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George Washington's Secret Spy War

The Making of America's First Spymaster

John A. Nagy

St. Martin's Griffin

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ISBN10: 1250144922
ISBN13: 9781250144928

Trade Paperback

384 Pages

$21.99

CA$28.99

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George Washington’s Secret Spy War is the untold story of how George Washington took a disorderly, ill-equipped rabble and defeated the best trained and best equipped army of its day in the Revolutionary War. Author John A. Nagy has become the nation’s leading expert on the subject, discovering hundreds of spies who went behind enemy lines to gather intelligence during the American Revolution, many of whom are completely unknown to most historians.

Using George Washington’s diary as the primary source, Nagy tells the story of Washington’s experiences during the French and Indian War and his first steps in the field of espionage. Despite what many believe, Washington did not come to the American Revolution completely unskilled in this area of warfare. He used espionage to level the playing field and then exploited it on to final victory.

Filled with thrilling and never-before-told stories from the battlefield and behind enemy lines, this is the story of how Washington out-spied the British. For the first time, readers will discover how espionage played a major part in the American Revolution and why Washington was a master at orchestrating it.

BOOK EXCERPTS

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INTRODUCTION


 


“There is nothing more necessary than good intelligence to frustrate a designing enemy, and nothing that requires greater pains to obtain.”


GEORGE WASHINGTON...

About the author

John A. Nagy

JOHN A. NAGY was a Scholar-in-Residence at Saint Francis University and a consultant on espionage to The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington and the William L. Clement Library. John was an award-winning author of four books on the American Revolution, including Invisible Ink: Spycraft of the American Revolution. He passed away in 2016.

Lisa Nagy