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HOLIDAY SPECIAL REPORT – On this season of giving, your pleasant neighborhood Cipher Temporary “Undercover” staff – which spends the majority of the yr publishing guide critiques and interviews with authors and publishers – presents our annual listing of books to contemplate if you find yourself shopping for for the buddy who has the whole lot or the member of the family who’s actually fascinated with intelligence, overseas coverage, nationwide safety, and/or spy fiction. Our listing additionally may be helpful if you happen to’re seeking to drop some hints to Santa for stuff you’d like to search out in your individual stocking this yr.
WHERE TO BEGIN?
The plain place to start out is within the guide overview part of The Cipher Temporary. Throughout 2023, we revealed critiques of 45 books. That variety of books is just too unwieldy for this listing, so we thought we’d pare it down and deal with these which earned the best honors of three.5 or 4 Trench Coats (The Cipher Temporary’s score system for singling out excellence.) However even that didn’t put a lot of a dent within the workload – since 27 of our 45 books scored these highest rankings.
Editor’s be aware: the Trench Coat rankings are solely decided by our volunteer reviewers – so your mileage might differ. It’s possible you’ll love a guide that solely snared two Trench Coats from our reviewer – or hate one which earned 4. However Cipher Temporary reviewers carry a wealth of expertise and an eagle eye to the method, so we suspect you’re prone to agree.
Whereas we don’t have the bandwidth to summarize even 27 books, listed below are some standouts that our reviewers cherished essentially the most. The vast majority of the books we reviewed had been non-fiction – so let’s flip that on its head and begin with some stellar novels.
OUR FAVORITE FICTION BOOKS
Cipher Temporary knowledgeable and veteran CIA Russia hand Paul Kolbe actually favored the most recent novel from former CIA analyst David McCloskey known as Moscow X. In Paul’s overview he wrote that he was “intrigued by and in the end immersed, in a terrific plot seasoned with basic tradecraft, new methodologies and compelling characters.” If you’re intrigued by McCloskey – take a look at the interview he did with us for our Cowl Tales podcast.
We turned to Rob Richer, a former high-ranking CIA clandestine service officer (and Cipher Temporary knowledgeable) with tons of expertise within the Center East to overview The Peacock and the Sparrow a novel written by one other former CIA officer, I.S. Berry. Richer praised Berry’s skill to seize the “political complexity and inner sensitivities” of Bahrain and prose so sharp readers can “see the streets described of their thoughts’s eye, to sense the environment, and (even) think about the smells.”
The Cipher Temporary has on name, Dr. Ken Dekleva, a former State Division Regional Medical Officer/Psychiatrist, to assist us overview a number of espionage novels. He awarded The Useless Drop by James Roth, a stable 3.5 trench coats. That guide is a couple of northern Virginia teenager who stumbles throughout a lifeless drop that results in a fancy story of KGB vs CIA chilly battle espionage.
Earlier within the yr, Dr. Dekleva reviewed: A True American Patriot: A Novel by retired CIA officer Dan O’Connor. The novel has two protagonists – “Doc” – who Dekleva describes as a combination of “Secret Service agent and CIA paramilitary officer” and “the Professor” who’s “gifted in math, physics, unique overseas languages, and diplomacy.” Collectively they confront terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and extra. By the way in which, we flip to Dr. Dekleva not simply due to his skill to research the personalities of the characters within the books he critiques – however he’s additionally a novelist on his personal proper having written The Negotiators Cross and The Final Violinist.
WHAT ABOUT NON-FICTION?
There are such a lot of good titles to select from. Calder Walton, Assistant Director of the Harvard Middle’s Utilized Historical past and Intelligence initiatives, was out with Spies: The Epic Intelligence Warfare Between East and West this summer season, so we turned to Daniel Hoffman, a former senior CIA officer, three-time station chief and Cipher Temporary knowledgeable to interrupt it down for us. Dan discovered it to be a “fascinating historical past of cloak and dagger espionage” which “lifts the veil on the multifarious clandestine operations Russia and the West carried out in opposition to each other for over a century.” If you wish to know extra about how that guide got here to be, Walder reveals a number of the secrets and techniques of his scholarship on this Cowl Tales podcast.
Then there was a guide by Andrew Hoehn and Thom Shanker, Age of Hazard, the place they clear up the straightforward downside talked about within the subtitle of “Retaining America Secure in an Period of New Superpowers, New Weapons, and New Threats.” George Galdorisi, a former naval officer and bestselling creator of fiction and non-fiction in his personal proper, reviewed the guide for us and known as it a “clear-headed and well-reasoned argument that the U.S. coverage, intelligence and army constructions, lots of which date again to the tip of World Warfare II, are now not sufficient to take care of in the present day’s, and particularly tomorrow’s, threats.” Simply kidding about that “easy answer” half. However if you wish to know extra about Age of Hazard take a look at our interview with the authors for the Cowl Tales podcast again in Could.
