What do you think?
Rate this book
The American School of Spies: The Archaeologists Who Fought the Nazis and Saved the Treasures of Ancient Greece
From the New York Times bestselling author, the incredible true story of the American archaeologists and classicists who went undercover as OSS spies during World War II to fight the Nazis and protect the world's most precious relics,
In 1942, as head of the newly formed OSS, Wild Bill Donovan deployed spies across Europe and around the world to try to thwart the Nazis. In Greece, Nazis weren’t just taking over territory; they were seizing and threatening to destroy some of the world’s most important and valuable historical monuments and artifacts. So, Donovan tapped a young Ivy League-trained archaeologist named Rodney Young to assemble and lead a team of spies to collect intel.
Young set about recruiting the most unlikely of spies—academics, classicists, epigraphers, and other specialists and scholars—who would come to be known as “the Greek Desk.” These men and women, along with their Greek allies, went undercover and tried desperately to protect some of the world’s most significant treasures. The archaeologists hid priceless artifacts in ancient caves, bank vaults, and even underneath the city of Athens itself. They created fakes to give over to the Nazis to appease their lust for these remarkable works. Ultimately, when it became clear the cat-and-mouse game on its own wasn’t going to save Athens, they brought in an army of Greek American soldiers to beat back the Nazi regime and save their homeland.
In 1942, as head of the newly formed OSS, Wild Bill Donovan deployed spies across Europe and around the world to try to thwart the Nazis. In Greece, Nazis weren’t just taking over territory; they were seizing and threatening to destroy some of the world’s most important and valuable historical monuments and artifacts. So, Donovan tapped a young Ivy League-trained archaeologist named Rodney Young to assemble and lead a team of spies to collect intel.
Young set about recruiting the most unlikely of spies—academics, classicists, epigraphers, and other specialists and scholars—who would come to be known as “the Greek Desk.” These men and women, along with their Greek allies, went undercover and tried desperately to protect some of the world’s most significant treasures. The archaeologists hid priceless artifacts in ancient caves, bank vaults, and even underneath the city of Athens itself. They created fakes to give over to the Nazis to appease their lust for these remarkable works. Ultimately, when it became clear the cat-and-mouse game on its own wasn’t going to save Athens, they brought in an army of Greek American soldiers to beat back the Nazi regime and save their homeland.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published June 9, 2026
About the author
Stephan Talty
36 books312 followersStephan Talty is the New York Times bestselling author of six acclaimed books of narrative nonfiction, as well as the Abbie Kearney crime novels. Originally from Buffalo, he now lives outside New York City.
Talty began as a widely-published journalist who has contributed to the New York Times Magazine, GQ, Men’s Journal, Time Out New York, Details, and many other publications. He is the author of the forthcoming thriller Hangman (the sequel to Black Irish), as well as Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Double Agent who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day (2012) and Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe that Ended the Outlaws Bloody Reign (2008).
His short e-book, The Secret Agent: In Search of America's Greatest World War II Spy was the best-selling Amazon Single of 2013.
Talty began as a widely-published journalist who has contributed to the New York Times Magazine, GQ, Men’s Journal, Time Out New York, Details, and many other publications. He is the author of the forthcoming thriller Hangman (the sequel to Black Irish), as well as Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Double Agent who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day (2012) and Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe that Ended the Outlaws Bloody Reign (2008).
His short e-book, The Secret Agent: In Search of America's Greatest World War II Spy was the best-selling Amazon Single of 2013.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 18, 2026
This is not a bad book, but I found it somewhat disappointing. I haven't read a lot on WWII in many years and that mostly on espionage. It was my father's war (Army Air Corps, N. Africa, Italy, and the Philippines), and my college professors, most of whom were in intelligence. I knew Jack Caskey, who figures off and on throughout the book. I never had him for a class. Jack only taught graduate students and that rarely; mostly he did his excavations and directed dissertations based on them. But I would occasionally chat with him in the department tea room (and there was always a departmental tea at 4pm in those days). He never talked about the war. Carl Trahman, the senior Latin professor, was in cryptography (seconded from the Army to Naval Intelligence). He never talked about it either, except to say that most of the routine military discipline (spit polish, bouncing quarters off of newly made beds, etc.) was solely to make you obey orders without thinking. I can't imagine Carl not thinking.
