The Irregulars

The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington by Jennet Conant 416 pp.

Before the U.S. entered World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was doing his best to convince President Franklin Roosevelt to join the cause against Hitler. Part of Churchill's efforts included establishing the top secret organization called British Security Coordination, a branch of the SIS/MI6. These were spies tasked with finding German spies in the U.S. and countering the influence of the anti-war "America First Committee". The fact that one of our closest allies used such a spy network is somewhat disturbing. One of the early recruits was Roald Dahl, a pilot who had suffered career ending injuries in a crash. One of Dahl's main tasks was to infiltrate the social lives of the movers and shakers in Washington, D.C. where he became a popular guest at parties, people's homes, and even the White House. Dahl, in his pre-James and the Giant Peach days, along with others in the BSC spread fake news, passed rumors through whispering campaigns, forged documents, and used every method available to vilify Nazi Germany. Dahl accomplished most of his work through wining, dining, and illicit romances with notable women, including Claire Boothe Luce, powerful Congresswoman and wife of Henry Luce, the publisher of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated magazines. Author Ian Fleming, also a BSC agent, later used some of these exploits as a basis for his character James Bond's way with the ladies. The last chapter of the book continues Dahl's biography through his fame as an author of popular children's books and his marriages to actress Patricia Neal and Felicity Crosland. I listened to the audiobook version because, to be honest, I probably would not have finished it otherwise.