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Man Called Intrepid: The Incredible WWII Narrative Of The Hero Whose Spy Network And Secret Diplomacy Changed The Course Of History Paperback – Illustrated, September 24, 2009

by William Stevenson (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 921 ratings
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A classic about real-life WWII espionage, as conducted by its modern master

*

A Man Called Intrepid is the classic true story of Sir William Stephenson (codenamed Intrepid) and the spy network he founded that would ultimately stall the Nazi war machine and help win World War II. Ian Fleming, bestselling author of the James Bond novels, once remarked, “James Bond is a highly romanticized version of a true spy. The real thing is William Stephenson.”

Illustrated with thirty-two pages of black-and-white photographs, this book describes the infamous “Camp X” spy training center in Ontario, Canada; the breaking of the Ultra Code used by Enigma; and countless tales of assassinations, clandestine activities, guerrilla armies, resistance support, and suicide missions. This modern classic, which reads like fiction, was a national bestseller when first published in 1976.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    560 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Lyons Press
  4. Publication date
    September 24, 2009
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.25 x 8.75 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    159921170X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1599211701
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review




“James Bond is a highly romanticized version of a true spy. The real thing is William Stephenson.”
—Ian Fleming, bestselling author of the James Bond novels





“An adventure story of monumental proportions.”
—NBC News

“A splendid book. Rich in information. . . . profound in its implications.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“An intriguing story of secret actions against the backdrop of great events.”
—Washington Post

“As long as Americans value courage and freedom there will be a special place in our hearts, our minds, and our history books for the ‘Man Called Intrepid.’”
—Ronald Reagan




From the Back Cover

A classic about real-life WWII espionage, as conducted by its modern master

“James Bond is a highly romanticized version of a true spy. The real thing is William Stephenson.”
―Ian Fleming, bestselling author of the James Bond novels


“A splendid book. Rich in information. . . . profound in its implications.”
―San Francisco Chronicle


“As long as Americans value courage and freedom there will be a special place in our hearts, our minds, and our history books for the ‘Man Called Intrepid.' ”
―Ronald Reagan


A Man Called Intrepid is the true story of Sir William Stephenson (code-named Intrepid) and the spy network he founded that would ultimately stall the Nazi war machine and help win World War II. Illustrated with thirty-two pages of black-and-white photographs, it describes the infamous “Camp X” spy training center in Ontario, Canada; the breaking of the Ultra Code used by Enigma; and countless tales of assassinations, clandestine activities, guerrilla armies, resistance support, and suicide missions. This modern classic, which reads like fiction, was a national bestseller when first published in 1976.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lyons Press; Illustrated edition (September 24, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 560 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 159921170X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1599211701
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.6 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.25 x 8.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 921 ratings

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STEVENSON,William,

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
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Top reviews from the United States

Steve Reed
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the BEST Reads
Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2024
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An amazing journey! This is my internet go to. I want to pick it up everyday but read other books and this book is so well written and full of so much incredible detail regarding pure WW2 through the 1970’s with such an incredible story. I put it down and come back to it often. It’s like a docu-series 8 part mini series streaming. Vividly described, real story that few know. It will not disappoint!
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Clay Garner
5.0 out of 5 stars ''First time in history, we see everywhere the means of conveying information - and everywhere we seem in greater darkness.''
Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2016
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Last page: ''Strong armies would have been useless without that deeper commitment to principles. The human race came very close to falling into a dark age. The same spirit still lives. Perhaps it survives only through struggle. It's needed now to recreate an alliance in defense of the main priorities of Westen Civilization.'' (470)

Reads like a good novel. Serious but not pedantic. Explains the role of the 'secret' world of spies and assassination. However the primary focus is the role and use of ultra, the intelligence code breakers of England. Not a biography of a man, but a biography of an organization.

Point of Departure
A Forward by Intrepid
A Break in the Silence
A Historical Note

1. In Time of peace
2. Fight On
3. Impeachable Offences
4. Cry, ''Havoc!''
5. The End of the Beginning

Epilogue
A View from Another Island
Valediction

In the forward - ''When the history of World War 2 is revised in the light of the secret war, this may be the most striking element: the great engines of destruction did not determine the outcome. The invincibility of free people and the ingenuity of free minds did. I believe this as I believe today that the spirit of human resistance refuses to be crushed by mere technology. . . . Perhaps a day will dawn when tyrants can no longer threaten the Liberty if any people, when the function of all nations, however varied their ideologies, will be to enhance life, not to control it.''

