Download Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage AudioBook Free
He was one of America's most interesting and secretive generals - the person Franklin Roosevelt made his top spy in World Conflict II. A mythic figure whose legacy is still intensely debated, "Wild Charge" Donovan was director of the Office of Strategic Services (the country's first national intelligence agency) and the father of today's CIA. Donovan introduced the nation to the dark arts of covert warfare on the scale it acquired never seen before. Now, experienced journalist Douglas Waller has mined administration documents and private archives throughout america and England, drawn on a large number of pages of lately declassified documents, and interviewed scores of Donovan's family, friends, and associates to make a riveting biography of 1 of the very most powerful men in modern espionage. The kid of poor Irish Catholic parents, William Joseph Donovan committed into Protestant wealth and fought heroically in World Conflict I, where he gained the nickname "Wild Charge" for his extreme leadership. Following the battle he made large numbers as a attorney on Wall Street until FDR tapped him to be his proper intelligence chief. A charismatic head, Donovan was revered by his top secret agents. Yet at times he was reckless, risking his life unnecessarily in battle zones and engaging in extramarital affairs that became fodder for his political enemies. Wild Charge Donovan reads like an action-packed spy thriller, with tales of daring young men and women in Donovan's OSS sneaking behind foe lines for sabotage, breaking into Washington embassies to take secrets, plotting to topple Adolf Hitler, and suffering brutal torture or loss of life when these were captured by the Gestapo. It is also an account of political intrigue, of infighting at the best levels of administration, and of powerful men pitted against each other.
