Everyone knows Roald Dahl as the writer of many popular children’s books, but as a young man he led a fascinating life as an RAF pilot and then an agent for the BSC in Washington D.C. during World War II. The Irregulars by Jennet Conant covers Dahl’s time in covert operations while examining his personal life, the lives of the people around him, and the larger happenings of the war. Conant uses a lot of primary sources to reveal many details while still keeping the narrative moving to paint a picture of a flawed but very interesting man who played an important role during the war. Readers who enjoy historical nonfiction — especially WWII — should not miss this one. ( )

Dragged in parts. Hard to imagine a spy story as boring, but... ( )

Adult nonfiction. Biography/history. Details Roald Dahl's contributions to the war effort as a veteran British RAF pilot in Washington DC. I only got as far as p. 65, though it wasn't really bad--just not nearly as interesting as Elizabeth Royte's Garbage Land (I figured I didn't have time to read both). ( )

Parts of this book were interesting, but I was expecting something more in the nature of a "true life spy thriller". A more appropriate description of the book is a "tell all, sex lives of the rich and famous, tabloid". ( )

There were somewhat more parts of this books of which I would say "I liked it" than of which I would say "it was okay." Two and a half stars seems about right.

Roald Dahl wrote the two favorite books of my childhood: "James and the Giant Peach" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." So there's a possible inherent interest in learning more about the early career of a creative writer. Moreover, the premise of "The Irregulars" sounds really interesting: Roald Dahl and a group of other young talented "dashing" British spies in wartime Washington DC! Moreover, one of those other young talented "dashing" British spies was Ian Fleming! But Dahl and Fleming had relatively little to do with one another.

And then you realize that the main focus of Dahl's "espionage" work involved collecting ordinary daily stories about the Vice-President, and also doing research on the post-war relationship of Britain and the United States regarding commercial international air travel. In other words, fairly mundane stuff. As author Conant admits, "A lot of what passed for espionage in those day could be described as enterprising reporting." [If you don't know what "cabotage" means and why it was important, you will learn about it here.] Interesting up to a point, but not exactly page-turning material.

There's something rather limiting about the scope of the book: the really genuinely important British spies in Washington DC during World War II were working for the Soviets! [Most notably Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, who are only mentioned here in a brief footnote.]

What I did like from the book was the unexpected insight it provides into some of the internal politics of FDR's administration between Pearl Harbor and the elections of November 1944, in which Roosevelt won a remarkable fourth term. Dahl was never part of FDR's inner circle, but he was an occasional guest at Hyde Park, and kept particularly close tabs on the President's relationship with his peculiar and independent Vice President Henry Wallace. The young Dahl socialized often with Wallace, and they shared a very close mutual friend in the wealthy generous and ambitious Texas newspaper magnate Charles Marsh. I gained a lot of insight into Wallace in this book, something I didn't expect going into it.

I also picked up some interest historical gossip/trivia/factoids that I hadn't known before. Sir William Stephenson, head of "British Security Coordination" in the United Stated during World War II, was a Canadian by birth. Roald Dahl had an affair during the war with American Congressperson, playwright, and anti-communist crusader Claire Booth Luce. Charles Marsh's second wife Alice Glass was a long-time lover of future President Lyndon Johnson. And Patricia Neal, who became Dahl's first wife in 1952, had earlier been the lover of film icon Gary Cooper.

An earlier reviewer here noted Conant's peculiar mistake of describing Cardiff Wales as "a small fishing village". There are a few other howlers as well. In a previous era, an editor at a prestigious commercial firm like Simon and Schuster would have caught these errors. Times have changed! ( )