Intrepid's Last Case
New York: Villard Books, 1983. First Edition [stated]. Hardcover. 24 cm. xxvii, [1], 321, [3] pages, Former owner's ink notation on flyleaf. DJ front flap price clipped. Sticker residue and staining on rear DJ. Chronicles the post-World War II activities of Sir William Stephenson, who was known as "Intrepid" during the war. This is Intrepid against the KGB. William Henry Stevenson (1 June 1924 – 26 November 2013) was a British-born Canadian author and journalist. His 1976 book A Man Called Intrepid was about William Stephenson (no relation) and was a best-seller. It was made into a 1979 mini-series starring David Niven. Stevenson followed it in 1983 with another book, Intrepid's Last Case. He published his autobiography in 2012. In 1976 Stevenson released the book, 90 Minutes at Entebbe. It was about Operation Entebbe, an operation where Israeli commandos landed at night at Entebbe Airport in Uganda and succeeded in rescuing the passengers of an airliner hijacked by Palestinian militants, while incurring very few casualties. Stevenson's "instant book" was written, edited, printed and available for sale within weeks of the event it described. Sir William Samuel Stephenson CC MC DFC, (23 January 1897 – 31 January 1989) was a Canadian soldier, airman, businessman, inventor, spymaster, and the senior representative of British Security Coordination (BSC) for the entire western hemisphere during World War II. He is best known by his wartime intelligence codename Intrepid. Many people consider him to be one of the real-life inspirations for James Bond. Ian Fleming himself once wrote, "James Bond is a highly romanticized version of a true spy. The real thing is ... William Stephenson." As head of the British Security Coordination, Stephenson handed over British scientific secrets to Franklin D. Roosevelt and relayed American secrets to Winston Churchill.[4] In addition, Stephenson has been credited with changing American public opinion from an isolationist stance to a supportive tendency regarding America's entry into World War II. As head of the British Security Coordination, Stephenson handed over British scientific secrets to Franklin D. Roosevelt and relayed American secrets to Winston Churchill In addition, Stephenson has been credited with changing American public opinion from an isolationist stance to a supportive tendency regarding America's entry into World War II. In November 1946 Stephenson received the Medal for Merit from President Harry S. Truman, at that time the highest U.S. civilian award. He was the first non-American to be so honored. General "Wild Bill" Donovan presented the medal. The citation paid tribute to Stephenson's "valuable assistance to America in the fields of intelligence and special operations".
Derived from a Kirkus review: Rumbles within the Intelligence community--from a partisan source. "A shadow fell over the eighty-seventh birthday celebration of the man called Intrepid, Sir William Stephenson," writes his best-known biographer. Once again Stephenson's wartime aide in British Security Coordination (BSC), Dick Ellis, was charged with being a super-mole who in 1945 had suppressed Russian defector Igor Gouzenko's evidence of high-placed British double agents. Stephenson and Stevenson contend that the charges against Ellis, as well as reports unfavorable to Gouzenko "are pure disinformation by the KGB," in which Kim Philby had a hand. Stevenson retells the story of Gouzenko's defection and his subsequent history under wraps--supplying one new piece of information: Gouzenko could not identify Ellis or anyone else as his anonymous traitor-interrogator because he had gone blind. There is also a recital of Ellis' interwar espionage career--in Russia, France, and Germany--to explain the origin of the charges against him; and there is a review of an allegedly doctored document whereby "Stephenson himself became a target not only of the KGB but also of the Western mandarins who used secrecy to squelch whatever they disapproved." It effectively and evocatively describes old quarrels and resentments involving Stephenson's postwar efforts to preserve BSC and his wartime collaborator Bill Donovan's postwar attempts to save OSS. Some non-partisan wrinkles turn up--like the strictures on McCarthyite witch hunts for making "it difficult to convince decent Americans. . . that there were nonetheless sound reasons for action against Soviet subversion." Stephenson's role in the Gouzenko case is effectively recapped and expanded, and so are defenses of Ellis by impartial others, including Hyde. Stephenson's last hurrah, was, and remains, a murky affair. Condition: Very good / Good.
Keywords: Soviet Union, KGB, Cold War, Camp X, Nuclear Weapons, Atomic Bombs, British Security, BSC, William Stephenson, Spies, British Intelligence, Security Coordination
ISBN: 0394534301
[Book #19779]
Price: $27.50