The irregulars : Roald Dahl and the British spy ring in wartime Washington (edition 2008)

I did not know that Roald Dahl, author of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "James and the Giant Peach" had been a spy. Conant tells a rollicking story of the tall and dashing RAF pilot in Washington DC during the war years. He cuts a wide swathe through the pretty young things of the era - irresistible to many apparently, but not a particularly nice person.

Dahl's patron was one Charles Marsh, super-rich publisher and behind the scenes machinator for Vice President Wallace, future President Lyndon B. Johnson, and others. Marsh adopted Dahl, mentored him, sometimes financed him, and enabled Dahl to function as a conduit between Roosevelt and Churchill, and more broadly between the US and British governments.

Most of the book is taken up with a little too much detail about the gossipy, alcohol soaked, cocksmanship of Roald Dahl, Ian Flemming and their other buddies in wartime Washington. They social-climb, they charm, they seduce, they joke, they party in the city, they party in the country. The book enables us to contemplate the ways in which awful people can be charming, and fascinating people can be repulsive. It's enjoyable in its way, perhaps particularly if you are a former international relations scholar such as myself.

In the course of the story we are reminded and enlightened about the early days of the OSS, predecessor to the CIA, and its close relationship to the British secret service. We watch the emergence of an American intelligence service as a close parallel to the emergence of the United States as an effective world empire.

The real literary punch comes in the final chapter in which the author sums up everything that happened after the halcyon days of spying and screwing, from the late 1940s until Dahl's death in 1990. As, decade by decade, Dahl's marriages and children and travels and books role by, we get a marvelous cinematic sense of a life lived. His later life may have been lived well or poorly (it certainly produced some good children's literature) but it was all rather ordinary compared to those days of parties and sex and secret messages when the fate of the world hung in the balance.
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UPDATE 5/4/10: Currently finshing this in the car, again. More intrested in the women Dahl knew and did he ever. Know them that is. Bibically. Known.

It was super interesting but I just didn't have time to finish it. I might try reading the end instead of the audio. ( )

Ok, so I tend to put authors of books I adored in childhood (here, [b:Matilda|322343|Matilda|Roald Dahl|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173747371s/322343.jpg|1015554]) on pedestals. Even though James & the Giant Peach scared me, and Gene Wilder as Willie Wonka from Charlie & the Chocolate Factory freaked me out a little, too, I could forgive Roald Dahl almost anything for Matilda. Surely he must be a fine, upstanding, wholesome family man if this is the material he produces, yes?

Um. Apparently not so much, it seems. Interesting, yes. Sainted, no. ( )

Who knew the Brits had spies in America before and during World War II? Well, now I do ... thanks to this very interesting story by Jennet Conant.

Actually, the intelligence/propaganda group's first purpose, before America entered World War II, was to pooh-pooh the isolationists and convince everyday Americans to side with Britain against Hitler. Raold Dahl, the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and much else, was a key player.

A pilot in the Royal Air Force, he was injured badly enough that he was not allowed to continue flying. Still in his early 20s, he made his way America as a diplomat -- a genuine war hero, tall, handsome and personable. Who better to insinuate himself into Washington society and work his way into the corridors of power?

The Irregulars reads like a novel ... the best kind of non-fiction. It was a selection of the non-fiction readers' group at my public library ... it is likely to engender some great discussion. ( )

While most people know about the Fifth Columnists, Nazi sympathizers, and Isolationists who fought for control of the American government and public opinion through the 1940s, few know just how far a desperate Britain was willing to go in order to secure the aid of America in its struggle against Germany. The well-know children's author Roald Dahl, along with Ian Fleming, Noel Coward, and a host of other young British notables were in fact part of a super-secret intelligence organization designed to turn the tide of American public opinion towards the war in Europe, at all costs - and by any means necessary. A long, difficult, deeply rewarding and entirely amazing book; read this if you're snowed in for a few days, and have the wherewithal to check some of the offhand references.

As an aside, if HBO ever decides to make another wartime series, I hereby officially nominate The Irregulars. You don't need gunfire to have suspense, and the war is as much at home as it is on the front lines. ( )