A Bounty of Books

Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War by Ben Macintyre is a fascinating look at the beginning of modern special forces as the western world knows them.

The men who created the Britain's Special Air Service were rugged, action oriented men who had little patience for bureaucracy that kept them from the battlefield. David Stirling was part of a unit that was supposed to act as a commando unit but was constantly standing down before actually going on missions due to one bureaucratic reason after another. Frustrated, Stirling sought and got permission to form a unit of his own. It was much smaller and while the hierarchy was sometimes murky at the beginning, operational control would at first remain with Stirling. This unit was formed specifically to attack Rommel and his forces from behind enemy lines. They were successful not only in causing physical destruction on the North African front, but psychological terror as well.

The specifics of how exactly that all came together as well as how the SAS transferred from North Africa to Europe is the content that makes up Rogue Heroes. Certain men who played a bigger role are given more space while others just have their name listed. However, there is a full honor roll in the back with the names and ranks of all the men involved in the original unit. Rogue Heroes also includes many photos of some of the main men as well as some from the SAS diary.

All in all, Rogue Heroes is a fast paced story about men who stood tall in WWII and changed the face of modern warfare. Macintrye's writing flows well and is easy to follow along with. He makes complicated topics easy to understand and allows the reader to almost feel as though one is part of the original SAS crew. Anyone interested in military, WWII, or special ops history will find Rogue Heroes a fascinating and satisfying read.

Blogging for Books provided this book to me for free in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre is a fascinating read about the duplicity of the most successful double agent of WWII and the Cold War. This non-fiction account written in narrative style takes the reader on a journey through Philby's life as a career MI6 agent who sent every secret that came his way to Russian intelligence.

Philby lived an incredible life full of colorful characters. Macintrye chooses to frame his telling of this life with a friendship - that of Kim Philby and fellow MI6 agent Nicholas Elliott. Throughout their entire career, Elliott was Philby's most faithful supporter and friend, even during the later years that were full of suspicion and accusations. A Spy Among Friends, a title with a clever hidden meaning, traces Philby's development from a communist sympathizer in college to a full blown double agent whose deception led to hundreds of deaths and unsuccessful missions to thwart communism. For the first twenty or so years of his career, not one person suspected his deception as he moved up the ranks of MI6.

I have never heard of Ben Macintyre before, but after reading this, I am a huge fan. This wasn't just a good book; it was a great read. It was factual and informative, but read like a best-selling novel. Macintyre's choice to frame the story of Philby's life in his friendship with Nicholas Elliott makes the reader feel the impact of Philby's betrayal on a more visceral level. Though I knew the outcome from the start, I found myself amazed at the culture of MI6 that allowed Philby access to so many more secrets than he would have had from just his own work. This same culture averted suspicion from Philby and allowed him to escape several close calls.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in WWII or Cold War history, as well as anyone interested in spycraft or its history. I plan on finding Ben Macintyre's other books and throroughly enjoying them while also learning as much as I did while reading A Spy Among Friends.

Blogging for Books provided this book to me for free in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255