Agent Zigzag
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.
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What Hacker News says
- Writer Ben Macintyre has written extensively, and lucidly, about deception campaigns of WWI. Agent Zigzag, Operation Mincemeat, and Double Cross all capture the efforts made by the British and its allies. No individual operation swung it but there was an amalgamation of disinformation on various fronts. It’s hard to put a tangible outcome, other than intercepted messages did show the Germans were giving the disinformation due consideration.
I highly recommend any of Ben Macintyre’s books as they’re hugely accessible.
- I think a couple of Macintyre's other works even top The Spy and the Traitor in terms of "craziness". Particularly Agent Zigzag and Operation Mincemeat (out of those I've read). They're both thoroughly worth a read if you enjoyed this one.
- Jungle Soldier - story of Freddie Spencer Chapman (like Lawrence of Arabia, but even better story)
Left to Tell - Immaculée Ilibagiza's life, story of survival of the Rwandan Genocide and a tale of how to live on after such tragedy and how to forgive the unforgiveable.
Longitude - essentially a biography of John Harrison, the man who solved the longitude problem (and probably thereby made the success of the British Empire)
X, Y & Z - a brilliant biography of all the French, English and Polish codebreakers of WW2
Agent Zigzag - the story of the man who betrayed everyone and could possibly have killed Hitler if he was allowed
William Pitt the Younger (Robin Reilly) - possibly one of the most difficult periods in British History saw one of the best British Prime Ministers to date
Kukuczka - the story of how he became one of the world's most impressive climbers despite communist oppression
The Galileo Affair: A Documentary History - a highly interesting book that brings the necessary documents to the table to help understand a topic that is often treated in a very facile way
Ivan III and the Unification of Russia - a great book for understanding the basis on which Russia was built
Xenophon's Anabasis - what a load of fun. How to lead a failed army back home and gorge on mad honey
- I recently read "Dreaming the Beatles: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World" by Rob Sheffield (after reading a review of it by Tyler Cowen[1]).
I was not a big Beatles fan when I read it (but I'm a bit more of a fan now), but I found the book very interesting, especially on the impact they had.
Other good ones I've read recently:
Agent Zigzag by Ben Macintyre - the true story of a British double agent during WWII. Like someone said - it wouldn't have worked if it was fiction, because it is too unbelievable.
Nomad by Alan Partridge - hilarious spoof in documentary style - similar to the humor in The Office.
[1] https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2017/05/dr...
- MacIntyre also wrote Agent Zigzag about Eddie Chapman [1]. Recommended if you like WWII espionage, double agents etc.
- All of Ben's books are amazing. Check Agent ZigZag out. I've read it like 4 times. Such an amazing fun story. http://www.amazon.com/Agent-Zigzag-Story-Espionage-Betrayal-...