This written in 1976. Control is still the goal. Amazing.

Intrepid comments: ''It has been claimed that human progress depends on challenge, that individuals and nations need to believe in causes and struggle for them. Some theorists have extended this application of instinctual behavior to account for the periodic wholesale slaughter we call ''war''. . . . What seems poignantly evident to me is that humankind already has awesome enemies to engage - poverty, disease, and ignorance, for example - and in such common cause there is reward and glory for all.''

Perhaps this assumptions he accepts in this heartfelt expression provides a clue.

1) Dividing individuals into ''nations'' - accepting nationalism as fundamental.
2) ''Instinctual behavior'' - implying humans are animals.
3) People need a ''common cause'' - suggesting goals imposed by others.
4) Also, that ''glory'' for self or group needs to be provided.

These assumptions so deep rooted he can't even imagine that these could cause the problem he hates.

Four men play key roles in this story - Stephenson, Donovan, Roosevelt and Churchill.

Donovan went to Germany in 1920. ''His carefully documented notes on Germany dwelt upon the dangerous mood of self-pity induced by the notion that German leaders had never actually surrendered and were therefore still unbeaten.'' (20)

Churchill understood this.

An American poet wrote after WW1: ''The most tragic thing about the war was not that it made so many dead men, but that it destroyed the tragedy of death. Not only did the young suffer in the war, but so did every abstraction that would have sustained and given dignity to their suffering.'' (13)

Enigma, the machine the Germans and Japanese used to encode radio transmissions, is highlighted throughout as the key to allied victory. Why? The British broke the code. Much detail on how this was done. When researching enigma, Baruch recalled Stephenson this way:

''He was very serious, frightening even. He could think seven stages ahead of you. It was terrifying to watch. If he was absorbing information, not a muscle in his face moved, nor did his eyes shift around as you would expect from someone reflecting. . . . When he spoke, he cut clean through the matter. Never wasted a word.'' (39)

Fascinating man!

Years later he gave this formula for the best agents: ''Their response to danger is positive. In modern terms, they belong to the type A personality who has full control of himself although driven by great energy. The good agent starts out as a man who chose action over inaction but who learns to control his impulses and detach himself from a temporary reality in order to resume abstract thought.'' (195)

Many insights into public events. The role of Philiby in destroying the ability of the British to work with the Americans after the war. This was not discovered until he went to Russia. The huge cache of gold in the indies that is the true story behind Ian Fleming's Goldfinger. In fact, numerous references to Fleming and the source of many of his stories.

Rommel's african success was caused by breaking the British codes. Rommel read the daily battle plan each morning. Assassination of Heydrich. Explains Stalin's purge of 35,000 of his best officers during the war, due to forged documents created by the Nazi's. The role of Greta Garbo and the death of Leslie Howard are mentioned. The rescue of Bohr, etc., etc..

Anyone with curiosity about the underlying causes of public events will enjoy this. The strain and anguish of using secret information is explained. Adds depth to superficial knowledge. Well done.

Epilogue of ten pages. Thoughtful analysis of the war work. Author talking to Stephenson:

''For the first time in history, we see everywhere the means of conveying information - and everywhere we seem in greater darkness than before. Secrecy seems like a disease -''
''That might destroy us?''
''It seems a clear threat to the freedom we have.''
''More than half the world is under dictatorship,'' said Stephenson.
''Those people do not know what we call 'freedom'. Only sixty generations stretch back from you and me, here, to the dawn of Western history. Two world wars in this century remind us that 'civilized' Europe is the bat of an eye from the dark ages.'' (467)

What a profound thinker! Are we in the last days of this civilization?

Last page: ''Strong armies would have been useless without that deeper commitment to principles. The human race came very close to falling into a dark age. The same spirit still lives. Perhaps it survives only through struggle. It's needed now to recreate an alliance in defense of the main priorities of Westen Civilization.'' (470)

So true. Nevertheless, which principles are defended makes all the difference. Robespierre, Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin had principles. So did Cromwell, Wilberforce, Lincoln and Mandela. Which principles will survive?

