Writer and contributing editor SpyTalk @talk_spy and podcast #UnconventionalThreat. Former editor/reporter WashPost, Newsday, AP. over to Threads @peisner27
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Articles by Peter Eisner
A Thrilling Wartime Spy Story Finally Gets Its Due
On Mar. 15, 1944, less than three months before D-Day, three OSS operatives dropped into Nazi-aligned Hungary on what they knew might be a suicide mission. Chief among them was Col. Florimond Duke, a former starting lineman for The New York Giants, and at 47, one of the oldest Americans to parachute into enemy territory during World War Two. They didn’t really hide: Their immediate goal was to be captured by the Nazis.
The Secret Cold War Mission to Give Hope to Soviet Refuseniks
In May 1985, four young American musicians landed in Moscow carrying their various instruments—a saxophone, a mandolin, a guitar, and a portable electric piano. Innocent enough, except they also brought sheet music secretly embedded with coded words listing the names and addresses of Jews and others who had been refused permission to leave the Soviet Union.
A Forgotten Vonnegut Spy Novel Offers Warnings for Today
Cover of the first edition In 1961, eight years before Slaughterhouse-Five made him famous, Kurt Vonnegut published Mother Night, a novel about fascism, complicity, and the lies people tell themselves in order to keep going. I came to Vonnegut through Slaughterhouse-Five, like everyone else in my generation. I went back to Mother Night recently, expecting another war novel. It isn’t one, really.
A Good Washington Thriller for This 4th of July
Robert B. McCaw’s decades with an elite Washington, DC law firm lends “Traitors” an authoritative voice. (Author photo) The best spy novelists are deceptively crafty. They are able to step back from the chaotic noise of our daily headlines to remind us that, at least in fiction, honesty and goodwill can still outmaneuver the worst aspects of humanity. In his gripping new page-turner, Traitors, the veteran mystery writer Robert B. McCaw gives us exactly that kind of hero for this cynical age.
The Spies and Professors Who Saved Ancient Athens from Nazi Plunder
Nazi troops hoist a war flag over the Acropolis in 1941. (Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-165-0419-19A Photo: Bauer) Beyond a thirst for global domination, ambitious strongmen share a desperate need to manipulate history to bolster their legitimacy. This obsession with the past is at the heart of Stephan Talty’s compelling new book, The American School of Spies, The Archaeologists Who Fought the Nazis and Saved the Treasures of Ancient Greece.
The KGB Clerk Who Kept the Receipts
Rarely are intelligence agencies presented with a tantalizing possibility that could change history. This was the prospect that two British MI6 operatives encountered when a scruffy, elderly man walked into the newly created British embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, in the spring of 1992—barely three months after the official collapse of the Soviet Union.
The KGB Clerk Who Kept the Receipts
Rarely are intelligence agencies presented with a tantalizing possibility that could change history. This was the prospect that two British MI6 operatives encountered when a scruffy, elderly man walked into the newly created British embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, in the spring of 1992—barely three months after the official collapse of the Soviet Union.
Shortwave Nazis
Expat poet Ezra Pound broadcast his pro-fascist ravings via shortwave radio from Italy. Hardly anyone could hear him. He was arrested in 1945, convicted and committed to an insane asylum in Washington, DC. (New Directions). . Long before the age of internet influencers, a different breed of provocateur took to the airwaves to spread disinformation.
Maduro's Trial: What to Look For
Uncredited illustration, SG headtopics.com If the Trump administration’s game plan for Venezuela mirrors the 1989 capture of Panama’s Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, don’t expect a speedy trial for deposed dictator Nicolás Maduro—nor an easy outcome.
A War Story Fit for Christmas
GENERATIONS OF US have now grown up reading or watching stories about the courage and heroism of the “Greatest Generation,” those young men and women who risked their lives in the existential battle against fascism in World War II. Yet, even 80 years after the guns fell silent, new chapters of that vast conflict continue to emerge, reminding us that the war was fought not just on the beaches of Normandy or the islands of the Pacific, but in the shadows.
Trump’s Venezuela Rhetoric Echoes Bush Sr’s 1989 Push to Oust Panama’s Noriega
Maduro (L) and Noriega, trapped in similar binds (Cortesia LaPatilla) President Trump ratcheted up his pressure campaign against Venezuela on Wednesday, that the United States had seized a “very large” oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast. “Largest one ever seized, actually, and other things are happening,” Trump declared. It was a dramatic escalation in the months-long confrontation between the two.
Page Turners: How Academics Played Key Roles in the Defeat of Fascism
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Page Turners: How Academics Played Key Roles in the Defeat of Fascism
Elyse Graham, a historian and professor at Stony Brook University in New York, has written an entertaining and sometimes cagey book about highly educated British and Americans who joined the war against the Nazis in World War II. Graham’s Book and Dagger, How Scholars and Librarians Became The Unlikely Spies of World War II, is misleading in the sense that it’s much more than what the title suggests. Her canvas is, in fact, far broader.