Talty give the impression with his title (a rather poor attempt at cleverness) that the book is about archaeology and archaeologists in the war. This is only half true. About half of it is about Greek Americans who served as spies and commandos in occupied Greece; interesting enough, but little to do with archaeology for the most part. Rodney Young (PhD, Princeton; later Penn faculty), Jerome Sperling (PhD Cincinnati, Yale). Dorothy Cox (later a curator at Yale), and Jack Caskey. Young gets far and away the most attention. Still others pop up once or twice, often with minimal identification, such as JH Oliver (Greek epigrapher, a student of Rostovtzeff at Yale, later at Hopkins) and Gerald Else (Greek, Iowa, then Michigan). Connections to the American School of Classical Studies are not always made clear. Talty tends to leave things hanging: at one point he refers to a Brit who died defending Crete during the Nazi invasion, without bothering to give his name (JDS. Pendlebury). He also makes the occasional boneheaded mistake. He gratuitously claims that Jason's ship, the Argo, was named for Argos in the Peloponnese. Jason was from Thessaly, the ship was built by and named for a man named Argos (read Apollonius!).
Talty's research could be better. He often tends to ride one book or memoir for the bulk of a chapter. References are thin (at most a half-dozen per chapter). Susan Heuck Allen's Classical Spies is a far superior book, more detailed and far better researched. Allen was a Ph.D student of Caskey at Cincinnati (disclosure: we overlapped there as students, but moved in entirely different circles).
Talty is readable, and I learned some things I didn't previously know. But if you really want to know about archaeologists in the OSS, read Allen.
Talty give the impression with his title (a rather poor attempt at cleverness) that the book is about archaeology and archaeologists in the war. This is only half true. About half of it is about Greek Americans who served as spies and commandos in occupied Greece; interesting enough, but little to do with archaeology for the most part. Rodney Young (PhD, Princeton; later Penn faculty), Jerome Sperling (PhD Cincinnati, Yale). Dorothy Cox (later a curator at Yale), and Jack Caskey. Young gets far and away the most attention. Still others pop up once or twice, often with minimal identification, such as JH Oliver (Greek epigrapher, a student of Rostovtzeff at Yale, later at Hopkins) and Gerald Else (Greek, Iowa, then Michigan). Connections to the American School of Classical Studies are not always made clear. Talty tends to leave things hanging: at one point he refers to a Brit who died defending Crete during the Nazi invasion, without bothering to give his name (JDS. Pendlebury). He also makes the occasional boneheaded mistake. He gratuitously claims that Jason's ship, the Argo, was named for Argos in the Peloponnese. Jason was from Thessaly, the ship was built by and named for a man named Argos (read Apollonius!).
Talty's research could be better. He often tends to ride one book or memoir for the bulk of a chapter. References are thin (at most a half-dozen per chapter). Susan Heuck Allen's Classical Spies is a far superior book, more detailed and far better researched. Allen was a Ph.D student of Caskey at Cincinnati (disclosure: we overlapped there as students, but moved in entirely different circles).
Talty is readable, and I learned some things I didn't previously know. But if you really want to know about archaeologists in the OSS, read Allen.
June 19, 2026
Most people with a knowledge of history are aware of the Nazis insatiable appetite to steal and destroy the cultural artifacts of others. Whether we are speaking of the art works stolen from the Louvre in Paris, the personal possessions of Jews, archeological treasures from museums, and a host of other sources the Nazis had to be outsmarted by those who sought to save their countries treasures. A special example of how a group of people made up of archeologists, academics, epigraphers, classists, and other vocations did so in World War II Greece which is wonderfully portrayed in Stephan Talty’s latest book, THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF SPIES: THE ARCHEOLOGISTS WHO FOUGHT THE NAZIS AND SAVED THE TREASURES OF ANCIENT GREECE.
Talty’s monograph is broken into a number of subjects. First, the problem of the relics and how to keep them from the Germans. Second, a useful description of how and where the relics would be hidden and preserved. Third, the recruitment of individuals to serve as agents for the Greek Desk created to oppose Nazi actions. Fourth, the conduct of the missions needed to defeat and block Nazi attempts at destroying relics or shipping them back to Berlin. Fifth, the introduction of the most important individuals, their training, and missions to thwart the likes of Adolf Hitler and Herman Goering as they attempted to seize Greece’s cultural heritage. Sixth, a section on the status of relics following the end of the war.
