Prisoners, Lovers, and Spies: The Story of Invisible Ink from Herodotus to al-Qaeda

by Kristie Macrakis

Prisoners, Lovers, and Spies   is the first history of invisible ink and secret communications revealed through thrilling stories about scoundrels and heroes and their ingenious methods for concealing messages. Spies were imprisoned or murdered, adultery unmasked, and battles lost because of faulty or intercepted secret communications. Yet, successfully hidden writing helped save lives, win battles, and ensure privacy; occasionally it even changed the course of history.

Kristie Macrakis combines a storyteller's sense of drama with a historian's respect for evidence in this page-turning history of intrigue and espionage, love and war, magic and secrecy. From the piazzas of ancient Rome to the spy capitals of the Cold War, Macrakis's global history reveals the drama and importance of invisible ink. From Ovid's advice to use milk for illicit love notes, to John Gerard's dramatic escape from the tower of London aided by orange juice ink messages, to al-Qaeda's hidden instructions in pornographic movies, this book presents spellbinding stories of secret messaging that chart its evolution in sophistication and its impact on history. The book includes fun kitchen chemistry recipes for readers to try out at home.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Science, Technology

392 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Kristie Macrakis is Professor of History in the School of History and Sociology at Georgia Tech. She is the author of many books, including Seduced by Secrets and Prisoners, Lovers, and Spies.

Reviews

[Ted Compton · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you ever counted the days until your Captain Midnight Secret Decoder Ring arrived in the mail, or wrote a note with lemon juice, or enjoyed an Ian Fleming novel, this book’s a treat. And an eye-opener, no matter what. And fun.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous history of invisible ink! Do I really need to say anything more about this one?

[Phil Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is written on a fascinating subject: the history of hidden writing from ancient times to the present. It's clear that the author has searched far and wide for declassified information, recipes, and other details to draw the reader in. There are multiple historical photographs and images of hidden writing that has been "developed." Four stars for the content.

The problem with this book, in my opinion, is in the editing. A couple of the pictures seemed amateurish, one was a facsimile of a comic book taken at a skew angle, another was a photograph of a diorama, presumably from a museum display. The text had instances where similar descriptions showed up more than once in the same chapter, a problem that is not always obvious in the writing process but should have been caught and corrected during editing. Page 297, for example, tells us that the NSA release "...boasts 895 secret-ink samples, tests, and effects of developers, a much more thorough and complete set of documents than the CIA...." Two pages later, we are told, "...the NSA material on 895 secret-ink tests is much more revealing about secret-ink methods than that from the CIA."

I received this book as a First Reads winner, and will be happily keeping my copy for future reference.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2014, 'Prisoners, Lovers, & Spies' tells the story of the history and development of hidden writing methods on use over many hundreds of years. Whilst this often means descriptions of the times that spies have written messages in invisible ink made from lemon juice, is does also describe many far more sophisticated and bizarre methods. Much of the book deals with details of cases where spies were unmasked during wartime, so not surprisingly the book gathers pace from the early 20th century. Very interesting and very enjoyable.

[Sunshine · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engrossing read and lively history about invisible writing and the entertaining misadventures of the colorful characters who used it. Engaging and well-written.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author did a terrific job with her research. I can't imagine there is another book that has as much detail about secret messages. This a great reference book.
I won this in a Goodreads giveaway.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. I heard an interview with Kristie Macrakis on NPR, and she sounded so enthusiastic, and her promised premise of fascinating reveals of secret writing is certainly compelling.

Unfortunately, I ended up feeling like the book was rushed to press, or somehow unfinished. Macrakis has a way of just throwing information at the reader, but without taking the time to develop a coherent narrative or thesis. Honestly, it reads the way my old term papers read, when i'd stay up the night before cramming any fact I could glean from the encyclopedia.

And its a shame, because Macrakis has a ton of well-researched information. She is particularly knowledgeable when it comes to 20th century espionage, but she did a credible job of including the early years, and the modern era of computerized steganography. She also obviously finds the material very compelling, and wants to share that interest with her reader.

So, I'm torn. I guess, read it for the facts and some of the isolated stories, but expect it to be easy.

[Winnie Thornton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for research because I was writing a book featuring a scene with invisible ink. Good enough for that. Not very well written, but a tolerable collection of stories about spies and lovers and terrorists communicating in some form of secret writing. Made me want a better book on the same stuff.

[Hemani · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an incredibly dry read.

[Georgina Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting subject. I remember using lemon juice for secret writing when I was a girl just like many other children but I never thought there was so much more to SW. I'm going to love trying the secret ink recipes with my children and telling them these stories.