Lincoln's Spies

[L Verge]

I just hit the paywall - was it a good review or a bad review?

We had a group of campers at Surratt House today taking part in an activity on spying during the Civil War. Ironically, while they were there, our mail was delivered and contained a review copy of Douglas Waller's Lincoln's Spies! I just barely cracked it open, but it looks great and has excellent reviews from folks like James McPherson and Sidney Blumenthal as well as other Civil War authors and scholars. Another thing in its favor is the publisher, Simon & Schuster's, usually great quality, and they have a good staff of editors to work with the authors.

Word of warning: I suspect that this is going to be another time for thinking up a reason to give your spouse as to why you have to spend over $30 for another darn Civil War book... 443 pages of text, another 150+ pages listing collections, chapter sources, and of course a very lengthy index. In addition, his pages of acknowledgments show that he was in touch with the "biggies" in the Civil War research field - both institutions and staff connected with them. I'm feeling good about this one before I read it, and I hope I am not disappointed.

As part of the publicity package that came with the book, there is this "teaser:" After listing and briefly identifying the four main subjects of the book -- Pinkerton, Sharpe (military intelligence), Lafayette Baker (warts and all), and Elizabeth Van Lew -- there is this note: "And behind these secret operatives was an American president who, who despite his 'Honest Abe' image, became an avid consumer of intelligence and a ruthless aficionado of clandestine warfare, willing to take risks. Spying during the Civil War set the template for dark arts in the future. 'The phone tapping, human collection and aerial snooping today's U.S. spy community engages in can be traced to the Civil War,' Waller writes." We should note that Waller has authored other histories, including one on the head of the OSS.