Hate-Love of Spookery

Gehlen—Spy of the CenturyBy E. H. Cookridge

Random House, 402 pp., $10 Our age does not know just how to assess the professional spy. He is somehow outside the broader circles of gentlemen. He is worthy of respect for his skills and valor but worthy of disdain for the unsavoriness of his calling. He is a source of popular entertainment so long as he is presented in the most shallow and unreal parody. We know we need him but most of us wish that we didn’t.

WJ

About the Author

Walter Darnell Jacobs

Featured Tags

Gehlen—Spy of the CenturyBy E. H. Cookridge

Random House, 402 pp., $10 Our age does not know just how to assess the professional spy. He is somehow outside the broader circles of gentlemen. He is worthy of respect for his skills and valor but worthy of disdain for the unsavoriness of his calling. He is a source of popular entertainment so long as he is presented in the most shallow and unreal parody. We know we need him but most of us wish that we didn’t.