Reviews (43)

Truth is Better than Fiction
Once again drawn to a book by an excellent movie, in this case Spielberg's "Munich," I expected much, and the book delivered.The hour-by-hour meticulous planning that is required in the hidden world of the assassin is uniquely portrayed, saturated as we are by big Hollywood versions of hit men and snipers.What is far more plausible about "Vengeance" is its humanity, the basic small details of a team working closely to kill others, their conscience, disgust, and the overall context of being used by the Israeli system.There are many who believe in the book, and many who say it is fiction, but it is up to the reader to judge.Ultimately it comes down to the final quote from the author himself; "I was intrigued by the character Avner appeared to be.I did become preoccupied by his story.But in the end I do not think this is why I believed him.I believed him because he knew how the light switch worked in an obscure apartment building in Rome."

The movie weakened the contents
This is a book interesting to read especially by those who lived and followed up the events, through the then available media coverage, as occured.
Thrilling, Intriguing and probably true
Am interested in military topics and have always admired Israeli military teams. Remember the day of the Munich massacre well, like Sept 11 and decided to give this book a try. It is exciting and very eye opening. Some of it reads like a novel but the claim is that it is true so I assume it is. It is a story of intrigue, of the incredible commitment of individuals to a cause, of the underworld of counter espionage and the workings of large organizations such as a country like Israel and what happens in the end ... worth the read ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Espionage    2. Germany    3. Government policy    4. History    5. History - General History    6. Identification    7. Intelligence Agencies    8. Israel    9. Middle East - Israel    10. Munich    11. Political Freedom & Security - Intelligence    12. Political Science    13. Politics/International Relations    14. Prevention    15. Rebellion And Insurgency    16. Terrorism    17. Terrorists    18. True Crime / Espionage   

Reviews (22)

The princess can tell a story
Princess Marie Vassiltchikov, a member of some minor branch of the Russian nobility who ended up in Lithuania and then in Germany for World War II, can sure tell a story. Her diary is a good page turner. You always know what is going on.You're always want to find out what is going to happen next. I finished this book in a day or two and took it everywhere I went, because I had to find out what happened.
Best and most original book on WWII ever written
Don't pay any attention to the one or two negative views in this section.This is a terrific book written from the weird persepective of the Blue Bloods, the European royalty the Nazis hated as much as they hated Jews.The fact that these people, all opposed to Hitler, could land on their feet over and over again in spite of everything is as funny as anything can be.I would have been a Top Ten TV Series had somebody had the sense to pick it up.Risk the few dollars cost, you won't be sorryl

War through the experiences ofthe wealthy
People who have not lived through wars forget that even when confronted with death, destruction, loss, and fear, man's survival instinct grasps for pleasure. This is true for the wealthy as well as the poor, however, the pleasures found differ greatly. This book is not about the poor, and readers with a socialist orientation may find it offensive.
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Subjects:  1. 1917-1978    2. Austria    3. Berlin    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Europe - Germany    8. General    9. Germany    10. Historical - General    11. Personal narratives, Russian    12. Vassiltchikov, Marie,    13. Vienna    14. World War, 1939-1945    15. Biography & Autobiography / General    16. Biography: general    17. Second World War, 1939-1945    18. Vassiltchikov, Marie   

Reviews (16)

All the dirt on the Caesars
Here is history with all the boring stuff left out. Suetonius, a historian around the time of Hadrian (117-138 C.E.), had access to many of the Imperial records, and apparently from them gleaned most of the incredibly juicy information regarding the 12 Caesars included here. Wars, campaigns, laws, affairs of state, and all the other matters one might expect to read about in a book of historical biographies was not the major concern of Suetonius. He was more interested in the personal (often dastardly) deeds of these rulers and the behaviors they exhibited, many of which were very unflattering, to say the least. Many of these guys - Claudius, Caligula, Nero, Vitellius - were veritable monsters: mass murder,theft of private property and national treasure, incest, patricide, ostentation and audacity, material devastation were routine to many of them. Suetonius almost revels in dishing the dirt. It's not just a list of one cruelty after another, either, for Suetonius also knows a funny story when he sees it: the time, for example, when Augustus expelled a man from Italy for giving him the finger. Is this the earliest account on record of that particular obscene gesture? If the National Inquirer existed back then Suetonius would be its editor-in-chief. Some of what he tells is exaggeration or hearsay and perhaps not extremely accurate, but he is often still considered the best source on the Caesars after Tacitus. The book is a lot of fun to read and I would think it would be required reading in most high schools, if for no other reason than it would get a lot of kids interested in ancient history in a hurry.

