David Alvarez is professor emeritus ofpolitics at
Saint Mary’s College of Californiaand a former scholar-in-residence
at theNational Security Agency. He has publishedmany books,
including three with Kansas:Secret Messages: Codebreaking and
AmericanDiplomacy, 1930–1945; Spies in the Vatican:Espionage and
Intrigue from Napoleon to theHolocaust; and The Pope’s Soldiers: A
MilitaryHistory of the Modern Vatican.
At the time of his death in 2009 EduardMark was
senior historian in the Office ofAir Force History. He is the
author of AerialInterdiction: Air Power and the Land Battle inThree
American Wars and Defending the West:The United States Air Force
and EuropeanSecurity, 1946–1998.
"The last big piece of missing American intelligence history--how
the United States confronted aggressive Soviet intelligence
organizations throughout Europe during the critical years between
1945 and the founding of the CIA in 1948--has been filled in by
David Alvarez and Eduard Mark. This is an important book that
should be in every serious library."--Tom Powers, author of
Intelligence Wars: American Secret History from Hitler to
Al-Qaeda"David Alvarez has written an original and well-constructed
book that throws light on a vital but hitherto neglected period in
the history of American intelligence. His account of the work of
the Strategic Services Unit is clearly written and credible, and
historians will now have to take seriously his thesis that the Unit
influenced President Harry Truman's strategic thinking."--Rhodri
Jeffreys-Jones, author of In Spies We Trust: The Story of Western
Intelligence"Spying Through a Glass Darkly will interest historians
of both the American intelligence community and the origins of the
Cold War. It is a fitting tribute to the memory of late Eduard Mark
by his co-author David Alvarez."--Wilson D. Miscamble, C.S.C.,
Professor of History, University of Notre Dame"A fascinating story
for anyone interested in espionage and its role in the beginning of
the Cold War."--Loch K. Johnson, author of A Season of Inquiry
Revisited: The Church Committee Confronts America's Spy
Agencies
"Well written and informed by deep archival research, Spying
through a Glass Darkly is the first account of the operations and
activities of the SSU. . . the authors engage a number of important
historiographical discussions--the nature, efficacy, and
ideological predispositions of the early intelligence community,
and more broadly, on the origins of the Cold War. . . . It is a
must-read for scholars of American intelligence and the early Cold
War."--H-Net Reviews"Poses a fresh challenge to revisionists about
the origins of the Cold War, Scholars of intelligence, U.S. foreign
relations, and the Cold War will find this work valuable."--Journal
of American History"The product of prodigious research in a
dizzying array of sources, this volume is both a meticulously
detailed study of the organizational and operational history of the
Strategic Services Unit and a superb primer in how to tease
information from often stingy archives."--Diplomatic History"Makes
a valuable contribution by presenting a complex picture of divers
U.S. intelligence agents, including some whose avid anticommunism
led them to fall for Soviet deceptions and other whose caution led
them to be skeptical of fantastic right-wing or �migr� reports of
imminent communist revolutions."--Journal of Military History"This
is the most definitive study available concerning this crucial
phase of US intelligence history. Highly recommended."--Choice
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