Publishers Weekly
07/18/2022
Former CIA officer Reynolds (Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy) delivers an exhaustively researched critical history of American military intelligence from 1940 to the beginning of the Cold War. Before WWII, Reynolds notes, the U.S. had no permanent spy agency. At the war’s outset, President Franklin Roosevelt’s “haphazard approach” led to multiple counterintelligence programs: the Army and Navy each had its own systems for tracking and breaking encrypted messages; J. Edgar Hoover’s nascent FBI had begun foreign campaigns in Latin America; and William “Wild Bill” Donovan’s Office of Strategic Services, an independent department based on the British intelligence services, changed its mission according to the whims of its impulsive founder. Reynolds spends little time recounting far-flung spy missions, choosing instead to focus on the internal conflicts and personality clashes that roiled these intelligence agencies, including the battle for power between Donovan and Hoover. Light is also shed on lesser-known figures including Kenneth A. Knowles, a former gunnery officer who led the Navy’s efforts to track German U-boats in the Atlantic. Though the extensive cast of characters can be hard to keep track of, Reynolds’s scrupulous and well-rounded approach reveals the good, the bad, and the reckless in the early days of U.S. intelligence. Espionage buffs will be fascinated. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
"Authoritative. ... Reynolds's contribution to our understanding of the rise of American intelligence is unparalleled." — Journal of Intelligence History
“Need to Know is the most thorough and detailed history available on the origins of U.S. intelligence. I expect it to become part of the required reading for university classes on intelligence for some time to come. Kudos to Nick Reynolds for giving us Need to Know.” — Michael Morell, Former Deputy Director and Acting Director, CIA
“An excellent, wide-ranging introduction to the creation of American Intelligence in World War II.” — The Journal of Military History
"Need to Know is a detailed history of the origins of American intelligence capability....Reynolds traces how the intelligence establishment we know today was built from scratch starting during the run-up to the Second World War. The storyline is supported by extensive research." — Foreign Service Journal
"Reynolds examines the genesis of the Central Intelligence Agency in the inter war years and particularly in the Second World War. He has used his academic research and practical expertise in the intelligence services to examine the complex set of personalities, rivalries and political manoeuvring which led to the development of the CIA and its global reach and influence." — British Modern Military History Society
“Of several recent books that coincide with the seventy-fifth anniversary of the [CIA’s] founding. … Reynolds’s book is the best of the recent batch, and the most readable.” — The New Yorker, Best Books of 2022
“A readable, thoughtful book on an important subject….This is an exceptionally well cited book….Need to Know belongs in the required or at least highly recommended readings portions of syllabi in intelligence studies programs.” — William Nolte, The Cipher Brief (rated 4 out of 4 “trench coats”)
“[A] vast, complex, character-rich history. … A comprehensive, authoritative examination of the genesis of America’s national security apparatus.” — Kirkus Reviews
"An exhaustively researched critical history of American military intelligence from 1940 to the beginning of the Cold War. ... Reynolds’s scrupulous and well-rounded approach reveals the good, the bad, and the reckless in the early days of U.S. intelligence. Espionage buffs will be fascinated." — Publishers Weekly
"Reynolds masterfully synthesizes the contributions of a number of consequential figures to the burgeoning intelligence industry that WWII bequeathed to modern America." — Booklist
"Based on extensive primary research, this striking and compelling account should be read by anybody interested in the development of U.S. intelligence agencies and special operations during World War II." — Library Journal
“Need to Know is imaginative, bold in framework, and extremely well-executed.” — Richard B. Frank, author of Tower of Skulls: A History of the Asia-Pacific War, July 1937- May 1942
"A revelatory account of the covert efforts of the Allied forces to turn the tide of World War II. ... A thrilling account." — Seattle Book Review
"Nicholas Reynolds does a great service to the field of intelligence history by producing a narrative on this essential topic that is as accessible to general readers as it is insightful for scholars. The book offers the rare combination of illuminating scholarship and great readability. ... Reynolds’s novel big-picture approach offers a subtle, fresh perspective. ... A notable strength of Need to Know is the book’s ability to capture the humanity and complexity behind the wartime evolution of what the world now knows as the US national security regime." — Sara B. Castro, US Air Force Academy
"Reynolds intended to write an overview for specialists and generalists, and he succeeds. In my own library, I have placed it next to Christopher Andrew’s For the President’s Eyes Only and the books and published primary sources I gather on the emergence of the intelligence community. ... Certainly, the reading public would enjoy and benefit from reading it, too, as it is well informed, perceptive, and a pleasure to read." — James Lockhart, Rabdan Academy/Zayed Military University, Abu Dhabi
London Review of Books on Writer
Reynolds looks among the shadows and finds a Hemingway not seen before.
