Ben Macintyre
Hardcover | Pages: 364 pages Rating: 4.09 | 11620 Users | 1136 Reviews
Point Books As Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
| Original Title: | Agent Zigzag The True Wartime Story of Eddie Chapman: Lover, Betrayer, Hero, Spy |
| ISBN: | 0307353400 (ISBN13: 9780307353405) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Explanation During Books Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
Eddie Chapman was a charming criminal, a con man, and a philanderer. He was also one of the most remarkable double agents Britain has ever produced. Inside the traitor was a man of loyalty; inside the villain was a hero. The problem for Chapman, his spymasters, and his lovers was to know where one persona ended and the other began.In 1941, after training as a German spy in occupied France, Chapman was parachuted into Britain with a revolver, a wireless, and a cyanide pill, with orders from the Abwehr to blow up an airplane factory. Instead, he contacted MI5, the British Secret Service. For the next four years, Chapman worked as a double agent, a lone British spy at the heart of the German Secret Service who at one time volunteered to assassinate Hitler for his countrymen. Crisscrossing Europe under different names, all the while weaving plans, spreading disinformation, and, miraculously, keeping his stories straight under intense interrogation, he even managed to gain some profit and seduce beautiful women along the way.
The Nazis feted Chapman as a hero and awarded him the Iron Cross. In Britain, he was pardoned for his crimes, becoming the only wartime agent to be thus rewarded. Both countries provided for the mother of his child and his mistress. Sixty years after the end of the war, and ten years after Chapman’s death, MI5 has now declassified all of Chapman’s files, releasing more than 1,800 pages of top secret material and allowing the full story of Agent Zigzag to be told for the first time.
A gripping story of loyalty, love, and treachery, Agent Zigzag offers a unique glimpse into the psychology of espionage, with its thin and shifting line between fidelity and betrayal.
Mention Regarding Books Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
| Title | : | Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal |
| Author | : | Ben Macintyre |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 364 pages |
| Published | : | September 4th 2007 by Crown |
| Categories | : | Nonfiction. History. Biography. War. World War II. Spy Thriller. Espionage |
Rating Regarding Books Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
Ratings: 4.09 From 11620 Users | 1136 ReviewsCriticize Regarding Books Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
On my way to work, a co-worker asked me what I was reading so avidly. I replied "Agent ZigZag. It's about a British bank robber who is stuck in WWII occupied Europe, volunteers to be a spy for the Germans, parachutes into Britain and immediately calls MI5 to volunteer to work for them instead.""So fiction then." my co-worker replied."No way, they can't write fiction this absurd. It'd never get published." (in a later chapter, an MI5 interrogator wrote almost that same line into Eddie Chapman'sAgent Zigzag is my first book by Ben Macintyre, but I am curious to read more by him. He has the ability to make a nonfiction account read like an engaging novel. The story of Eddie Chapman, spy and double agent during the Second World War was new to me, and it held my attention from start to finish. Recommended!Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com
This was such a fascinating read. By recounting the (mis)adventures of Eddie Chapman a roue, cad, and small time thief who finds himself in the wrong place at the right time, this biography of a double agent shows the inner workings of the German and British spy networks during WWII. Just when you begin to get caught up in the romance and adventure of Chapman's exploits, MacIntyre brings in images of the horrors of concentration camps, the destruction of Germany's most beautiful towns and
John le Carre perfectly described this book, "Superb. Meticulously researched, splendidly told, immensely entertaining, and often very moving." I'll just add that this is one helluva book. It made me laugh, it broke my heart and it blew my mind away. Ben Macintyre is the kind of storyteller that I can only dream of becoming. Zigzag is, by himself a highly entertaining and compelling character, but he truly came alive for me with this book. And although a complicated story that was undoubtedly
Quite an adventure! Eddie Chapman was charming, handsome, smart, cunning and manipulative and able to play both ends against the middle. To this day no one is sure how he really played the game, although Great Britain benefited the most from Eddie's talents....that is with the exception of Eddie himself.A word should be said about Britain's MI5 unit. After reading this book and Operation Mincemeat by the same author, it would appear that Great Britain had the best Military Intelligence unit in
A rip roaring read of the underworld of London in the 30s and of the subsequent career in spying as a double agent by a member of that underworld. Not sure how well the author checked all his facts, for instance he credits one of the characters in the book with inventing the penny box for automated entry into public conveniences when it was actually invented by the characters grandfather, however, I think this can be overlooked. Recommended but not worth 5 stars - perhaps 4.5 though!
15/10 - A fascinating tale of British and German espionage during WWII. The quote from John Le Carre on the front cover, describing the book as"Superb. Meticulously researched, splendidly told, immensely entertaining and often very moving."is absolutely correct. I did find the story 'moving', but mostly only in that the treatment of Chapman by his second handler, after Reed was sent to France, was atrocious and mostly inspired by what I see as Ryde's jealousy over Chapman's success with women
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