Desperate Deception: British Covert Operations in the United States, 1939-44

Sea Power, Dec 1998 by Price, Jennifer M

DESPERATE DECEPTION: British Covert Operations in the United States,1939-44, by Thomas E. Mahl. Dulles, Va.: Brassey's Inc., 1998. 256 pp. $26.95. [Phone: (703) 260-0602;

Internet: www.batsford.com] In this latest addition to Brassey's Intelligence and National Security Library, Mahl provides an eye-opening look at the British government's widespread use of front groups, agents, and collaborators-and how they manipulated U.S. polling data and influenced U.S. election campaigns. These covert operations-launched and to some extent managed by Winston Churchill-attempted to weaken the isolationist position, bring America into the war, and ultimately influence U.S. war policy in England's favor. Mahl's look at American politics before Pearl Harbor provides a credible alternative (in some areas, at least) to traditional history and one that deserves further investigation. With glossary, chapter notes, bibliography, index, and eight pages of black-and-white photographs.