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The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington

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Author: Jennet Conant
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

36 reviews
Sales Rank: 814

Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st Simon & Schuster Hardcover Ed
Pages: 416
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6 x 1.4

ISBN: 0743294580
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5486410973
EAN: 9780743294584
ASIN: 0743294580

Publication Date: September 9, 2008
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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, September 2008: Long before Willy Wonka sent out those five Golden Tickets, Roald Dahl lived a life that was more James Bond than James and the Giant Peach. After blinding headaches cut short his distinguished career as a Royal Air Force fighter pilot, Dahl became part of an elite group of British spies working against the United States' neutrality at the onset of World War II. The Irregulars is a brilliant profile of Dahl's lesser-known profession, embracing a real-life storyline of suave debauchery, clandestine motives, and afternoon cocktails. If this sounds oddly familiar, it's no coincidence: both Ian Fleming (the creator of 007) and Bill Stephenson (the legendary spymaster rumored to be the inspiration for Bond) were members of the same outfit. Although "Dahl...Roald Dahl" doesn't quite carry the same debonair ring, there is no discrediting this fascinating look at the British author's covert service to the Allied cause during WWII. --Dave Callanan

Product Description
When Roald Dahl, a dashing young wounded RAF pilot, took up his post at the British Embassy in Washington in 1942, his assignment was to use his good looks, wit, and considerable charm to gain access to the most powerful figures in American political life. A patriot eager to do his part to save his country from a Nazi invasion, he invaded the upper reaches of the U.S. government and Georgetown society, winning over First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband, Franklin; befriending wartime leaders from Henry Wallace to Henry Morgenthau; and seducing the glamorous freshman congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce.

Dahl would soon be caught up in a complex web of deception masterminded by William Stephenson, aka Intrepid, Churchill's legendary spy chief, who, with President Roosevelt's tacit permission, mounted a secret campaign of propaganda and political subversion to weaken American isolationist forces, bring the country into the war against Germany, and influence U.S. policy in favor of England. Known as the British Security Coordination (BSC) -- though the initiated preferred to think of themselves as the Baker Street Irregulars in honor of the amateurs who aided Sherlock Holmes -- these audacious agents planted British propaganda in American newspapers and radio programs, covertly influenced leading journalists -- including Drew Pearson, Walter Winchell, and Walter Lippmann -- harassed prominent isolationists and anti-New Dealers, and plotted against American corporations that did business with the Third Reich.

In an account better than spy fiction, Jennet Conant shows Dahl progressing from reluctant diplomat to sly man-about-town, parlaying his morale-boosting wartime propaganda work into a successful career as an author, which leads to his entr�e into the Roosevelt White House and Hyde Park and initiation into British intelligence's elite dirty tricks squad, all in less than three years. He and his colorful coconspirators -- David Ogilvy, Ian Fleming, and Ivar Bryce, recruited more for their imagination and dramatic flair than any experience in the spy business -- gossiped, bugged, and often hilariously bungled their way across Washington, doing their best to carry out their cloak-and-dagger assignments, support the fledgling American intelligence agency (the OSS), and see that Roosevelt was elected to an unprecedented fourth term.

It is an extraordinary tale of deceit, double-dealing, and moral ambiguity -- all in the name of victory. Richly detailed and meticulously researched, Conant's compelling narrative draws on never-before-seen wartime letters, diaries, and interviews and provides a rare, and remarkably candid, insider's view of the counterintelligence game during the tumultuous days of World War II.

Customer Reviews: Read 31 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

The Unknown Dahl September 23, 2008
Amos Lassen (Little Rock, Arkansas)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

Conant. Jennet. "The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington', Simon and Schuster, 2008.

The Unknown Dahl

Amos Lassen

There is something about a spy story that keeps me riveted and a true story will definitely hold my attention. Jennet Conant's "The Irregulars" is a fantastic read which I had a hard time putting down. I have always loved the literary works of Roald Dahl since having first studied him in college but I would have never thought of him being a spy. He had been assigned by the British throne as a diplomat to Washington in 1942 and he had also been given a secret mission. He was to gather evidence about the isolationist policies of the United States and he managed his infiltration and laid the seeds for the American entry into World War II.
With the attention of the United States focused on what was going in the Pacific and even though we had been technically at war wit Germany (although non-officially) since December, 1941, not much attention was paid to Dahl set out to exert public opinion and change the opinions of the Washington governmental elite. We also learn that he was not alone in his covert activities and other spies working were David Oglivy and Ian Fleming who were his co-conspirators.
We learn now that the alliance between Britain and America was replete with covert activity. Conant gives the whole story with a lot of detail and in doing so she allows us to gain a new understanding on the nature of the relationship between Churchill and Roosevelt. Roald Dahl seemed to be able to be everywhere. He wanted to save his country from an invasion by Nazi Germany and to protect his country he forced himself to invade almost all aspects of American government as well as the Washington society and winning over many including the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. He built friendships with the powerful and used what he learned.
It was not Dahl who was the mastermind of the deception. Walter Stephenson (code name, Intrepid) did this. He was a confidant of Churchill and his chief spy and he managed, with the permission of Franklin Roosevelt, to set up a campaign of subversion and propaganda that caused the weakening of America's isolationism. This ultimately brought America to declare war against Germany.
"The Irregulars" is non-fiction that reads like a first-class spy novel. Conant has done her research well and gives us a book that is readable, informative and thoroughly enjoyable.