Talty immediately introduces the reader to Rodney Young, the first of many important characters that are developed. Young was an American archeologist, an east coast blue blood and heir to the Ballantine Beer fortune whose mother had a passion for Latin and Greek culture. Young earned a Ph.D from Columbia in the Classics and Archeology. He rejected the life of the “social register” to pursue his chosen field in Athens. He would be based at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. He would be recruited by OSS head William Donovan to set up a spy ring to thwart the Nazis in Greece. Young would recruit an unusual cadre of people who would be known as “the Greek Desk.”
Once the Germans arrived in Greece many American archeologists returned to the United States as Hitler in particular made plans to seize as many artifacts as possible. The Nazis had taught their followers that Ancient Greece had been built by their own ancestors. The Nazis wanted to curate Athenian ruins and see what they could bring back to Berlin as Hitler and his cohorts were fixated on Ancient Greek artifacts. Hitler believed that the Aryan race had given birth to Ancient Athenian culture. He wrote in MEIN KAMPF that a racial kinship connected Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Nazis in a straight line. Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS created a German Ancestral Heritage Society and charged scholars to locate the missing links between the “true German culture.” Alfred Rosenberg, Hitler’s racial theorist would order teams of archeologists to central Greece to locate “pre- and post-historic” Germanic and Slavic finds which would prove the connection between Ancient Greece and early Germanic culture. By using what Talty describes as archeological strip mining, the Germans located 10,000 relics which they argued proved the missing links were found.
Talty delves into the Greek government’s plan to bury their relics under the National Archeological Museum in Athens. Before he met William Donovan, Rodney Young was one of the volunteers. Fearing a full German invasion the volunteers had to work quickly to bury artifacts in the ground under the museum and throughout the city. In addition, homes, bank vaults ,and air raid shelters were also used. By April 1941, the most important items were taken from the museum which then stood empty which did not make the Nazis happy.
Donovan played a major role in blocking the Germans as he believed that a classic spy network was needed. He was convinced that conventional methods could not alone defeat the Nazis. His plan was to create a series of guerilla units to be drawn from Greek immigrant communities in the United States, train them in sabotage, and have them infiltrate their ancestral homeland. Once Young was chosen he recruited a number of important colleagues. Among the most important were Dorothy Hannah Cox, an excavation architect and numismatist; Jerome Spirling, an archeology professor at Yale with great experience excavating Troy in Turkey; and Jack Caskey, fluent in Greek he spent part of his youth in Athens and was a trained archeologist. Except for Cox, among Young’s two dozen classist recruits, most were overwhelmingly male, Wasp, and from monied families.
Talty does an exceptional job explaining how the Germans went about looting relics and shipping the ones they did not destroy back to Berlin. For example, items that were too large to ship or were attractive enough were ground up and used for military purposes, since marble and stone made for excellent building materials for bunkers and other needs.
Young’s headquarters were in Cairo and Talty goes to great lengths describing how agents were recruited with new identities provided, how information was gathered, and how cable traffic was managed. Young created his own merchant marine using Caiques, traditional Greek fishing vessels to transport agents, information, and the tools that a spy needed to operate. The Greek Desk created German documents employing a separate team of counterfeiters. The OSS bureaucracy was of little help, and neither were the British who saw the Balkans being part of their sphere of influence.
Talty is correct as he explores British distrust of American agents in Greece. Cox reported that Winston Churchill saw Washington as interlopers in the Balkans who supported liberal elements rather than King George II. She believed that the British pressured the Turks not to cooperate with American agents. Once the Germans were defeated and withdrew from Greece Churchill wanted to forbid elections and hold on to power. Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin met in Moscow from October 9 to October 19, 1944, at a summit codenamed the Tolstoy Conference. Their discussions defined the postwar map of Eastern Europe and produced the “Percentages Agreement,” on October 9, whereby Churchill and Stalin negotiated a secret "spheres of influence" deal for the Balkans. Churchill wrote percentages of dominance on a piece of paper (i.e., granting the Soviet Union 90% control in Romania and 10% in Greece). Stalin famously reviewed the list and simply marked it with a large red tick. The agreement was made without Franklin Roosevelt’s approval.
The reader is introduced to a number of remarkable characters. Cornelia Kapp whose father was an Abwehr agent posing as a diplomat switched sides and worked with the Americans spying on Ludwig Moyzisch, the German attaché in Ankara, Turkey. Helias Doudoulakis sent by Young to set up a network of spies and operators in Salonika, and his brother George was effective in obtaining valuable information about German rail and Caiques schedules, bridge locations etc. Nikolaos Platon the head of the Heraklion Museum on the island of Crete refused to give into the demands of Nazi Commander Julius Ringel whose stolen relics were mostly recovered after the war.
