Hidden Secrets: A Complete History of Espionage and the Technology Used to Support It

by David L. Owen

For fans of James Bond movies, Tom Clancy, John Le Carre and Robert Ludlum, Hidden Secrets is a compelling look at the real world of the spy. Often called the second oldest profession, espionage has played and continues to play a pivotal role in world events. Stealing plans, knowing an enemy's capabilities and deceiving an opponent are vital in both war and peacetime. Centuries ago, Sun Tzu (The Art of War) made extensive use of spies and believed the ideal way to defeat an opponent was to avoid battle altogether with deception and clever maneuvers to confuse, distract and ultimately triumph over the enemy. In 1780, George Washington's spies, the Culper Ring spy network, tracked enemy ships by communicating with invisible inks and signals like hanging a set number of handkerchiefs on a clothesline.

Spying and spy technology has evolved from sending signals through handkerchiefs and cracking the code of the Enigma machine to current intelligence techniques that rely on satellite imagery and monitoring of cellphone and internet communications. With case studies and hundreds of photographs, Hidden Secrets is an intriguing look at all these surveillance techniques, spy technology and the spies themselves.

Genres: History, Espionage

224 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

David Owen is the author of Hidden Evidence and Hidden Secrets. He has written extensively on military deception, espionage, and written and produced television documentaries on computer crime and electronic intelligence.

Reviews

[David Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

great!

[Tyler Fielstra]

This book takes a look into the world of spies. In the book it talks about all different types of spies from WWII to today. It goes on to explain how technology has made the profession more complex. For example it talks about how George Washington used invisible ink to send signals to spies.
What I like about it is the fact it uses the past to show how far spies have come to make it more advanced. I would recommend this book to people who like history,technology and war. Mainly you would have to have a open mind also because some people might not think its real or could be fake. Some of the stuff in this book uses things all the way back to the 1700's. So the people interested in war and history would really like this book

By tyler fielstra

[Isaac Hobbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok book but not real in-depth and it doesn't build on itself very much making a lot of the information redundant. However it's hard to say to much wrong about a book that deals with real spying as that information is sometimes hard to get. David Owen covers different aspects of spying from the spies themselves to the men in charge hunting them. Also stories about codes, ancient history of spying and how different spy missions changed the course of history.

[T.M. Carper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full-color glossy pages with plenty of photographs. Very useful if you need to write a report. It covers the history of spying as well as "case studies" on infamous spies (the Cambridge Five, Hanssen, Ames), ciphers and other important papers (Enigma, "purple", the Zimmerman telegraph), and other important incidents. Current through 2001.

[Frederick Bingham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about the history of spy technology. Filled with color photos, it talks about every incident in the late 20th century and how it was related to the technology of spying. It discussed World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, the Cold War, terrorism, even Osama Bin-laden and Sept. 11. It even goes back briefly to the American Revolution and George Washington's deception of the British.