Derek Nudd's Blog - Posts Tagged "soe"

Women in Intelligence: The Hidden History of Two World Wars by Helen Fry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It is almost always useful to look at a topic from a different angle, and Helen Fry has done this with the 20th century history of intelligence, focussing on the two world wars from a female perspective. The approach is (mostly) successful.
Dr Fry draws out a number of consistent themes: that British and Allied agencies, under the pressure of existential threat, abandoned entrenched views and appointed the most appropriate person for the job; that commanders felt women had certain abilities men lacked (while carefully not endorsing or contradicting this view); and that women had greater freedom of movement than men in occupied territories, while running the same risks if caught.
There is impressive research into the lives of many of the personalities involved, drawing on both oral and documentary sources. If anything, these stories follow too thickly upon each other and slow down the overall narrative. It's difficult to see what else she could do though, other than move some of the detail into an appendix.
There is an extensive and useful plate section.
There are a few typos and factual slips which should have been picked up by Yale's editors (tut! tut!) and which I hope will be corrected in the paperback edition. Also one or two points where I read the evidence differently - but that's normal disagreement and no reason to dock a star.



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