Thirty two pages of black and white photographs. Thirteen page index.
26 people found this helpful
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Gloria Mitchell
5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible Story about a man who helped the Allies win WWII.
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2024
Verified Purchase
I read this book on my Kindle and it is such an important part of the history of WWII, I had to have a hard copy to keep....and re-read. Everyone interested in WWII should read this book. Everyone who cares about the future of America should read this book. If you like Ian Fleming's James Bond, you will like this book.
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s33flyer
4.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2014
Verified Purchase
Great book, long read. If you thought the James Bond books were "out there", well they are. But Ian Fleming worked in this organization and real life is more interesting than Flemings novels, which were inspired by his work with Intrepid. There were people licensed to kill and they operated around the world including the U.S. the main goal of Churchills organization was to work with Roosevelt to convince the U.S. to enter the war against Hitler. The thing that's interesting is Hitler solved these problems by declaring war on the U.S. he took Roosevelt off the hook. Anyway the Intrepid story is real life cloak and dagger and will be discouraging to people who actually believe that what they get from govt in their day to day lives is not a manipulated reality. Fascinating book about Britain doing what it had to do to survive and how they helped the U.S. into a war that Roosevelt, who while he wanted to help Britain was also concerned about being impeached by a congress that wanted nothing to do with war and believed as many Americans did with the fall of France, that Germany had already won and any support of Britain was wasted time and money.
2 people found this helpful
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MER
5.0 out of 5 stars Full of information
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2024
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I am still reading this book and it shares so much information about WWII, the advent of special forces, and the link between Britain and the United States. Great source for World War II buffs.
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Amy S. Neilson
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent! I grew up reading books about Word War 11 but of course didn't know this information.
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2024
Verified Purchase
Highly recommend. This book is very well written. Was not aware of this information. My father served in the Navy and some Interesting experiences he shared. Would loved to able to visit with him about this information.
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Vernon H. Messer
5.0 out of 5 stars A man called Intrepid that no one knows
Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2023
Verified Purchase
Even 78 years after the end of WWII, there are still fantastic stories and unremembered champions of honor that still emerge. Intrepid was the code name Winston Churchill assigned to William (Little Bill) Stevenson. Intrepid danced on a thin wire between Britain's and Churchill's effort to survive and overwhelm Hitler's Nazi drive to conquer Europe, and running a clandestine BSC intelligence operation in New York city to gain FDR's trust and covert military materiel assistance for the defeat of Hitler's plans. Intrepid worked tirelessly keeping a torid work schedule during the entire war...all without appearing to violate American laws and traditions. Intrepid artfully accomplished all of this with utmost confidence and strictest secrecy. After the war ended, Gen. Eisenhower commented that these covert allied operations in Nazi occupied nations and neutral kingdoms & nations (overseen by Intrepid) shortened WWII by 6-9 months. This costed many lives to do, but saved hundreds of thousands more lives from more years of combat operations. Read this book and be amazed at what truly great and honorable me and women look like. The author's name is Wm. Stevenson too, but that is only an act of fate..no relation to Intrepid.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Angela tasker
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read
Reviewed in Canada on February 12, 2024
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Good read.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Intrepid review
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 26, 2023
Verified Purchase
What an outstanding and brilliantly written non fiction book. It explains how the Allied and particularly British Intel services were designed and built to fight the Second World War ruthlessly and effectively. Every interconnection and relationship between personalities at ultra high levels to boots on the ground are explored and analysed in depth. A great testimony to our wartime intelligence services, which should be hailed as a masterpiece.
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shima
5.0 out of 5 stars 必読書
Reviewed in Japan on December 24, 2018
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主に欧州側と米国内の話だけど、当時の日本にとっても無関係ではない。
日本人も読むべき内容。
ただし、読めば分かるように、各国はあらゆる情報操作をしている。
本書の内容をそのまま事実として受け取ってはならないことも意味している。
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Greasy
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for all with interest in WWII
Reviewed in Australia on February 4, 2019
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There are so many staggering stories of heroism in this book, I could barely put it down from beginning to finish. I have read a lot of books about WWII but this book has expanded my knowledge and deepened my understanding of the sacrifices made by so many unknown people more than any other book I have read. I highly recommend this incredible historic masterpiece.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing story. Wonderfully researched and written.
Reviewed in Canada on January 29, 2022
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One of my top 10 books. Very relevant in today's highly charged political world. There is always more than meets the eye. A must read!
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