly researched, utterly gripping history: the first full account of a remarkable group of Jewish refugeesa top-secret band of brotherswho waged war on Hitler. Alex Kershaw, New York Times best-selling author of The Longest Winter and The LiberatorThe incredible World War II saga of the German-Jewish commandos who fought in Britain’s most secretive special-forces unitbut whose story has gone untold until now June 1942.
The shadow of the Third Reich has fallen across the European continent. In desperation, Winston Churchill and his chief of staff form an unusual plan: a new commando unit made up of Jewish refugees who have escaped to Britain. The resulting volunteers are a motley group of intellectuals, artists, and athletes, most from Germany and Austria.
Many have been interned as enemy aliens, and have lost their families, their homestheir whole worlds. They will stop at nothing to defeat the Nazis. Trained in counterintelligence and advanced combat, this top secret unit becomes known as X Troop.
9. Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations
Author: by Admiral William H. McRaven
Grand Central Publishing
English
352 pages
Following the success of his #1 New York Times bestseller Make Your Bed, which has sold over one million copies, Admiral William H. McRaven is back with amazing stories of bravery and heroism during his career as a Navy SEAL and commander of America’s Special Operations Forces.Admiral William H.
McRaven is a part of American military history, having been involved in some of the most famous missions in recent memory, including the capture of Saddam Hussein, the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips, and the raid to kill Osama bin Laden.
Sea Stories begins in 1963 at a French Officers’ Club in France, where Allied officers and their wives gathered to have drinks and tell stories about their adventures during World War II-the place where a young Bill McRaven learned the value of a good story.
Sea Stories is an unforgettable look back on one man’s incredible life, from childhood days sneaking into high-security military sites to a day job of hunting terrorists and rescuing hostages. Action-packed, humorous, and full of valuable life lessons like those exemplified in McRaven’s bestselling Make Your Bed, Sea Stories is a remarkable memoir from one of America’s most accomplished leaders.
10. Alone at Dawn
Author: by Dan Schilling
Grand Central Publishing
English
371 pages
The New York Times bestselling true account of John Chapman, Medal of Honor recipient and Special Ops Combat Controller, and his heroic one-man stand during the Afghan War, as he sacrificed his life to save the lives of twenty-three comrades-in-arms.
In the predawn hours of March 4, 2002, just below the 10,469-foot peak of a mountain in eastern Afghanistan, a fierce battle raged. Outnumbered by Al Qaeda fighters, Air Force Combat Controller John Chapman and a handful of Navy SEALs struggled to take the summit in a desperate bid to find a lost teammate.
Chapman, leading the charge, was gravely wounded in the initial assault. Believing he was dead, his SEAL leader ordered a retreat. Chapman regained consciousness alone, with the enemy closing in on three sides. John Chapman’s subsequent display of incredible valor – first saving the lives of his SEAL teammates and then, knowing he was mortally wounded, single-handedly engaging two dozen hardened fighters to save the lives of an incoming rescue squad – posthumously earned him the Medal of Honor.
11. SAS Ghost Patrol: The Ultra-Secret Unit That Posed As Nazi Stormtroopers
Author: by Damien Lewis
B071RRXHXZ
Quercus
October 19, 2017
‘Lewis has done a terrific job in resurrecting Heaven Platoon, portraying them as the brave, buccaneering heroes they undoubtedly were’ Daily Mail’Another true tale of military derring-do from Lewis’ Sunday Express’Intensively researched and powerfully written. One of the great untold stories of WWII’ Bear Grylls’In SAS Ghost Patrol Lewis reveals a tale of suicidal bravery, untold daring and breath-taking deceit.
Told with the panache and verve of a born storyteller, Lewis is in a class of his own’ Saul David’Amazing tale of WWII great escaper’s Nazi ruse … The extraordinary Second World War saga of the SIG and its legacy is revealed.’ The Daily Mirror ‘British troops dressed in German uniforms and mounted a daredevil raid to take the Libyan port of Tobruk during the Second World War, reveals a fascinating new book’ Daily Express’Lewis’s account …
Reads like a Boy’s Own adventure, except it isn’t a work of fiction and the heroes don’t come through unscathed. His storytelling enhances the bravery of the men and the danger of the missions without over-dramatising anything. There is no need to’ Soldier Magazine’Reveals the true story of an ultra-secret fighting unit that posed as Nazi Storm Troopers to seize the German-held port city of Tobruk during the Second World War’ Richard Hatch and Verity Geere, Forces Radio breakfast showThe Ultra-Secret Unit That Posed As Nazi StormtroopersThe Most Daring Mission Ever UndertakenSAS Ghost Patrol is the explosive true story of the day in 1942 when the SAS donned Nazi uniforms to perpetrate the most audacious and daring mission of the war.
12. Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America
Author: by Annie Jacobsen
Back Bay Books
English
624 pages
The remarkable story of America’s secret post-WWII science programs (The Boston Globe), from the New York Times bestselling author of Area 51. In the chaos following World War II, the U.S. Government faced many difficult decisions, including what to do with the Third Reich’s scientific minds.
These were the brains behind the Nazis’ once-indomitable war machine. So began Operation Paperclip, a decades-long, covert project to bring Hitler’s scientists and their families to the United States. Many of these men were accused of war crimes, and others had stood trial at Nuremberg; one was convicted of mass murder and slavery.
They were also directly responsible for major advances in rocketry, medical treatments, and the U.S.Space program. Was Operation Paperclip a moral outrage, or did it help America win the Cold War? Drawing on exclusive interviews with dozens of Paperclip family members, colleagues, and interrogators, and with access to German archival documents (including previously unseen papers made available by direct descendants of the Third Reich’s ranking members), files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, and dossiers discovered in government archives and at Harvard University, Annie Jacobsen follows more than a dozen German scientists through their postwar lives and into a startling, complex, nefarious, and jealously guarded government secret of the twentieth century.
13. THE TRAGEDY OF PATTON A Soldier's Date With Destiny: Could World War II's Greatest General Have Stopped the Cold War?
Author: by Robert Orlando
English
191 pages
1630061751
“BETTER TO FIGHT FOR SOMETHING THAN LIVE FOR NOTHING.” GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON It is 75 years since the end of WW II and the strange, mysterious death of General George S. Patton, but as in life, Patton sets off a storm of controversy.
THE TRAGEDY OF PATTON: A Soldier’s Date With Destiny asks the question: Why was General Patton silenced during his service in World War II? Prevented from receiving needed supplies that would have ended the war nine months earlier, freed the death camps, and prevented Russian invasion of the Eastern Bloc, and Stalin’s murderous rampage.
Why was he fired as General of the Third Army and relegated to a governorship of post-war Bavaria? Who were his enemies? Was he a threat to Eisenhower, Montgomery, and Bradley? And is it possible as some say that the General’s freakish collision with an Army truck, on the day before his departure for US, was not really an accident?
Or was Patton not only dismissed by his peers, but the victim of an assassin’s bullet at their behest? Was his personal silence necessary? Early in his life, Patton was a markedly insecure man, petrified by the notion of failing to live up to the standards of his pedigree.
14. The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior
Author: by Robert O'Neill
Scribner
English
368 pages
This instant New York Times bestsellera jaw-dropping, fast-paced account (New York Post) recounts SEAL Team Operator Robert O’Neill’s incredible four-hundred-mission career, including the attempts to rescue Lone Survivor Marcus Luttrell and abducted-by-Somali-pirates Captain Richard Phillips, and which culminated in the death of the world’s most wanted terroristOsama bin Laden.
In The Operator, Robert O’Neill describes his idyllic childhood in Butte, Montana; his impulsive decision to join the SEALs; the arduous evaluation and training process; and the even tougher gauntlet he had to run to join the SEALs’ most elite unit.
After officially becoming a SEAL, O’Neill would spend more than a decade in the most intense counterterror effort in US history. For extended periods, not a night passed without him and his small team recording multiple enemy killsand though he was lucky enough to survive, several of the SEALs he’d trained with and fought beside never made it home.
Impossible to put downThe Operator is unique, surprising, a kind of counternarrative, and certainly the other half of the story of one of the world’s most famous military operationsIn the larger sense, this book is abouthow to be human while in the very same moment dealing with death, destruction, combat (Doug Stanton, New York Times bestselling author).
15. The World War 2 Trivia Book: Interesting Stories and Random Facts from the Second World War (Trivia War Books) (Volume 1)
Author: by Bill O'Neill
English
172 pages
1978451652
When was the last time someone around you brought up World War Two? It’s a pretty popular war. Maybe you heard about it yesterday.Maybe last month. But it was probably recent. And when it came up, did you wish that you could be the one to casually drop a fact that would have everyone in the room going, Wow, I never knew that!
With this book, you can be that person. You can read it in just a few minutes a day. Chapters are bite-sized and easy to read, meant for normal people instead of war historians! Each chapter ends with a bonus helping of trivia and some quick questions to test your knowledge.
You’ll zoom through this book and be hungry for more. Get ready to impress your friends with your knowledge not just of the main events of World War Two, but of all the gritty details and weird true facts. By the time you finish this book, you’ll have a fact for every occasion, from the first moment someone thought about having a second World War, to the most recent blockbuster movies about it.