Want to know all the juicy tidbits about the first 12 Ceasers?
I randomly picked this book up, hankering after some ancient text. Lo and behold, I picked up the juiciest book in ancient Rome. This is no dry, linear blah blah about the first 12 Ceasers, oh no! Seutonius gives you all the incest, the murder, the blunders, the insanity, the triumphs...it's got it all. Actually, if you know nothing about the first 12 Ceasers, start here, because Seutonius gives you all the good stuff.

The Twelve Caesars
It was in very good condition. None of the pages were written on or the cover was not bent. It was as if the book was new! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Classics    3. Early works to 1800    4. Emperors    5. Fiction    6. Flavians, 69-96    7. History    8. Julio-Claudians, 30 B.C.-68 A.D    9. Literary    10. Literature - Classics / Criticism    11. Literature: Classics    12. Rome    13. Ancient Rome    14. Biography & Autobiography / Presidents    15. Biography: historical    16. European history: BCE to c 500 CE   

Subjects:  1. Collections Of Photographs    2. Description and travel    3. Italy    4. Photo Essays    5. Photography    6. Pictorial works    7. Social life and customs    8. Travel - World/Europe    9. Views    10. Photographs: collections   

Reviews (5)

Great insight into Italy's past - and present
This book offers the best introduction available to the history of Italy.In less than three hundred pages, Duggan offers a concise summary of the past 1600 years of the peninsula.His focus in this book is on the multitude of efforts during this period to build an Italian nation out of the rubble of the Roman empire, a goal only achieved in 1860 and then in an imperfect, fragmentary form, with subsequent generations left with the more difficult task of creating a national identity.Duggan recounts this with insight and the result is essential reading, not only for students of Italy's past but for those seeking insight into the nation's troubled present as well.

Renaissance to the Republic
This book is great for the student or traveller wishing to get a quick overview of Italy, it's politics, and it's people.I read this on a plane from NYC to Rome and finished it.It is very easy to read.It really doesn't leave anything out either; the general history of Italy is covered.Also, the bibliography will point you in the right direction for additional reading.

Emminently readable and intereting outline!
The book is, as the title indicates, a "concise" history.Veryconcise, and incredibly well written! The authors cover a lot of ground,and so few words are devoted to character development or the broadercontext of historical events that one might expect the book to read like analmanac.But the Duggans do an amazing job of giving us an emminentlyreadable, interesting, and cohesive outline of Italy's political history. Through an excellent (almost poetic) economy of words, they have fullyrealized the book's potential. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Europe - Italy    2. History    3. History - General History    4. History: World    5. Italy    6. Europe    7. European history (ie other than Britain & Ireland)    8. History / Europe / General    9. Italy--History   

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography And Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Europe - France    6. France - History - Revolution And Napoleonic Empire (1789-1815)    7. Historical - General    8. Biography: historical    9. European history: c 1750 to c 1900    10. France    11. History / France   

Subjects:  1. Europe - General    2. History    3. History - General History    4. History: World    5. Mind & Body    6. Self    7. Europe    8. History / Europe / General    9. Modern Western philosophy, c 1600 to the present   

Reviews (54)

Fascinating
As a violinist, and not a pianist, I found this book fascinating. It's interesting to try and understand the nuances that go into making or refurbishing a piano. The author, as an amateur pianist, doesn't get too detailed because I'm sure it would be over his head. He does appreciate what goes into it though, which is what he parlays through the book. I imagine it would be a fairly difficult read for someone who's not a musician, but I think the core audience of this book is musicians, specifically pianists.

A Marvelous Memoir
I play the piano, I love piano music, and this is a marvelous memoir.(It doesn't hurt that I love Paris too!)However, I honestly don't know if I would have enjoyed this book if I did not play the piano and love piano music.I give this book 4 stars instead of 5 because, by the end of the book I found myself wishing the author was more emotionally involved in his own piano playing; it seems like he was avoiding that kind of emotional disclosure to his readers - an unfortunate choice.However this is only a small problem in an otherwise great read.

