The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington

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Dahl would soon be caught up in a complex web of deception masterminded by William Stephenson, aka Intrepid, Churchill's legendary spy chief, who, with President Roosevelt's tacit permission, mounted a secret campaign of propaganda and political subversion to weaken American isolationist forces, bring the country into the war against Germany, and influence U.S. policy in favor of England. Known as the British Security Coordination (BSC) -- though the initiated preferred to think of themselves as the Baker Street Irregulars in honor of the amateurs who aided Sherlock Holmes -- these audacious agents planted British propaganda in American newspapers and radio programs, covertly influenced leading journalists -- including Drew Pearson, Walter Winchell, and Walter Lippmann -- harassed prominent isolationists and anti-New Dealers, and plotted against American corporations that did business with the Third Reich.

In an account better than spy fiction, Jennet Conant shows Dahl progressing from reluctant diplomat to sly man-about-town, parlaying his morale-boosting wartime propaganda work into a successful career as an author, which leads to his entrée into the Roosevelt White House and Hyde Park and initiation into British intelligence's elite dirty tricks squad, all in less than three years. He and his colorful coconspirators -- David Ogilvy, Ian Fleming, and Ivar Bryce, recruited more for their imagination and dramatic flair than any experience in the spy business -- gossiped, bugged, and often hilariously bungled their way across Washington, doing their best to carry out their cloak-and-dagger assignments, support the fledgling American intelligence agency (the OSS), and see that Roosevelt was elected to an unprecedented fourth term.

It is an extraordinary tale of deceit, double-dealing, and moral ambiguity -- all in the name of victory. Richly detailed and meticulously researched, Conant's compelling narrative draws on never-before-seen wartime letters, diaries, and interviews and provides a rare, and remarkably candid, insider's view of the counterintelligence game during the tumultuous days of World War II.

What Customers Say About The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington:

The subject of this interesting book, which I read through to the end, is ostensibly espionage. It was also interesting to read that the president then had as much opposition as the president now. I think that the book would have been more aptly titled: "Roald Dahl in Wartime Washington." Then some readers, who have criticized the book, would not have been expecting revelations about espionage that never materialize. Because their activities are only dimly lit (and none of them gets close enough to the flame to be burned), one gets only occasional glimpses of the precise nature of what they actually did (which may indicate their effectiveness as spies). and has a respectable bibliography, to anyone who is interested in the Washington scene of the 1940s. Dahl's own character, which seems to hover between British Schoolboy humor and Nordic angst, remains as elusive as does the account of his espionage.The book, however, provides insight on behind-the-scenes politics of wartime Washington. The spies though, which included not only Dahl but also Ian Fleming and Noel Coward, flit through the narrative rather like moths in the background. Things do not seem to change much in politics.In her introduction, the author notes that "spies are notoriously unreliable narrators." Perhaps this is why the substance of the book remains elusive and the title seems misleading.

I was particularly fascinated reading about those politicians whose names I remember hearing on the radio (or my parents discussing) but to which I never paid much attention as a child. It was especially interesting to read about Roosevelt at Hyde Park and the early ascent of Lyndon Johnson. I would recommend this book, which is subtly footnoted (The quotes are cited by page number at the back of the book). Since I am a layman as far as the history of wartime Washington is concerned, I cannot comment on the reliability of the narrative, but I can say that I found it quite compelling.

Detours into some of the more interesting people, such as William Stephenson, added heft and occasions for more behind-the-scenes looks. The book is a strong reminder that the day-to-day crises quickly fade.The spying by Dahl is of the non-professional variety, mostly keeping his ears open, putting his social skills to work, and bargaining for information useful to his superiors. The book is quite a mixture, with a modest perspective on the war combined with a partial biography of Dahl, a bunch of gossip about socialites, and a good look at quid pro quo, trading information through obvious and covert channels. Roald Dahl serves as the anchor and common theme, with impressive participation and interaction for someone so young. In the audio book, at least I didn't have the typos that apparently plagued the print version. Because Dahl was personally involved, the author specifically covers debates over the post-war plans for the aviation industry as a cartel or a free competition. Many other names flow through and disappear. Marsh is already a footnote, and many online references exist only because of Alice Glass Marsh's affair with LBJ.

We don't really learn how much espionage the British were doing. How sad. This fresh topic exposed a lot of goings-on I had no idea were happening. His level of true espionage is quite small. So many of the names, of such importance in their day, are already mostly forgotten. The author goes on a great length (too much) about Charles Marsh, due to his long and intense relationship with Dahl, as well as his activity on the social and political scene. Instead, we get a view of managing information and propaganda, as the British tried to manipulate the Americans into supporting the war and keeping a positive attitude as the war evolved. The negotiations also serve as a proxy for the shifting roles of Britain and the US, with the empire destined to lose its leadership position, but not without a fight.

A well written and fascinating piece of World War II history with a cast that includes future children's author Roald Dahl and James Bond creator Ian Fleming. Roald Dahl, then in his twenties, ended up having an affair with Clare Booth Luce, then in her forties. The British spy ring Washington was not put in place for sabotage, but to gage and influence policy in Washington. As a matter of course, the spys mixed in high society with some very interesting results. When Dahl complained about the affair to London, he was told to close his eyes and think of England. Overall, a great addition to anyone's library on World War II.

After a while the parties and personal notes, the "he said, but he thought, while she was" quality gets difficult. One does not hear much of the bosses nor of the war itself.

with occasional sidetrips to N.Y.C. and the Virginia countryside is chock-a-block with all the gossip, cliques, parties, and even the "Hope" diamond does a turn in a chain of events that we have come to expect in W.E.B.

This wartime in Washington, D.C. The Eleanor Roosevelt and Henry Wallace side of the Democratic Party was still influential, and we see a Kennedy-less city.

Griffin's fictional spy novels. Even David Niven, Ian Fleming and Lyndon Johnson do a couple of cameos, not to mention the OSS gang, Herbert Hoover, and "The Man Called Intrepid." The astounding thing is that it is fact, not fiction.

Instead this is a sort of social gazette. Not really scholarly or history, but certainly a piece of the truth.

Instead we read here of lavish parties in the capitol and backstairs meetings among prominent intriguers. We have here plenty of Nazi sympathy tales, but where is an estimation of the works performed by the defenders of the workers' paradise. How in the world do you tell a story about the struggles behind the scenes in DC to influence the role of the US in WWII without once mentioning the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939. Interesting, but not the whole story. You can trace the movement in some quarters, such as Hollywood, from Keep Our Boys out of Foreign Wars to Second Front from the same writers and speakers if you reference the non-aggression deal between Hitler and Stalin as one index and the 1941 invasion of Russia by the Wermacht as the other. There was a swift 180 by all helpful hands to make your head swim. I would expect those snared by the Venona Project had some effect, too. At least, worth mentioning.