Burn After Reading

Burn After Reading, first published in 1961, is an insider's look at the use of intelligence, espionage, and sabotage during the Second World War. Author Ladislas Farago, chief of research and planning in the U.S. Navy's Special Warfare Branch, describes activities of the Allies' organizations (such as the O.S.S., M.I.5, Deuxieme Bureau, various units in the Soviet Union, and others), as well as those of Germany and Japan. Many of the secret operations were critical to the success or failure of the war effort, and a high price was paid in terms of human lives lost as many spies and agents were captured, tortured, and executed. Hungarian-born Ladislas Farago wrote numerous books on the war and espionage, including an authoritative biography of General George Patton (1963). Farago passed away on October 15, 1980.