3 out of 5 stars

Mild diversion deserves moderate attention September 28, 2008
Todd Stockslager (Raleigh, NC)
10 out of 13 found this review helpful

Episodic narrative of author Roald Dahl's role in the World War II British spying efforts in America. This ground, as Conant acknowledges, has been many times plowed already, so she doesn't attempt an exhaustive history, but relies on synopses, brief biographies, and moderately interesting anecdotes to drive this inconsequential account. Dahl was a sometimes appealing but often abrasive character in his own right, who has been the subject of many biographies and memoirs, for example Roald Dahl: A Biographyby Treglown.

As the United States and Britain were soon to become allies in a great world war for the second time in the century, the amount of effort Britain devoted to its American spying efforts beginning in the late 1930's, and the amount of ink devoted to it afterward, seems out of proportion to the benefits to be gained. However, British morale was low, many British politicians (notably Winston Churchill) believed that the country's survival depended on American intervention, and American politics at the time were predominately isolationist, anti-war, and often friendly to German interests (p. 29).

While Conant does not outline the goals of the British efforts in the United States and step through them systematically, the account does focus on these four key areas of effort as events unfolded:

--Get the United States into the war on the side of Britain and France.

--Get Vice President Henry Wallace (he was considered too liberal and not favorable to British interests) out of the government.

--Secure British interests in post-war civil aviation, which was felt to be the major post-war economic reality replacing the British Imperialist domination of the seas which was waning with her impending colonial divestiture and American expansionism.

--keep the United States from establishing close ties with Russia, at the expense of British economic and political ties, both during and after the war.

Given the shared language, similarities in culture, and generally friendly relationship between the two countries (apart from that whole tea party affair and that "Ha! Take that we burned your capital!" thing a few years ago), the "spying" consisted mostly of attending social parties, taking notes, and informally exchanging information at levels below the diplomatic packet. Dahl and his cohorts were never physically endangered, and nothing of great consequence seemed to really take place. The fact that history does indicate that all four goals were achieved may be attributed in some part to secret British political influence, although all things being equal it seems likely these outcomes would have been achieved in any case, and with less effort and ink expended.

Conant's tale is a mild diversion, nothing more. No new information surfaces, so if you are interested in more depth in the subject you would be better served to mine her sources about the period, of which there have been many in the ensuing decades. I was also frustrated to find numerous errors undetected by proofreading, which primarily consisted of incomplete sentences and misspelled words that were still valid words but in the wrong context, a sure indication that the editors relied on spell checker to do their jobs. Whenever I encounter this lack of attention to detail, especially in nonfiction, I caution readers that devoting a higher of level of attention and effort to the finished manuscript than the editors did is unlikely to be rewarded.

5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating read -- especially because it is true September 24, 2008
N. Jenkins (Raleigh, NC)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

When I ordered this book, I didn't really know what to expect. To be honest, I wasn't completely sure if it was a novel or non-fiction. I had always enjoyed WW2 historical fiction such as Herman Wouk's Winds of War and War and Rememberance so I thought this book would be similar.

This book is actually a historical account of the propaganda and espionage tactics used by the British to influence American public and political policy during WWII.

I'm no great WWII historian so I will be showing my ignorance here... but who knew that our own allies were engaged in covert activities directed at our own government. However, this book describes the activities of Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming, and several other British "covert agents" who were in the US during WWII. The book, though non-fiction, reads like part-novel and part high-society gossip.

While it is common knowledge that the US was not pulled into WW2 until the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan, less known is how we became involved in the European theater. The US had tried to remain "neutral" and had adopted an isolationist stance when it came to the European wars. Because the US, at the time, generally treated Great Britain with a certain level of distrust (that whole "British Imperialism" thing), it took some work from the "inside" to sway the American Public Opinion and Leadership to actively engage in the European Theater.

