Ben Macintyre

The best-selling author of A Spy Among Friends presents the lesser-known story of one of World War II's most significant secret military units, citing the contributions of brainchild David Stirling and fellow strategist Jock Lewes and how they established a legacy that changed the nature of combat.

The story of D-Day has been told from the point of view of the soldiers, the tacticians, and the generals who led it. But this epic event has never before been told from the perspectives of the key individuals in the Double Cross system. These include its director, a colorful assortment of MI5 handlers, and the five spies who formed Double Cross's nucleus: a Serbian playboy, a Polish fighter pilot, a bisexual Peruvian party girl, a deeply eccentric...

"The New York Times bestselling author of The Spy and the Traitor tells the thrilling true story of the most important female spy in history: an agent code-named "Sonya," who set the stage for the Cold War. In 1942, in a quiet village in the leafy English Cotswolds, a thin, elegant woman lived in a small cottage with her three children and her husband, who worked as a machinist nearby. Ursula Burton was friendly but reserved, and spoke English with...

"In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend. But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape....