In the tradition of Mark Kurlansky's Cod and David Bodanis's E=MC2, The Battery is the first popular history of the technology that harnessed electricity and powered the greatest scientific and technological advances of our time.What began as a long-running dispute in biology, involving a dead frog's twitching leg, a scalpel, and a metal plate, would become an invention that transformed the history of the world: the battery. From Alessandro Volta's first ...

The gentleman spy was a well-worn literary trope long before James Bond appeared on the printed page or silver screen. Yet, like many cliches, there is an element of truth to it. American espionage once relied on well-heeled amateurs to a very large degree. They possessed the necessary skill sets and unique expertise for the job. Espionage, the most pragmatic of occupations, requires language skills, knowledge of foreign nations, and, above all, access to those with access to secrets. A na...

While the so-called "honey trap" is a Hollywood cliché, it is also an enduring piece of tradecraft in the real-life world of spy versus spy. Employed by virtually every intelligence service in times of war and peace, the work of femme fatales and Romeo spies have shaped policy and history through seduction, betrayal, and scandal. Perhaps the most well-known, though, least-understood element of espionage, the use of hone traps can be found throughout history in religious texts, lurid headli...

This fascinating history of the intersection of espionage and high society reveals how it shaped American intelligence for two centuries.The gentleman spy was a well-worn literary trope long before James Bond appeared on the printed page or silver screen. Yet, like many cliches, there is an element of truth to it. American espionage once relied on well-heeled amateurs to a very large degree. They possessed the necessary skill sets and unique expertise for the job. ...

For more than two centuries, New York has been a center of international espionage. From the Revolutionary War to the present day, spies have met in the city's dark alleys and fashionable hotels. They've traveled by horseback, streetcar, subway, taxi, and limousine. They have lived in the shadows of assumed identities, posing as Wall Street executives, United Nations diplomats, and Greenwich Village artists. Motivated by profit or patriotism, these secret agents were hailed as heroes and s...

An illustrated guide to the history of espionage in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley.Philadelphia became a battleground for spies as George Washington’s Patriot army in nearby Valley Forge struggled to survive the winter of 1776-77. In the centuries that followed—through the Civil War, the rise of fascism and communism in the twentieth century, and today’s fight against terrorism—the city has been home to international intrigue and some of America’s most celebr...

An unprecedented history of the CIA's secret and amazing gadgetry behind the art of espionageIn this look at the CIA’s most secretive operations and the devices that made them possible, Spycraft tells gripping life-and-death stories about a group of spytechs—much of it never previously revealed and with images never before seen by the public.The CIA’s Office of Technical Service is the ultrasecret department that grappled with challenges such as:

—Secret instructions written in invisible ink—Covert communications slipped inside dead rats—Subminiature cameras hidden in ballpoint pensIf these sound like the stuff of science fiction or imaginary tools of James Bond's gadget-master Q's trade, think again. They are real-life devices created by the CIA's Office of Technical Service. Now, in the first book ever written about this ultrasecretive department, the former director of OTS teams up with an internationally...

Washington Post BestsellerWashington, DC, stands at the epicenter of world espionage. Mapping this history from the halls of government to tranquil suburban neighborhoods reveals scores of dead drops, covert meeting places, and secret facilities—a constellation of clandestine sites unknown to even the most avid history buffs. Until now.Spy Sites of Washington, DC traces more than two centuries of secret history from the Mount Vernon study of spymaster George...

Through every era of American history, New York City has been a battleground for international espionage, where secrets are created, stolen, and passed through clandestine meetings and covert communications. Some spies do their work and escape, while others are compromised, imprisoned, and—a few—executed. Spy Sites of New York City takes you inside this shadowy world and reveals the places where it all happened.In 233 main entries as well as listings for scores more spy si...

An immediate bestseller upon its publication in 1880, the anonymously penned Democracy prompted widespread speculation and guessing games as to its author’s identity. It is the story of Mrs. Lightfoot Lee, a society widow, and Silas Ratcliffe, the most influential member of the Senate, who, throughout the novel, pursues Mrs. Lee while at the same time battling her for power. Set in Washington in the 1870s, Democracy presents a scathing and incisive look at the intricate i...

A fresh look at the 22nd and 24th president of the United States of America.Though often overlooked, Grover Cleveland was a significant figure in American presidential history. Having run for President three times and gaining the popular vote majority each time—despite losing the electoral college in 1892—Cleveland was unique in the line of nineteenth-century Chief Executives.In this book, presidential historian Henry F. Graff revives Cleveland's fame, expl...