STEALING SECRETS, TELLING LIES: How Spies and Codebreakers Helped Shape the Twentieth Century

While most of the stories here are already well known—the deciphering of the German Enigma machine's code, for example, or the penetration of British intelligence by the Soviet-controlled Cambridge Five spy ring—Gannon, a former documentary producer and self-described "reporter with a nose for a good story," retells them with aplomb, positioning them nicely to fit his theme. The familiar story of undercover German spy Richard Sorge, who worked against Hitler as a member of the Nazi Party, takes on both pathos and suspense. In Gannon's hands, the unraveling Sorge, weakened by alcoholism and despair, goes to his fate anew; his execution comes as a sad surprise, even though it really isn't news to anyone. The tale of another WWII secret agent, Rudolf Roessler (code-named "Lucy"), takes on a fresh aura of mystery although "...more than half a century since Roessler breathed the neutral Swiss air in war-torn Europe, nobody knows the truth." Gannon's basic strength is in depicting the delicate balance of espionage and showing how a nation's fate can hinge on the concealment or discovery of vital information. Overall, this is an entertaining survey that successfully plants the subliminal question: What if? (Sept.)