What was particularly interesting to me (particularly in light of the current presidential campaign and the current debate associated with America's role on the world stage) was the debate between Republicans and FDR's "New Dealers" on how isolationist a stance America should adopt. In what is a reverse from present day politics, the Republicans were against a broader involvement in WW2 while the New Dealers were much more sympathetic to the European conflicts.

And while I had always heard of Ian Fleming as the creator of the James Bond series, it turns out that Ian Fleming's Bond character may have been based on more reality than we would think (minus the cool gadgets). In a sense, this book documents how the whole "James Bond 007" phenomenon got its start.

The reading style is an easy-to-read narrative style that strikes a balance between being readable and not overwhelming the reader with being too scholarly. Yet the author doesn't "talk down" to her readers either by being "sensationalist" or overly dramatic.

All in all, this book was a great read and the fact that it is true makes it even more interesting. I highly recommend!

5 out of 5 stars

Tinker, Tailor, Pilot, Spy September 25, 2008
Mr. Richard D. Coreno (Berea, Ohio USA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

"Don't you think that you or some other regular officer should be doing this job?"

"We've all got our hands full," the Captain said.

Roald Dahl had it all; a wounded RAF pilot who had the intellect, grace and charm to open doors that would typically be shut to even the biggest political insiders.

And as author Jennet Conant writes in this biography of Dahl, the friends he had in high places ultimately shaped the policies of the United States in World War II and in the opening salvos of the Cold War, but with a gentle push or - oftentimes - a hard shove into a specific direction by British agents.

Dahl was a key player in a British spy ring in Washington, D.C., which found him striding confidently into the White House halls of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration and counting on such key players as FDR, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry Wallace and Henry Morgentheau, Jr., as vital colleagues.

Starting in 1942, Dahl became entwined in a wide web of intrigue designed by Sir William "Intrepid" Stevenson to destroy brick-by-brick the isolationist movement in the U.S. and shape the political relations between the two nations in the war against Nazi Germany. Some of Dahl's work was done with the approval of FDR.

Important areas of this campaign included the use of influential journalists - Walter Winchell, Drew Pearson - and other media members to tell the story of cooperation and a plot against U.S. corporations that retained cozy relations with the Nazis.

The canvas of the post-war landscape included Dahl's 1946 proposal of an American-English Secret Service, writes Conant. But as a new type of war with the Soviet Union turned frigid, there was personal turmoil for spies like Dahl who came in from the cold. But old friendships ultimately did not fade away after the covert warriors slowly disappeared from the scene.

"I have endeavored to pull the curtain back on one small part of this shadowy episode in order to tell the story of young Dahl's incredible experience as one of Stepenson's 'agents of influence' in America," writes Conant.

Mission accomplished.

5 out of 5 stars

A Terrific Read September 25, 2008
P. Smith (Northeast)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

When I ordered this book I wasn't quite sure what I was getting in to. Let it suffice to say that I am extremely happy that I ordered this book.

During the early 1940's, while Britain was getting pummeled both at home and all around the world, there were isolationists in the US who wanted nothing to do with what was going on with Great Britain or the European theater at large- they felt it had nothing to do with us. So with the 'tacit' approval of FDR, Britain was allowed to discreetly operate spy rings in the US that would allow the embedding of British non isolationist views of why the US should be in the war with Great Britain against Germany in movies, newspapers, magazines and they had so many other activities as well, even ones that would ultimately include involvement in our politics.

Enter Roald Dahl, the main character of the book ,a wounded RAF pilot who could no longer serve in the capacity of being a pilot. First he was given a post at the British Embassy as an air attache where he starting becoming a man around town and then he heard about a very serious covert British group operating within the US under Intrepid, or William Stephenson. It was called the BSC and Roald started working with them as a spy (one of the Baker Street Irregulars). It is almost hilarious how Roald Dahl started becoming everywhere (seemingly all at once) and how he seemed to have no boundaries at all in Washington society. Some of the antics he pulled off with some off the other Baker Street Irregulars are indeed interesting and humorous. One of the other Baker Street Irregulars was none other than Ian Fleming of James Bond fame.

On a larger scale, this book taught me a lot about history that I didn't know about- that even the friendliest of countries spy on each other to get their needs met and I would imagine it is still the same way today. I just felt gobsmacked when I read in the book that Britain was spying on us and manipulating us in WWII, however, they knew they could not win the war without us and history now shows us exactly what we all were up against- not just Europe or Great Britain, but what we were all up against. Perhaps that is why these British groups had FDR's tacit approval to try to move the US into being a less isolationist society.

In conclusion, this is a lovely work of non fiction and I highly recommend it to anyone. I loved this book.

britain intrigue roald dahl world war ii ww2

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