Talty is very critical of the British role after the Germans withdrew and their refusal to cooperate with Greek leftists and allow elections which led to a bloody civil war fostered by the emerging Cold War. It would take until 1948 for the National Archeological Museum to reopen in Athens after three years of excavating and recovering relics. Despite the retrieval of thousands of objects, thousands more were not, though over the years many were returned.
Talty’s work tells the story of two sets of agents sent to Greece. Each had a distinct mission. One was to harass and kill Germans by blowing up trains, calling in airstrikes and passing on military secrets. The other group was to safeguard Greece’s treasure trove of archeological riches. Talty does well as he describes the work of these agents and how they survived, and were able to make a major contribution to the war effort, in addition to recovering Greece’s national treasures.
Talty’s monograph is broken into a number of subjects. First, the problem of the relics and how to keep them from the Germans. Second, a useful description of how and where the relics would be hidden and preserved. Third, the recruitment of individuals to serve as agents for the Greek Desk created to oppose Nazi actions. Fourth, the conduct of the missions needed to defeat and block Nazi attempts at destroying relics or shipping them back to Berlin. Fifth, the introduction of the most important individuals, their training, and missions to thwart the likes of Adolf Hitler and Herman Goering as they attempted to seize Greece’s cultural heritage. Sixth, a section on the status of relics following the end of the war.
Talty immediately introduces the reader to Rodney Young, the first of many important characters that are developed. Young was an American archeologist, an east coast blue blood and heir to the Ballantine Beer fortune whose mother had a passion for Latin and Greek culture. Young earned a Ph.D from Columbia in the Classics and Archeology. He rejected the life of the “social register” to pursue his chosen field in Athens. He would be based at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. He would be recruited by OSS head William Donovan to set up a spy ring to thwart the Nazis in Greece. Young would recruit an unusual cadre of people who would be known as “the Greek Desk.”
Once the Germans arrived in Greece many American archeologists returned to the United States as Hitler in particular made plans to seize as many artifacts as possible. The Nazis had taught their followers that Ancient Greece had been built by their own ancestors. The Nazis wanted to curate Athenian ruins and see what they could bring back to Berlin as Hitler and his cohorts were fixated on Ancient Greek artifacts. Hitler believed that the Aryan race had given birth to Ancient Athenian culture. He wrote in MEIN KAMPF that a racial kinship connected Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Nazis in a straight line. Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS created a German Ancestral Heritage Society and charged scholars to locate the missing links between the “true German culture.” Alfred Rosenberg, Hitler’s racial theorist would order teams of archeologists to central Greece to locate “pre- and post-historic” Germanic and Slavic finds which would prove the connection between Ancient Greece and early Germanic culture. By using what Talty describes as archeological strip mining, the Germans located 10,000 relics which they argued proved the missing links were found.
Talty delves into the Greek government’s plan to bury their relics under the National Archeological Museum in Athens. Before he met William Donovan, Rodney Young was one of the volunteers. Fearing a full German invasion the volunteers had to work quickly to bury artifacts in the ground under the museum and throughout the city. In addition, homes, bank vaults ,and air raid shelters were also used. By April 1941, the most important items were taken from the museum which then stood empty which did not make the Nazis happy.
Donovan played a major role in blocking the Germans as he believed that a classic spy network was needed. He was convinced that conventional methods could not alone defeat the Nazis. His plan was to create a series of guerilla units to be drawn from Greek immigrant communities in the United States, train them in sabotage, and have them infiltrate their ancestral homeland. Once Young was chosen he recruited a number of important colleagues. Among the most important were Dorothy Hannah Cox, an excavation architect and numismatist; Jerome Spirling, an archeology professor at Yale with great experience excavating Troy in Turkey; and Jack Caskey, fluent in Greek he spent part of his youth in Athens and was a trained archeologist. Except for Cox, among Young’s two dozen classist recruits, most were overwhelmingly male, Wasp, and from monied families.
Talty does an exceptional job explaining how the Germans went about looting relics and shipping the ones they did not destroy back to Berlin. For example, items that were too large to ship or were attractive enough were ground up and used for military purposes, since marble and stone made for excellent building materials for bunkers and other needs.
Young’s headquarters were in Cairo and Talty goes to great lengths describing how agents were recruited with new identities provided, how information was gathered, and how cable traffic was managed. Young created his own merchant marine using Caiques, traditional Greek fishing vessels to transport agents, information, and the tools that a spy needed to operate. The Greek Desk created German documents employing a separate team of counterfeiters. The OSS bureaucracy was of little help, and neither were the British who saw the Balkans being part of their sphere of influence.
