cover image Dictionary of Espionage

Dictionary of Espionage

Becket, Henry S. a. Becket. Stein and Day, $17.95 (203pp) ISBN 978-0-8128-3068-2

The jargon of spying is frequently graphic and sometimes arcane, as this compendium by the pseudonymous Becket reveals. Certain terms have passed into popular usage through fiction, like mole, which John le Carre is generally said to have coined, but which, according to this book, was in use as early as 1622. Others, such as comint, the coinage for the National Security Agency's communications intelligence, are unlikely to leave the confines of the espionage community. The entries on the Russian secret police, from the Cheka of Dzerzinsky to the KGB of Chebrikov, and the inclusion of information about Germany's Gehlen group of 1945 help fill gaps in general knowledge. It is not necessary to be a spy-novel aficionado to be intrigued by this ""dictionary''; anyone interested in language will find it informative. December 22