That leads us to the just lately revealed: Battle: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine written by retired 4-star common (and Cipher Temporary knowledgeable) David Petraeus and British historian Lord Andrew Roberts. We leaned on the experience of Ben Griffin, the Chief of the Army Historical past Division of the U.S. Army Academy, for his tackle the guide. He discovered it a “thought-provoking guide which is able to attraction to policymakers, army leaders, and people within the examine of battle and technique.”
One other fan favourite is By All Means Accessible: Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Particular Operations and Technique by Cipher Temporary Skilled Dr. Michael Vickers. Cipher Temporary COO Brad Christian cherished the guide a lot that he’s hoping Vickers will run for president.
A recurring theme in a number of the books we reviewed was the position of girls in intelligence and army operations. A lot of these roles had been laudatory – like these described in Valiant Girls: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World Warfare II by Lena Andrews, which was reviewed for us by former senior CIA officer (and TCB knowledgeable) Linda Weissgold, and Girls in Intelligence: The Hidden Historical past of Two World Wars by Helen Fry – which was reviewed by the aforementioned Lena Andrews (an instance of how we attempt to faucet the deep experience of parents to overview books for us.)
Different ladies who had been topics of books reviewed in The Cipher Temporary weren’t worthy of emulating – for instance Ana Montes, a Protection Intelligence Company official (reviewed right here) who spied for Cuba and was the topic of two books reviewed in TCB: Code Title Blue Wren by Jim Popkin (who additionally joined us on this Cowl Tales podcast) and “Queen of Cuba” by former FBI particular agent Pete Lapp, which was reviewed for us by retired CIA senior counterintelligence government (and Cipher Temporary knowledgeable) Mark Kelton.
We may go on and on about some nice – and practically nice — books reviewed in The Cipher Temporary – however time, house and vitality counsel we cease right here. However to search out different books that suit your private pursuits – or these of your present recipients – take a look at the cabinets filled with books reviewed over the previous yr and earlier than at this hyperlink.
WHAT’S NEW IN 2024?
We’re so glad you requested. There are some attention-grabbing new books popping out within the new yr that we’re trying ahead to studying (and reviewing).
In early January search for God, Weapons, and Sedition: Far-Proper Terrorism in America by Cipher Temporary knowledgeable Bruce Hoffman and Jacob Ware (reviewed by Philip Mudd.) In February, search for The Beverly Hills Spy: The Double-Agent Warfare Hero Who Helped Japan Assault Pearl Harbor by Ronald Drabkin (reviewed by TCB knowledgeable Joe Augustyn).
Later that month, there shall be The Achilles Lure: Saddam Hussen, The CIA, and the Origins of America’s Invasion of Iraq by Steve Coll, and March will see the publication of 2054: A Novel, a futuristic take a look at synthetic intelligence mixed with a violent partisan divide sooner or later may result in an existential risk to America. That guide is by Cipher Temporary knowledgeable Admiral James Stavridis and Elliot Ackerman.
Inside the listing above, are simply a number of the nice books we’ve got reviewed in The Cipher Temporary. To search out the entire listing going again some 5 years – go to our web site. And don’t neglect to subscribe to the Cowl Tales podcast, the place we do interviews with authors, publishers, brokers and Hollywood movers and shakers.
ONE MORE THING
Should you assume you could have the chops to be a Cipher Temporary reviewer – drop us a be aware. Tell us of your pursuits and space of specialty in an electronic mail to: [email protected].
You don’t should have a selected forthcoming guide in thoughts – simply tell us that you’re and we’ll attempt to match up the correct books with the correct potential reviewers.
Try our Reviewer Pointers.
You’ll be aware that we at all times attempt to discover reviewers with deep experience and pursuits of their very own to match that of the books’ authors. Should you assume you could have what it takes to be a Cipher Temporary reviewer, electronic mail us at [email protected].
We’ve bought loads of good books (and some dangerous ones) on the horizon – and wish good reviewers to assist us type them out.
Full disclosure: The Cipher Temporary participates within the Amazon Associates program and should make a small fee from purchases made by way of hyperlinks. That doesn’t change the worth you pay – we simply get a really, very small slice of Jeff Bezos’ income.
Learn extra expert-driven nationwide safety insights, perspective and evaluation in The Cipher Temporary as a result of Nationwide Safety is Everybody’s Enterprise
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