A 1940s Memoir that Speaks to Today
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A 1940s Memoir that Speaks to Today
OUR JOB HERE is to review new books, films and TV shows related to intelligence and national security. Sometimes, though, old is hauntingly new. In the case of Stefan Zweig, who completed his memoir, The World of Yesterday, 83 years ago, the Austrian writer’s warnings about political complacency and the danger of war speak to us with profound immediacy. The World of Yesterday comes with multiple lessons.
A Pulse-Pounding Novel of Treachery Within the CIA
If books could circulate in Technicolor, the cover of James C. Lawler’s new spy thriller,The Traitor’s Tale, would be flashing vivid and bright. Even before the opening chapter, two dozen prominent former agency officials and lifelong students of espionage offer glowing endorsements that go beyond what a single reviewer can say. Their verdict: Read this Book.
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Can America's Global Spy Network Survive Trump's Moscow Tilt?
The so-called Five Eyes, an intelligence-sharing coalition among the United States, Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand, which has been a pillar of U.S. national security interests for decades, appears now to be at risk with the “America First” policies of the Trump administration. Not that the relationship of the English-speaking nations has always been smooth and unencumbered, writes Richard Kerbaj in The Secret History of the Five Eyes: The Untold Story of the International Spy Network.
Three Spy Books I Kinda Liked in 2024-and One I Loved
There’s no reason that my brief for writing reviews for SpyTalk has to be actually limited to espionage. I have written about military history, sagas of the World Wars and current cloak-and-dagger dramas, but this year a number of stories about spies themselves really captured my attention. Here are a few I picked. Traitor’s Odyssey: The Untold Story of Martha Dodd and a Strange Saga Soviet Espionage.
The Spy Was a Femme Fatale, But Came Away Empty-Handed
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The Spy Was a Femme Fatale, But Came Away Empty-Handed
THE BEST AND MOST TIMELY LESSON WE CAN TAKE from Traitor’s Odyssey, the latest biography of wartime Soviet mole Martha Dodd, is that, with luck, sometimes a well-placed U.S. turncoat can end up being an abject failure. Otherwise, Dodd, the daughter of William Edward Dodd, U.S. ambassador to Germany at the beginning of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich, might have done serious damage.
Timely Biography of a Duplicitous Nazi Super Spy
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Timely Biography of a Duplicitous Nazi Super Spy
Imagine a military leader who dares protest the actions of his twisted, mendacious, even murderous commander in chief, knowing he risked his career and ultimately his life. Such a man was Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, the chief of the Abwehr, Nazi military intelligence, from 1935 to—spoiler alert—his death by hanging in 1945.
D-Day Deceptions and Disasters
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D-Day Deceptions and Disasters
EVERY SPRING, AS THE COMMEMORATON OF D-DAY APPROACHED, my father, retired Navy Lt. Bernard Eisner, recalled the young men who went down with their ships during World War Two and might not have been counted and recognized among the heroes of war. As for himself, my dad had been far off on D-day, executive officer of LST-463—a tank and troop carrier—in the South Pacific. Still, though, he felt deep kinship with every sailor who had not come home.
Loyal MI6 Spy or Nazi-Soviet Triple Agent?
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Loyal MI6 Spy or Nazi-Soviet Triple Agent?
THE QUEST TO UNDERSTAND the twists and uncertainties of espionage can be mind-bending, “a wilderness of mirrors,” James Jesus Angleton, the folkloric chief of CIA counterintelligence famously called it, an “ever-fluid landscape where fact and illusion merge.” Welcome to the new world of Jesse Fink and his book, The Eagle in the Mirror, the story of Charles Howard “Dick” Ellis, a fellow Australian who rose to the pinnacle of Western intelligence, but was suspected late in life of having worked...
Breaking David Kahn’s Code
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Breaking David Kahn’s Code
When my friend and colleague, David Kahn, the journalist and famed cryptologist, died last month at the age of 93, I thought back to our days at Newsday in the 1980s. Even some people who worked with us didn’t know that the quiet copy editor in the Viewpoints section was the same man as the acclaimed intelligence historian. One David Kahn was the mild-mannered reporter and editor.
Wahl: Fulminanter Wahlkampfauftakt der Piesendorfer Volkspartei
12. Februar 2024, 14:36 Uhr PIESENDORF: Mit einem fulminanten Wahlkampfauftakt leitete die Piesendorfer Volkspartei am vergangenen Freitag die letzten Wochen bis zu den Bürgermeister- und Gemeindevertretungswahlen am 10. März ein. Vor über 120 anwesenden Piesendorferinnen und Piesendorfern präsentierte Bürgermeisterkandidat Bernhard Auernigg (29) sein Team und die gemeinsamen Ziele für Piesendorf. Mit dabei war auch Landesrat Schwaiger, der die Festrede hielt.
'Masters of the Air' Uplifts-But Disappoints
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'Masters of the Air' Uplifts-But Disappoints
Moments into Masters of the Air, the much anticipated streaming serial about the flyboys of the Eighth Air Force in World War Two, we are riding with those brave young American B-17 bomber crews as they dodge Nazi fighter planes and torrents of flak, those shards of hot metal that tear through their fuselages and flesh. Almost three quarters of a century later, our fascination with World War Two combat—victorious at the end but with notable setbacks along the way—runs strong and deep.
