Secret Armies: Inside the American, Soviet and European Special Forces

by James Adams

A study of three special forces units--Delta Force of the U.S., Britain's SAS, and the Soviet Union's Spetznaz--includes behind-the-scenes accounts of such events as the U.S. invasion of Grenada and the Archille Lauro hijacking to reveal the rules of the "secret armies"

Genres: History, Military Fiction, Military History, War

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

somebody needs to get this author a good agent, because according to goodreads statistics, he has only forty readers, but his writing is fine. in fact, he was the military correspondent for The Sunday Times. is he still alive? can we hack his work and put it online? this 1989 main selection of the military book club until the very last chapter is balanced, light in tone, and crisply written, covering Delta Force, Spetznaz, ISA, SAS, Achilla Lauro, Falkland Islands special ops etc.

due to it being published at the height of the Cold War, Secret Armies incorreclty identifies the "Russian desant" manuveur as some top-secret special forces tactic; with the end of the Cold War, 'desant' is now accuratley described as merely the French term for "deployment by vehicle". a couple of other minor errors having to do with a British perspective (Adams consistently suggests reforms that would work in the UK but won't in the US).

a decent piece of writing and a find of "B-list" military books.

acquired 3USD used book store; once previously sold 6 USD

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Both the Soviet Union and the United States are among the nations that have special forces of some type. This book examines these two countries and their special forces and the roles that they are used in.

[Chris Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't do book reviews like you keep seeing, as I find that some give too much of the plot away and I personally hate that, as it makes the book not worth reading. I much prefer to take the authors back cover write up as a review as it can either intrigue you enough to read the book of provide you enough information to make you decide that the book is not for you.
My review rules are: The more stars, the more I liked it.
If there are too many typos or errors the less stars I give
If the storyline or plot is poor or contains too many errors, the characters are too weak, the ending lacking something, then the less stars I give.
Simple, uncomplicated and to the point without giving anything away.
Some of the books I read have been given to me by the author as a pre-release copy and this does not bias my reviews in any way.

[Jason Vanderford · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed history of special forces primarily of the US and UK. There is significant discussion of the use of these forces in the 1980's. It is a foundational work insofar as several other works I have read reference it as a source. I learned a lot from it. The three star rating is for enjoyment. I anticipated lighter reading. I would give it 5 stars for the thoroughness of the content. If you have an interest in the history of these forces beyond memoirs, this is an excellent book.

[Liam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dated, but still interesting.