Talty is correct as he explores British distrust of American agents in Greece. Cox reported that Winston Churchill saw Washington as interlopers in the Balkans who supported liberal elements rather than King George II. She believed that the British pressured the Turks not to cooperate with American agents. Once the Germans were defeated and withdrew from Greece Churchill wanted to forbid elections and hold on to power. Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin met in Moscow from October 9 to October 19, 1944, at a summit codenamed the Tolstoy Conference. Their discussions defined the postwar map of Eastern Europe and produced the “Percentages Agreement,” on October 9, whereby Churchill and Stalin negotiated a secret "spheres of influence" deal for the Balkans. Churchill wrote percentages of dominance on a piece of paper (i.e., granting the Soviet Union 90% control in Romania and 10% in Greece). Stalin famously reviewed the list and simply marked it with a large red tick. The agreement was made without Franklin Roosevelt’s approval.
The reader is introduced to a number of remarkable characters. Cornelia Kapp whose father was an Abwehr agent posing as a diplomat switched sides and worked with the Americans spying on Ludwig Moyzisch, the German attaché in Ankara, Turkey. Helias Doudoulakis sent by Young to set up a network of spies and operators in Salonika, and his brother George was effective in obtaining valuable information about German rail and Caiques schedules, bridge locations etc. Nikolaos Platon the head of the Heraklion Museum on the island of Crete refused to give into the demands of Nazi Commander Julius Ringel whose stolen relics were mostly recovered after the war.
Talty is very critical of the British role after the Germans withdrew and their refusal to cooperate with Greek leftists and allow elections which led to a bloody civil war fostered by the emerging Cold War. It would take until 1948 for the National Archeological Museum to reopen in Athens after three years of excavating and recovering relics. Despite the retrieval of thousands of objects, thousands more were not, though over the years many were returned.
Talty’s work tells the story of two sets of agents sent to Greece. Each had a distinct mission. One was to harass and kill Germans by blowing up trains, calling in airstrikes and passing on military secrets. The other group was to safeguard Greece’s treasure trove of archeological riches. Talty does well as he describes the work of these agents and how they survived, and were able to make a major contribution to the war effort, in addition to recovering Greece’s national treasures.
April 4, 2026
Well paced book about the archaeologists who were part of the story of Greece in World War II. Great telling of happenings not commonly in our history books.
June 14, 2026
It has been nearly 90 years since World War II commenced with Germany’s invasion of Poland. But it continues as a fertile area for historical research and writing by contemporary authors and scholars.
THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF SPIES by New York Times reporter Stephan Talty is an engrossing and entertaining book about a group of men and women who initially were neither spies nor military operatives. Many were trained archaeologists who volunteered along with Greek Americans and other citizens of Nazi-occupied Greece to save the history and humanity of the Greek nation. It sometimes reads like a spy novel, with equal parts of James Bond and Indiana Jones. But the story is real, and the courageous behavior of its subjects is a skillfully told account of WWII heroism.
Even before the United States entered the war, the FDR administration was preparing to engage Germany and Japan. The President asked former Wall Street attorney General William “Wild Bill” Donovan to create intelligence operations in Europe and the Balkans. Donovan visited overseas nations to evaluate the needs and resources in areas invaded by Germany. He spoke with political leaders, as well as kings and military figures, and was impressed by them. He also met an American, Rodney Young, who was driving a Red Cross vehicle. Young and Donovan shared Ivy League educations, as did many others who eventually would serve in the OSS. Donovan asked Young if he would help put a team of spies together to operate in Greece. He quickly agreed to it.
Young’s background is precisely the result of building a spy from scratch. He was born in 1907 and was part of the East Coast upper class. His father was an attorney, and his mother was an heiress. He was a third-generation Princeton man who obtained a PhD from Columbia in classics and archaeology. In 1933, he joined the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, pursuing the digging and discovery of antiquities. As the invasion of Greece by the Nazis became imminent and many western Europeans started leaving the country, Young stayed as a volunteer to begin salvaging and protecting ancient artifacts. He was involved in this work when he was recruited by the OSS.
For a clandestine organization, Donovan cast a wide net for potential operators in Greece. He enlisted the aid of Archbishop Athenagoras, the leader of Greek parishioners in America. They were looking for males of military age with language skills and military experience. The archbishop even sent a letter to every Greek Orthodox parish in the US telling parishioners that he was “full of Pride and Happiness” at being asked to join a secret project. The OSS wanted mechanics, medics, radio operators, safecrackers and commandos. The result of the recruiting was thousands of applications.