A beautiful memoir...
Although classified as a non-fiction memoir, Carhart's brilliant work reads like a novel in its vivid character descriptions and joyous reverence for music. The author pulls us into his Parisian existence, in the center of which lies Desforges Pianos, a small, but magical atelier which houses passions for history and music. We follow Carhart on a hero's journey, all the while learning immense amounts about the making and history of pianos.
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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Americans    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Carhart, Thaddeus    5. Composers & Musicians - General    6. France    7. History    8. Homes and haunts    9. Instruction & Study - Appreciation    10. Music    11. Musical Instruments - Piano    12. Paris    13. Personal Memoirs    14. Piano    15. Pianos    16. Biography & Autobiography / General    17. Reading Group Guide   

Reviews (8)

Complicates The National In The Origins Of Capitalism, Needs To Confront The Individual
Was capitalism a cultural project? Were the structural changes that created modern nations (rooted in capital) accompanied by significant and corollary changes in values, faith, religion, kinship, individualism, art, and other cultural phenomena? From the vantage point of twenty-first century cultural studies, the answer is an obvious "yes." It is not clear that Eric Wolf shares this vantage point in his field and in his period. For the most part, this work centers physical geographic connection, inclusion, and exclusion - - local and macrocosmic - - as the greatest influence on human behavior. For example: the peasant, newly excluded from the enclosed commons, turns to wage labor due to a lack of survival alternatives. Perhaps the peasant's motive for this change is not the most important question of history, but rather the change that history inscribes upon the peasant's cultural constitution. In other words, is the peasant merely a rational economic actor to be inserted in an equation of geopolitical determinism, or are they compelled at this broad historical juncture to do something newly irrational, counter-instinctual, and alien to the preparation of their human constitution? The problem is that Wolf's cool and rational engagement with the spaces, places, motions, and control of objects still subscribes to a fairly static reification of the individual. This individual must be unmoving in spiritual and cultural practice, trauma, affection, embrace and rejection, or at least conceived of as stable and reasonable outside of this variability, in order for Wolf's historical narrative to be a complete explanation. Of course, no author claims a complete explanation so the question becomes whether or not this is a viable one.
A Chapter at a Time
This is a looong read but it is well worth it in the end. I found that taking this book chapter by chapter was the best way to read, because sometimes you find yourself reading the chapter's twice. Wolf offers an insighful and opinionated view of European and Imperial history. I would advise anyone who is interested in history and modern political relations, its a great overview of well....everything that happened in European history involving trade, imperialism, and colonial relations.

An interconnected history
Wolf breaks the paradigm that the world ever was full of isolated pockets of civilized people void of contact with others. By tracing routes of fur trade, slave trade, early movements of people, materials and ideas, Wolf examines the world before Europe "civilized" the world. He is able to show how contact with European traders change the lifestyles of groups of people who already had fully developed cultural, linguistic and political traditions. How trade, bureaucracy, military force and violence influenced the people with whom the traders contacted illustrates the fact that "globalization" is hardly a recent phenomenon. Read more

Subjects:  1. 1492-    2. Anthropology - General    3. Archaeology / Anthropology    4. Economic conditions    5. Europe    6. Europe - General    7. History    8. Politics/International Relations    9. Social change    10. Social conditions    11. Anthropology    12. Cultural studies    13. Social Science / Anthropology / General   

Reviews (14)

GROOVY!
In this book Barry Miles captures the Hippie Age perfectly, in word and image.For a fictional dramatization of this incredible time, have a look at "Life Boiling Over" by Jon Michael Miller.Both authors were apparently there.I was, too.Miller's brilliant novel deals with a couple who go through the hippie scene together, starting in middle America and ending up in Woodstock and San Francisco.It follows the turbulent events that culminate in the campus turmoil that led to four student deaths at Kent State.Through passion, folly, joy and love, the couple struggles to understand their relationship and ultimately themselves.Their struggle comes to triumphant conclusions that will startle you.It's by far the best book I've ever read about the hippie generation.