Wahlkampfauftakt: Einladung zum Wahlkampfauftakt der Piesendorfer Volkspartei
1. Februar 2024, 02:17 Uhr PIESENDORF: Nach 25 Jahren an der Spitze der Gemeinde Piesendorf wird Bürgermeister Johann Warter (65) bei der nächsten Bürgermeister- und Gemeinderatswahl im März nicht mehr antreten. Mit Bernhard Auernigg geht für die Piesendorfer Volkspartei ein junger und besonnener Piesendorfer ins Rennen um den Bürgermeistersessel. Am Freitag, dem 09.
A Wartime Spy Tale Made for the Movies
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A Wartime Spy Tale Made for the Movies Original
Dear ChatGPT: Can you help me write a bestseller about tracking down spies in Honolulu at the start of World War Two? “Certainly! Writing a bestseller involves weaving an engaging narrative with interesting characters, suspenseful plot twists, and a historical backdrop that captures the essence of the time period.” Call it “Shadows over Paradise,” ChatGPT suggested.
Cuba Libre: A 500-Year Quest for Independence
Login OR login with: Don't have an account? Sign Up For Free! Forgot Password Please type in your email address in order to receive an email with instructions on how to reset your password. Processing Please Don't Refresh the Page 50% OFF $21.99 $11.00 This timely book provides a balanced, deeply knowledgeable introduction to Cuba since 1492.
Profile of a Traitor
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Profile of a Traitor
Share You may think you’ve heard everything about the mechanics of the nuclear dawn by now, given the raves for Oppenheimer, the gripping biopic on the “father” of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the spindly physicist who headed the top secret Manhattan Project in the New Mexico desert.
Piesendorf: Generationenwechsel in Piesendorf
Regionauten-Community Peter Eisner Du möchtest dieses Profil zu deinen Favoriten hinzufügen? Verpasse nicht die neuesten Inhalte von diesem Profil: Melde dich an, um neue Inhalte von Profilen und Bezirken zu deinen persönlichen Favoriten hinzufügen zu können. 21. Mai 2023, 21:27 Uhr Bürgermeister Johann Warter wird 2024 nicht mehr kandidieren. Bernhard Auernigg (29) einstimmig als Bürgermeister-Kandidat nominiert.
A New TV Spy Drama Worthy of LeCarré
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A New TV Spy Drama Worthy of LeCarré
Share A Spy Among Friends, a much anticipated six-party series debuting Sunday, March 12, is the brilliant, if sometimes embellished tale of the famed double agent and KGB mole, Kim Philby, and his defection to the Soviet Union in 1963, despite the efforts of his friend and fellow MI6 officer, Nicholas Elliott, to coax him back to Britain.
“Slow Horses” Rides Again
Share That funky, profane, noodle-slurping, cast-aside spymaster from Britain’s MI5, Jackson Lamb, lets us in on a little secret in the second season of the offbeat-espionage program, Slow Horses.
How Do You Stop an Unfolding Genocide?
“I know it when I see it,” Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said about obscenity. And there’s no good way of stopping it, he might have added. We can say the same for genocide. The United Nations defines it as “the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in whole or in part.” But once we see it, what can we do about it? asks the provocative Israeli cinematographer-director Dror Moreh in a bracing new documentary, “The Corridors of Power,” debuting Dec.
A Master Spy for All Time-and Ours
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A Master Spy for All Time-and Ours
Share UPDATED It is altogether fitting that a new biography about Sidney Reilly, one of the most elusive master spies in modern history, should be a slim volume less than 200 pages long. Reilly, a British agent in Russia in the early days of the Bolshevik revolution, was so elusive that, along with his significant failures and a few successes, he probably will remain a mystery man forever. Obscurity may have been his greatest triumph.
Ben Macintyre is Back with a Monumental War Tale
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Ben Macintyre is Back with a Monumental War Tale
Share Ben Macintyre, one of the great contemporary chroniclers of World War II spydom, has now turned his focus to the heroic days of escape and evasion at Colditz Castle, the imposing but surprisingly penetrable fortress that became one of the most folkloric Nazi prisons during World War II Macintyre specializes in revisiting and recasting stories once told, employing exhaustive research and impartial analysis, breathing new life and reality into his stories.
Secrets Explode at Jan. 6 Hearing
Share As shocking as former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony was during a hastily scheduled extra hearing of the January 6th Committee on Tuesday, another intriguing issue emerged in an exchange two members of the panel had with reporters just after the session concluded. Rep. Jamie Raskin, (D-Md.), the committee’s constitutional scholar, was asked whether there was a classified national security angle the panel was wrangling with. “No comment,” he said.
When 'Fake News' Was a Force for Good
Share Agents of Influence is Henry Hemming’s engagingly reported story about an audacious British clandestine propaganda campaign to draw the United States into World WarTwo. On one level, it’s a story of the life and times of William Stephenson, a Canadian with no espionage training who becomes Britain’s unlikely key operative in the United States as well as MI6’s direct intermediary with the FBI, including J. Edgar Hoover, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt himself.
SpyTalk at the Movies: Operation Mincemeat
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