Praise for “Hoover’s Secret War Against Axis Spies”
“J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI had a busy Second World War. There were vicious battles against Britain’s MI-6, America’s OSS, the War Department and grasping double agents. Then there were the Germans and the Japanese. Raymond Batvinis recounts this history with the insight of someone who has himself been in the game. . . . an important contribution to the literature.”—Mark E. Stout, Director of Global Security Studies, Johns Hopkins University and former Historian, International Spy Museum
“Hoover’s War is a well-researched investigation into a little known aspect of American intelligence in the Second World War. Every chapter breaks new ground. It will be a welcome addition to the book shelves of all intelligence historians.”—David Alvarez, author of Secret Messages: Codebreaking and American Diplomacy, 1930-1945 and Spies in the Vatican: Espionage and Intrigue from Napoleon to the Holocaust
“A welcome addition to the literature on both the FBI and the World War II era, Batvinis’s book provides new information about how FBI counterintelligence and counterespionage operations against Nazi Germany during World War II transformed the FBI’s culture and capabilities.”—Athan Theoharis, author of The FBI and American Democracy: A Brief Critical History
“Raymond Batvinis recounts equally thrilling stories of international intrigue as the FBI, working alongside other US government elements and allies, sought to overcome Germany’s efforts to disrupt and defeat its war effort in the US before and during the war. They will transfix the reader to the book’s pages much as the writings of the great spy novelists. However, unlike the novelists’ works, Batvinis’ accounts are not amusements, but discussions of real cases of a struggle between adversaries filled with lessons on counterintelligence (spycatching) as well as counterespionage (turning enemy agents against their spymasters). The stories present the thought provoking, sometimes absurd, and often horrifying realities of spycatching and turning spies into double-agents. The history is not presented as nostalgia, but as a text on a unique aspect of the intelligence war against Germany, and to a lesser extent, Japan, from which valuable lessons can be drawn.”—GreatCharlie.com
“Mr. Batvinis’ book is a splendid account of the FBI’s contribution to victory in World War II. Five cloaks, five daggers.” —Joseph C. Goulden. author of 18 nonfiction books, in the Washington Times Read full review
“Hoover’s Secret War” offers fascinating details about FBI espionage and counter-espionage operations during a deadly period in modern history.” —David Aikman is the author, most recently, of The Mirage of Peace: Understanding the Never-Ending Conflict in the Middle East Read full review
“As a retired member of the US Intelligence Community, I found Ray Batvinis’ Hoover’s Secret War Against Axis Spies: FBI Counterespionage During World War II a refreshing history, and a revealing documentary of little-known WW II intelligence facts (some apparently published for the first time). For those who love spy tales, the book is replete with real-life cases of Nazi spies intercepted and turned into double agents by the FBI and its British colleagues. . . . . Hoover’s Secret War goes beyond solid scholarship and provides an eminently readable, richly detailed narrative, which allows the reader to see the war through the eyes of counterespionage in the Allies’ camp. Not only is this book a must-read for both fledgling or old-hand intelligence professionals, but its contribution to the secret history of WW II is significant, as a key foundation to understanding the truth of the war’s counterespionage.” —Edward J. Appel Sr, retired senior FBI Supervisory Special Agent and Director of Counterintelligence and Security Programs at the National Security Council Read full review
“Hoover’s Secret War Against Axis Spies is a monumental book, breaking new ground in the field of secret intelligence. . . . I strongly suspect Batvinis will write a third book, covering the early years of the Cold War. When complete, that body of work should stand alongside Rick Atkinson’s Liberation trilogy as an essential source for anyone interested in America’s soldiers and spies.”—Tim Weiner, a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize recipient, has written extensively about American intelligence. He is the author of Enemies: A History of the FBI. Read full review