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The Game of the Foxes (1971)
Front Cover Book Details
Genre Non-Fiction
Subject Espionage, German - Great Britain; Espionage, German - United States; World War, 1939-1945 - Secret service - Germany
Publication Date 1/1/1971
Format Hardcover
Publisher David McKay Company Inc. New York
Language English
Extras Dust Jacket; Dust Jacket Cover
Personal Details
Acquire Date 6/10/2010
Condition Very Good/Good
Rating 0
Links Library of Congress
Product Details
LoC Classification D810.S7
Dewey 940.548/7/43
Edition Book Club Edition
No. of Pages 810
First Edition No
Rare No
Notes/Review
This book is subtitled "The Untold Story of German Espionage in the United States and Great Britain During World War II". This sells the book a bit short as there is a fair amount of information about German agents in Panama, Sweden, Turkey, Spain, and Portugal.

The German espionage apparatus comes across looking almost like a comedy of errors. The field wasn't taken seriously by the Nazis. Seems they didn't put much effort into training their spies, didn't support them in any material way, and generally ignored what they found unless it met Nazi leadership's preconceived notions.

There are lots of funny little tidbits as well. For instance, the British locked captured German spies in a facility that was formerly an insane asylum.

Any single book about the subject necessarily is only a shallow survey of the subject. For example, I read "Agent Zigzag" a while back. A fascinating story in book form that is given less than two pages here. I have no doubt that dozens of other characters introduced here in a few pages or less would be quite interesting if properly researched and narrated.