This “engrossing study” of invisible ink reveals 2,000 years of scoundrels, heroes and their ingenious methods for concealing messages (Kirkus). In Prisoners, Lovers, and Spies, Kristie Macrakis uncovers the secret history of invisible ink and the ingenious way everything from lemon juice to Gall-nut extract and even certain bodily fluids have been used to conceal and reveal covert communications. From Ancient Rome to the Cold War, spies have been imprisoned or murdered, adultery unmasked, and battles lost because of faulty or intercepted secret messages. Yet, successfully hidden writing has helped save lives, win battles, and ensure privacy—at times changing the course of history. Macrakis combines a storyteller’s sense of drama with a historian’s respect for evidence in this page-turning history of intrigue and espionage, love and war, magic and secrecy. From Ovid’s advice to use milk for illicit love notes, to John Gerard's dramatic escape from the Tower of London aided by orange juice ink messages, to al-Qaeda’s hidden instructions in pornographic movies, this book charts the evolution of secret messages and their impact on history. An appendix includes kitchen chemistry recipes for readers to try out at home.

A concise introduction to the history and methods of espionage, illustrated by spy stories from antiquity to today’s high-tech world. Espionage is one of the most secret of human activities. It is also, as the popularity of spy stories suggests, one of the most intriguing. This book pulls the veil back on the real world of espionage, revealing how spying actually works. In a refreshingly clear, concise manner, Kristie Macrakis guides readers through the shadowy world of espionage, from the language and practice of spycraft to its role in international politics, its bureaucratic underpinnings, and its transformation in light of modern technology. Espionage is a mirror of society and human foibles with the added cloak of secrecy and deception. Accordingly, Espionage traces spying all the way back to antiquity, while also moving beyond traditional accounts of military and diplomatic intelligence to shine a light on industrial espionage and the new techno-spy. As thorough—and thoroughly readable—as it is compact, the book is an ideal introduction to the history and anatomy of espionage.

The thrilling, true story of the race to find a leak in the United States Embassy in Moscow—before more American assets are rounded up and killed. Foreword by Gen. Michael V. Hayden (Retd.), Former Director of NSA & CIA In the late 1970s, the National Security Agency still did not officially exist—those in the know referred to it dryly as the No Such Agency. So why, when NSA engineer Charles Gandy filed for a visa to visit Moscow, did the Russian Foreign Ministry assert with confidence that he was a spy? Outsmarting honey traps and encroaching deep enough into enemy territory to perform complicated technical investigations, Gandy accomplished his mission in Russia, but discovered more than State and CIA wanted him to know. Eric Haseltine's The Spy in Moscow Station tells of a time when—much like today—Russian spycraft had proven itself far beyond the best technology the U.S. had to offer. The perils of American arrogance mixed with bureaucratic infighting left the country unspeakably vulnerable to ultra-sophisticated Russian electronic surveillance and espionage. This is the true story of unorthodox, underdog intelligence officers who fought an uphill battle against their own government to prove that the KGB had pulled off the most devastating penetration of U.S. national security in history. If you think "The Americans" isn't riveting enough, you'll love this toe-curling nonfiction thriller.

D-Dag var ikke kun et resultat af synlige militære operationer, men også i høj grad af efterretningsvæsen og dobbeltagenter

To unmask a CIA mole, John Wells must resume his old undercover identity as an al Qaeda jihadi—and hope he can survive it—in this cutting-edge novel from #1 New York Times-bestselling author Alex Berenson. It is the most dangerous mission of John Wells’s career... Evidence is mounting that someone high up in the CIA is doing the unthinkable—passing messages to ISIS, alerting them to planned operations. Finding out the mole’s identity without alerting him, however, will be very hard, and to accomplish it, Wells will have to do something he thought he’d left behind forever. He will have to reassume his former identity as an al Qaeda jihadi, get captured, and go undercover to befriend an ISIS prisoner in a secret Bulgarian prison. Many years before, Wells was the only American agent ever to penetrate al Qaeda, but times have changed drastically. The terrorist organizations have multiplied: gotten bigger, crueler, more ambitious and powerful. Wells knows it may well be his death sentence. But there is no one else.

The incredible true story of the first four Nazi spies to infiltrate British soil is revealed in this WWII history. After the swift takeover of France and the Low Countries, Nazi Germany was on the crest of a wave. Only the United Kingdom stood in its way. Hitler quickly devised plans for the invasion of England, codenamed Operation Sealion. To lay the groundwork, a team of spies would be sent in advance to act as pathfinders for the incoming forces. Codenamed Operation Lena, this phase of the plan was considered a suicide mission by German military intelligence. They had only thirty days to recruit and train agents who had a less than convincing grasp of English language or customs. Hitler’s Spies revels the story of the first four agents to arrive on English soil—collectively known by MI5 as “The Brussels Four.” Using a wealth of primary materials, including newly declassified sources, Mel Kavanagh sheds light on one of the most audacious yet little-known operations of the Second World War, in which undertrained men were sent behind enemy lines at a time when Britain was gripped by spy paranoia.