Hippie:A Memoir
I'm an old ex-hippie from the day--in fact, I'm almost one of the originals. I hung out with Abbie Hoffman on the Lower East Side and attended both the Chicago police riots of l968 and the Woodstock Festival. Some think of the hippies as "happy go lucky", but it was a revolution--"a war, with LSD as the ammunition as Grady L. McMurtry described it. There were places where if you looked like a hippie, you would not only be beaten, but killed. You had to know who you were and what you believed, because everywhere there was harassment and threats by the self-appointed "members of the Establishment". This book is a "celebration" of all the different currents that came together to produce "hippies", which was not something you joined and got a membership card in, but something you found yourself being. I disagree with Barry Miles that feminism began with the hippies--the original hippie idea was quite sexist and backward, and feminist activism actuslly helped put nails in the hippie coffin. What is lacking in this book is the description of how the hippie movement collapsed. Rock stars died, fine, rock stars are still ODing and dying, but how did the movement fall apart and perish? That was a terrible time, and I hope I never go through such a time again, but the very sad story needs to be told. Where were you when the hippie culture collapsed? That is my question for Mr. Miles, who otherwise has produced quite a history.

Great photos, Good Quotes, "Blah" text
First of all, the 3 stars are all for the pictures in this book, which are excellent. I love the layout of the book and the design is great. The photos have great colour and context. There are a lot of great quotes from important people of the era as well. I think really what's lacking here is the actual text of it. None of the articles are really that great or in-depth and you don't come out of it feeling like you learned much, sorry. That's what disappoints me about this book, especially since i didn't get to actually LIVE in that era. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Counter culture    2. England    3. Essays    4. Hippies    5. History    6. History - U.S.    7. Minority Studies - General    8. Modern - 20th Century    9. Popular Culture - Counter Culture    10. Social History    11. Sociology    12. Subculture    13. U.S. History - 1960s    14. United States    15. United States - 20th Century/60s    16. COMPUTERS - INTERNET TRD PB    17. History / Modern / 20th Century   

Reviews (21)

Great explanation how a world empire defended its citizens
I do not agree that this book is only for specialists. I am of the opinion that it is a book for history lovers. And, moreover, it is for any person who wishes to understand how a highly developed society managed to defend its way of living. It most valuable because it depicts the success of the Roman system in the first two centuries of our era. The Third Century depicts the problem of a World power which has began its decline.
Eye-opening analysis
This book is a very interesting analysis for everybody who wants to know more about the strategy of the Roman Empire. While also very accessible to non-experts, even experts or people who have read a lot about Rome will learn a lot and see things a new way.
Ancient history for current events
Although much of this book may be at a level of specificity of interest only to Roman history buffs, Luttwak's assessments of the Roman Empire's strategic strengths and weaknesses has much relevance to the modern United States, which occupies an historical position not unlike Rome's at the beginning of the Empire.For example, issues such as the efficient use of a relatively small professional army, or the maintenance of client states, are directly relevant to the modern world.Each section begins with a sufficiently adequate historical summary that readers not yet familiar with Roman history will not be lost. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Ancient - Rome    2. Army    3. History    4. History - Military / War    5. History: World    6. Military - General    7. Military Science    8. Military history, Ancient    9. Rome    10. Strategy    11. Ancient Rome    12. BCE to c 500 CE    13. European history: BCE to c 500 CE    14. Performing Arts / General   

Reviews (30)

Churchill was begging....
After the fall of France in June 1940, Winston Churchill was begging USA President Roosevelt for military aid (in fact, all sorts of support was then needed) as no one knew what would the 'fate' of the French fleet was going to be.
absolutely a delight to read
I was adrift when I finished this volume.
solitary courage
No better profile of Churchill 1932-40 exists. Whetted with acrimony and disdain, Churchill is ultimately proved right (and his real task commences).
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Subjects:  1. 1874-1965    2. 20th century    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Churchill, Winston,    7. Foreign relations    8. Great Britain    9. Great Britain - History - 20th Century    10. Historical - British    11. Political    12. Politics and government    13. Sir,    14. Biography & Autobiography / Political    15. British & Irish history: c 1700 to c 1900    16. United Kingdom, Great Britain   

Reviews (23)