Scott Simon
You’d think it might be hard to find new insights into one of the most famous lives in literature, but Nicholas Reynolds’s new book does just that. Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy reveals a secret that a writer who striped them from the lives of others concealed in his own: that he offered to be a spy for the Soviet intelligence and tried to spy for the U.S., too, during World War II. … I’m fascinated.
New York Review of Books
Nicholas Reynolds’s fascinating new research in Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy shows that [Hemingway] was in fact working for both the Russians and the Americans.
Wall Street Journal on Writer
Important.... Reynolds, a former curator at the CIA Museum, demonstrates that Hemingway was afraid the FBI might uncover a dirty little secret he had hidden for more than 20 years: In 1940 he had agreed to assist the NKVD, the Soviet Union’s foreign intelligence agency.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
[A] fresh account.... Reynolds knows how to find the bodies buried deep within government archives, and the material he references on Hemingway is disturbing.... An engrossing read for Hemingway buffs as well as casual readers, Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy adds more fascinating details to a life that remains continually fascinating.
Library Journal
08/01/2022
Historian and former CIA analyst Reynolds (Johns Hopkins Univ.; Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy) tells the story of the U.S. intelligence agencies during World War II. After a series of fact-finding missions and with close cooperation from the British, the adventurous "Wild Bill" Donovan urged President Roosevelt to create a new agency that would collect, consolidate, and analyze enemy messages. The newly created Office of Strategic Services struggled to establish itself and determine its mission, while U.S. Navy and Army codebreakers scored significant victories by breaking and reading the Japanese diplomatic and military used throughout the war, which led to strategic victories such as Midway and the assassination of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. This detailed and highly readable account of the beginnings and growth of American intelligence gathering brings together exciting spy stories with a sense of how much ground the Americans needed to make up to create competent and highly effective intelligence agencies. VERDICT Based on extensive primary research, this striking and compelling account should be read by anybody interested in the development of U.S. intelligence agencies and special operations during World War II.—Chad E. Statler
Kirkus Reviews
2022-06-04
An intriguing account about the seeds that would sprout into America’s intelligence agencies.
Reynolds, a Marine Corps veteran and author of Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy, has worked in the field for years, including as the historian for the CIA Museum. He notes that in the years before 1941, there was hardly an intelligence system at all. Certain sections of the Army and Navy were dedicated to codebreaking and surveillance, but there was little cross-agency coordination. Franklin Roosevelt, who was often more concerned with informal connections and centralizing the flow of information, did not help matters. Consequently, in the 1930s, amateurs conducted most of the nonmilitary intelligence work, and many of these mercurial characters could be found among the back corridors of the White House and the State Department. A surprising number of them were spy novelists (Ian Fleming strolls through these pages). One of the central characters is William “Wild Bill” Donovan, who, after studying Britain’s intelligence system, managed to convince Roosevelt of the need for an organization that could combine analysis and operations. When war broke out, Donovan established and led the Office of Strategic Services. Despite questions about its overall effectiveness, writes Reynolds, it notched some important successes—even as the political whirlpool of Washington, D.C., caused significant problems. For example, J. Edgar Hoover was constantly seeking to expand the role of the FBI, and military leaders were always suspicious of Donovan. Still, the OSS became “a prototype that would endure—that of an intelligence agency with branches for espionage, analysis, special operations, and counterintelligence”—i.e., the CIA. The author covers this vast, complex, character-rich history with a level of detail that occasionally overwhelms (the list of principal characters offers some help). Nonetheless, for anyone interested in understanding the roots of intelligence agencies in the U.S., Reynolds offers abundant, insightful information.
A comprehensive, authoritative examination of the genesis of America’s national security apparatus.
