Joe Goulden is a good writer and an authority on espionage and intelligence. He used to review books for the Philadelphia Inquirer in the 1960s and he later became the Inquirer's Washington bureau chief.
I recently interviewed him for Counterterrorism magazine about espionage and terrorism.
He wrote a good review of SMERSH, a book I look forward to reading.
True, Ian Fleming used the little known (in the 1950s) Soviet organization for dramatic purposes in his James Bond thrillers.
Fleming wrote unabashedly for entertainment - his, as well as the readers - but with his knowledge of espionage gleaned during WWII, much of the 'incidental intelligence," as he called it, found in his thrillers was based on true events.
BTW, Fleming did not, as Goulden wrote, serve as a British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, also knwon as MI6) during WWII.
Fleming was a naval intelligence officer in WWII.
Of course, as the personal assistant to the director of Naval Intelligence, Fleming often worked with SIS officers.
Frank,
ReplyDeleteJoe Goulden is a good writer and an authority on espionage and intelligence. He used to review books for the Philadelphia Inquirer in the 1960s and he later became the Inquirer's Washington bureau chief.
I recently interviewed him for Counterterrorism magazine about espionage and terrorism.
He wrote a good review of SMERSH, a book I look forward to reading.
True, Ian Fleming used the little known (in the 1950s) Soviet organization for dramatic purposes in his James Bond thrillers.
Fleming wrote unabashedly for entertainment - his, as well as the readers - but with his knowledge of espionage gleaned during WWII, much of the 'incidental intelligence," as he called it, found in his thrillers was based on true events.
BTW, Fleming did not, as Goulden wrote, serve as a British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, also knwon as MI6) during WWII.
Fleming was a naval intelligence officer in WWII.
Of course, as the personal assistant to the director of Naval Intelligence, Fleming often worked with SIS officers.