Could not put this book down!
I lost sleep because of this book, LOL! Crowley packs his history of this important event with so much information that one gains a very clear impression of what transpired, as if from a bird's eye view. One gains as well a strong sense of the personalities of both Mehmet II and Constantine XI, as well as those of other key persons.
An amazing book from a modern Herodotus
Roger Crowley's amazing feat truly stands as a modern testament to great historical writing. Many of the other reviewers have already emphasized the lucid, insightful, and verily entertaining writing. Crowley handles his source material not just even-handedly and scientifically (like a historian should), but even artistically, making this not just great history but a great read as well! As Crowley himself puts it, his aim was "to capture the sound of human voices - to reproduce the words, prejudices, hopes, and fears of the protagonists firsthand - and to tell something of 'the story of the story'" (page 263 in the hardcover edition). Sharing "the story of the story" with their readers is something that, alas, many scholars omit in favor of dry lists of facts and analysis. Crowley transports the reader into a lost, forgotten world, resurrecting the past from the dust and ashes of time and space to speak vividly and directly for new generations.
The strategy of war in 1453
I enjoyed this book, and learned from it as well. The description of the siege was excellent: sufficient detail to provide context, not so much detail that the tempo was lost.
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Subjects:  1. East and West    2. Europe - General    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History: World    6. Islam and world politics    7. Istanbul (Turkey)    8. Medieval    9. Middle East - Turkey    10. Siege, 1453    11. History / Middle East   

Reviews (6)

An historic perspective (by a non-mason)
Prof. Stevenson, a non-mason, has stumbled upon freemasonry while specialising in the history of the Scottish covenanters. He adds academic structure and his formidable historic knowledge to the unwritten part of Scottish masonry, - an oral tradition of memorized texts and a rich variety of lodge rituals, -way before George I's (a Hanoverian who spoke no English) attempt in 1717 to create a system of control by establishing the Grand Lodge of England. Mr. Stevenson may be forgiven for not understanding masonic imagery, however he has given us a well presented insight into Scottish masonry. His impressive work sets new standards in masonic history, based on verifiable and reproducable evidence rather than on wishful thinking. A highly recommendable book.

Half the story, and well done!
This well-researched and (necessarily) somewhat-speculative work covers the sustainment of Freemasonry in Scotland in the time just before Masonry went public in 1717. The title is less accurate than the subtitle, however, for it creates more questions than it answers. For convincing speculation on the actual origins of Freemasonry (and one that fits well before this book if one will take William Schaw as patron and not creator of the Craft), read "Born in Blood" by John J. Robinson.

At Last! Some Factual Pre-1717 Masonic History!
The question of Freemasonry's origins and history prior to the establishment of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717 is such a morass of speculation, supposition, and wishful thinking that professional historians- Stevenson included - feel the need to justify their researches in thissubject lest they be tainted by its disrepute among their fellows. Againstsuch a background this book really stands out. Stevenson bases his researchon actual records of almost a hundred Scottish Masonic lodges that datefrom the 1600's, along with municipal records, other guilds' records,diaries, and royal statutes.Read more

Subjects:  1. Europe - Great Britain - General    2. Freemasonry    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History: World    6. Western Europe - General    7. Freemasonry & secret societies    8. Freemasonry - Scotland - History    9. History / Great Britain    10. History of ideas, intellectual history    11. Western Continental Europe    12. c 1700 to c 1800    13. c 1800 to c 1900   

Reviews (7)

Bloody, bloody good
Though published in 1969, when attitudes toward Native Americans were just beginning to recover after centuries of demonization, "Wilderness Empire" paints a very balanced picture of the complexities of the American frontier during the period of the French and Indian War. Comprising the formative years of George Washington, Ben Franklin and many of other actors on the American historical stage, this often-ignored historical period was the foundation for the Revolutionary War years that immediately followed. What happened in the 1740s and 50s cemented the reputations and formed the attitudes of those who forged America in the 1770s and 80s.
Widerness Empire
Second time I have read it the first time was over 25 years ago, it is an oustanding narative of the early days of America detailing important events in the early setteling of our country.

