Overview

"Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize Finalist * A New Yorker ""Best Books of the Year"" selection “Need to Know is the most thorough and detailed history available on the origins of U.S. intelligence.” —Michael Morell, former Deputy Director and Acting Director, CIA Historian and former CIA officer Nicholas Reynolds, the New York Times bestselling author of Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy, uncovers the definitive history of American intelligence during World War II, illuminating its key role in securing victory and its astonishing growth from practically nothing at the start of the war.  The entire vast, modern American intelligence system—the amalgam of three-letter spy services of many stripes—can be traced back to the dire straits the world faced at the dawn of World War II. Prior to 1940, the United States had no organization to recruit spies and steal secrets or launch covert campaigns against enemies overseas and just a few codebreakers, isolated in windowless vaults. It was only through Winston Churchill’s determination to mobilize the US in the fight against Hitler that the first American spy service was born, built from scratch against the background of the Second World War. In Need to Know, Nicholas Reynolds explores the birth, infancy, and adolescence of modern American intelligence. In this first-ever look across the entirety of the war effort, Reynolds combines little-known history and gripping spy stories to analyze the origins of American codebreakers and spies as well as their contributions to Allied victory, revealing how they laid the foundation for the Cold War—and beyond."

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9780062967473

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Reviews

[A] vast, complex, character-rich history. ... A comprehensive, authoritative examination of the genesis of America's national security apparatus. - Kirkus Reviews

Important.... Reynolds, a former curator at the CIA Museum, demonstrates that Hemingway was afraid the FBI might uncover a dirty little secret he had hidden for more than 20 years: In 1940 he had agreed to assist the NKVD, the Soviet Union's foreign intelligence agency. -- <em>Wall Street Journal </em>on<em> Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy </em> Nicholas Reynolds's fascinating new research in Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy shows that [Hemingway] was in fact working for both the Russians and the Americans. -- New York Review of Books Reynolds looks among the shadows and finds a Hemingway not seen before. -- <em>London Review of Books </em>on <em>Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy </em> [A] fresh account.... Reynolds knows how to find the bodies buried deep within government archives, and the material he references on Hemingway is disturbing.... An engrossing read for Hemingway buffs as well as casual readers, Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy adds more fascinating details to a life that remains continually fascinating. -- <em>Minneapolis Star Tribune</em> You'd think it might be hard to find new insights into one of the most famous lives in literature, but Nicholas Reynolds's new book does just that. Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy reveals a secret that a writer who striped them from the lives of others concealed in his own: that he offered to be a spy for the Soviet intelligence and tried to spy for the U.S., too, during World War II. ... I'm fascinated. -- Scott Simon, NPR's Weekend Edition

Need to Know is the most thorough and detailed history available on the origins of U.S. intelligence. I expect it to become part of the required reading for university classes on intelligence for some time to come. Kudos to Nick Reynolds for giving us Need to Know. - Michael Morell, Former Deputy Director and Acting Director, CIA [A] vast, complex, character-rich history. ... A comprehensive, authoritative examination of the genesis of America's national security apparatus. - Kirkus Reviews An exhaustively researched critical history of American military intelligence from 1940 to the beginning of the Cold War. ... Reynolds's scrupulous and well-rounded approach reveals the good, the bad, and the reckless in the early days of U.S. intelligence. Espionage buffs will be fascinated. - Publishers Weekly Reynolds masterfully synthesizes the contributions of a number of consequential figures to the burgeoning intelligence industry that WWII bequeathed to modern America. - Booklist Based on extensive primary research, this striking and compelling account should be read by anybody interested in the development of U.S. intelligence agencies and special operations during World War II. - Library Journal

Author Information

Nicholas Reynolds has worked in the fields of modern military history and intelligence off and on for forty years, with some unusual detours. Freshly minted PhD from Oxford University in hand, he joined the United States Marine Corps in the 1970s, serving as an infantry officer and then as a historian. As a colonel in the reserves, he eventually became officer in charge of field history, deploying historians around the world to capture history as it was being made. When not on duty with the USMC, he served as a CIA officer at home and abroad, immersing himself in the very human business of espionage. Most recently, he was the historian for the CIA Museum, responsible for developing its strategic plan and helping to turn remarkable artifacts into compelling stories. He currently teaches as an adjunct professor for Johns Hopkins University and, with his wife, Becky, cares for rescue pugs.

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