Preface and Acknowledgements THE 39 STEPS: Creating a Genre Maugham, Ambler, and Greene: The Loss of Innocence On the Air, on the Screen, and in Word-Balloons: Heroes on Radio and Film before the Cold War McCarthy, Television, and Film Noir: the Russians Arrive "Cloak and Swagger": James Bond and The Spy Renaissance in the 1960s From George Smiley to Bernard Sampson: The Counter-Fleming Movement The Cold War Inside Out: "Whose side are you on?" From the Evil Empire to The Great Satan: Spying in the Reagan Years Big Screen Pyrotechnics and Eyes in the Sky: Spies in a Technological World Conclusion More Fact than Fiction: Espionage After 9/11 Chapter Notes Works Cited Preface and Acknowledgements
"[A] stunning achievement. A scintillating, sharp-eyed romp over two centuries of culture and reality, Wesley Britton's book confidently traverses the overlapping spheres of literacy fiction, film, and fact showing how they have combined and interacted over the decades to produce ever-evolving, three dimensional portraits of the spy, his enemies, and his shadowy world. Britton demonstrates a finely-tuned, close acquaintance with the wide array of authors, actors, producers, directors, eccentrics, books, films, and real spies that create and populate this world. And for good measure, drawing on his earlier, equally well-researched work, Spy Television, Britton interweaves his sprightly narrative with allusions to the spy portraits rendered in that medium. A joy to read, it will become the standard reference." -- Peter Earnest, Executive Director, International Spy Museum "Wes Britton's Beyond Bond is a must buy for any spy aficionado worth the radio in his shoe. (Get Smart, for those youngsters amongst us.) Wes manages to cram more interesting details about spies into his book than one would think possible. Through my music, I have been closely associated with the film spy movement, the James Bond Theme, The Prisoner, and other spy-related entertainment for more than 40 years, and this book proves how little I knew. Buy it and enjoy." -- Vic Flick, Guitarist on productions of James Bond, The Prisoner, Pink Panther, and others for composers John Barry, Henry Mancini, Jerry Goldsmith, Michel LeGrand, and others
Wesley Britton has taught college-level English in Texas, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania, and has published poetry, book reviews, scholarly articles encyclopedia entries, and newspaper columns in various books and periodicals.
Given the recent complications in intelligence-gathering and
interpretation, perhaps some in that discipline should take time
for a review of how the professionals do it, at least on a
soundstage or in paperback. Britton examines the genres within the
genres, especially those that rose and fell in response to the
events of the time, beginning with such classics as foundational
The 39 Steps and the loss of innocence in Maugham, Ambler and
Greene. He describes the prelude to the Cold War in the personae of
spy heroes on the radio and print and the influence of McCarthyism
on television spies, works through the rich pickings of the Reagan
years and the influx of action and explosions in recent
techno-thrillers. In his conclusion, Britton describes what 9/11
has wrought in the genre, and why even the most casual viewers and
readers are paying more attention.
*Reference & Research Book News*
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