A True Classic
If you love classic Westerns, This is for you.The settings and the drama are nothing less than spectacular. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1600-1750    2. 1750-1815    3. Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775    4. French and Indian War, 1755-17    5. History    6. History - U.S.    7. History: American    8. Indians of North America    9. Iroquois Indians    10. United States    11. United States - General    12. Wars   

Editorial Review

Michael Baigent, Henry Lincoln, and Richard Leigh, authors of Read more

Reviews (448)

Before the Da Vinci Code, same thing
This one gets the rating it does simply because it is an interesting read but not because it has much of value in it. It is the book that made Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code possible.The scholarship (if one can use that term) falls short and the conclusions from questionable sources and anecdotes are a stretch.It is, by no means, a serious study of the subject.I am a Christian who likes a good challenge - this was not it. Dr. Bart Ehrman is a favorite of this reviewer and I would have to recommend his work as a far more convincing set of research than this "theory." It is sad that there are so manywho think this is a hallmark of anti-Christian literature, it is not. It is a poor challenge indeed. Look for a real challenge from learned agnostics and get away from the speculation of the tabloids.

A fascinating and fun farce
-this review features extensive spoilers-
"History" written by whom?
This book struck me because it appears to address a wide issue in depth.Unfortunately, the introduction only gives a few brief details about the authors of the book, who include mainly interested writers, as far as I can tell.As a former history major, I have often come across examples of exhaustive research; unfortunately, this book cannot fall under that criterion.Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln are not trained scholars and their mildly critical perspective leads to some interesting logical jumps.Unfortunately, the authors will posit a claim with only one source to support their argument.This sort of specious scholarship allows the writer many freedoms in terms of the conclusions he can come to, because of the lack of acknowledgment of conflicting sources which would heap contrary evidence on his weak claims.Overall, the book is neither terribly interesting nor well-researched.This is like if the Da Vinci Code were a restaurant and Holy Blood, Holy Grail were the menu.It seems appetizing but there isn't any substance or sauce to entertain the taste-buds. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Bible - Controversial Speculation    2. Christianity - History - General    3. Europe - France    4. France    5. Grail    6. History    7. History - General History    8. Miscellanea    9. Religion    10. Religion / Christianity   

Reviews (4)

Ambiguities and the Fog of War
After the retreat from Dunkirk in 1940, Britain knew that it would be fighting again within Europe, but until an invasion could be made by regular forces, a secret war had to be waged.For this purpose the Special Operations Executive was formed, with the object of clandestine insertion of agents to oppose the advancement of the Nazis.It was a perilous assignment, and agents were told to expect a fifty-fifty chance of dying; as it turned out, they fared better, a 75% survival rate.The section of the SOE devoted to activities within France was the assignment of Vera Atkins, where she was staff officer to the head of the section.Atkins was devoted to the highly secret operation, and only recently have the truths about the work of the SOE (including its many failings) emerged.Atkins took many of the secrets to her grave when she died in 2000.Sarah Helm, an investigative reporter, was able to interview her two years before her death."She didn't tell me much," Helm says."She never told anybody much."There was, however, quite a story, and it involved Atkins's personal secrets as well as military ones.In _A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII_ (Nan A. Talese / Doubleday), Helm has described her efforts to understand the secrets in a long and frustrating search for what made the brilliant and wary Atkins averse, beyond all callings of duty, to letting some secrets go.
A brilliant account of SOE and one of its spies
I've read a lot about World War II and SOE, and this outshines most books. Ms. Helm puts human faces on the dead and betrayed agents, and doesn't mince words when it comes to skewering those who sent them to their deaths. This is brilliantly researched and written, provoking outrageous anger at the novice spy handlers who ignored numerous warnings that networks had been penetrated and who continued sending agents to horrible deaths in concentration camps. Further, it shows their callous nature in covering up their stupidity and never admitting mistakes. There are many lessons here for today's times. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It will stay with me for a long time.

The incredible tale of a true heroine
Both the NY Times (William Grimes) and the Washington Post highly praise this book. It tells the story of two great searches . The first is of the heroine of the book, Vera Atkins who after the War searches in Europe to learn of the fates of the 117 of 400 agents she had helped prepare for their missions of gathering Intelligence for Great Britain against the Nazis. The second is the search of the author Sarah Helm to get the details of the story of her subject, a research which also involved extraordinary effort.