Greece was important not just for its geographical location in central Europe. It also had historical significance for Germany and the US. Hitler believed that Ancient Greece had Aryan roots, while the US saw the country as the birthplace of democracy. In part, the mission to save Greece also became a mission to save artifacts and archaeology.
As THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF SPIES tells its compelling story, the intersection of wartime resistance with archaeology and intelligence gathering makes for an extraordinarily rich historical account.
Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman
THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF SPIES by New York Times reporter Stephan Talty is an engrossing and entertaining book about a group of men and women who initially were neither spies nor military operatives. Many were trained archaeologists who volunteered along with Greek Americans and other citizens of Nazi-occupied Greece to save the history and humanity of the Greek nation. It sometimes reads like a spy novel, with equal parts of James Bond and Indiana Jones. But the story is real, and the courageous behavior of its subjects is a skillfully told account of WWII heroism.
Even before the United States entered the war, the FDR administration was preparing to engage Germany and Japan. The President asked former Wall Street attorney General William “Wild Bill” Donovan to create intelligence operations in Europe and the Balkans. Donovan visited overseas nations to evaluate the needs and resources in areas invaded by Germany. He spoke with political leaders, as well as kings and military figures, and was impressed by them. He also met an American, Rodney Young, who was driving a Red Cross vehicle. Young and Donovan shared Ivy League educations, as did many others who eventually would serve in the OSS. Donovan asked Young if he would help put a team of spies together to operate in Greece. He quickly agreed to it.
Young’s background is precisely the result of building a spy from scratch. He was born in 1907 and was part of the East Coast upper class. His father was an attorney, and his mother was an heiress. He was a third-generation Princeton man who obtained a PhD from Columbia in classics and archaeology. In 1933, he joined the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, pursuing the digging and discovery of antiquities. As the invasion of Greece by the Nazis became imminent and many western Europeans started leaving the country, Young stayed as a volunteer to begin salvaging and protecting ancient artifacts. He was involved in this work when he was recruited by the OSS.
For a clandestine organization, Donovan cast a wide net for potential operators in Greece. He enlisted the aid of Archbishop Athenagoras, the leader of Greek parishioners in America. They were looking for males of military age with language skills and military experience. The archbishop even sent a letter to every Greek Orthodox parish in the US telling parishioners that he was “full of Pride and Happiness” at being asked to join a secret project. The OSS wanted mechanics, medics, radio operators, safecrackers and commandos. The result of the recruiting was thousands of applications.
Greece was important not just for its geographical location in central Europe. It also had historical significance for Germany and the US. Hitler believed that Ancient Greece had Aryan roots, while the US saw the country as the birthplace of democracy. In part, the mission to save Greece also became a mission to save artifacts and archaeology.
As THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF SPIES tells its compelling story, the intersection of wartime resistance with archaeology and intelligence gathering makes for an extraordinarily rich historical account.
Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman
June 12, 2026
An unlikely group of scholars who spied and saved historical treasures
Before there was a CIA there was its precursor, the Office of Strategic Services, that was spearheaded by Wild Bill Donovan. In addition to the network of spies and informants he had spread in spots all across Western Europe during WWII Donovan saw another area in need of infiltration....Greece. The Germans were advancing and would soon take that country over, not only gaining another maritime foothold but also having dominion over the historic sites and important artifacts located there. Hitler was known to have an obsession with classical Greek art and claimed that in fact the Aryan race had its roots there, and there were fears that his troops would destroy and loot there way across the country. Donovan recruited a quirky group of academics and other scholars headed by Rodney Young, an Ivy school educated archaeologist, and assigned them a two-pronged mission....gather information on the German troops' movements and plans and do anything in their power to protect the theft and destruction of Greece's priceless artifacts.
Much has been written on the OSS during WWII but most of that has focused on its work in places like France and other Northern European countries. What happened in Greece during this time has been less explored, and I found it fascinating to read about it. From museum officials hiding their treasures in caves and bank vaults and burying them underneath the museum buildings themselves to the patriotism of Greek American soldiers who were eager to both serve the US and provide aid to the country from which their parents and grandparents had emigrated, the book reads like a combination of espionage thriller and historical guide. The narrative moves along at a good clip, providing a solid level of detail without getting too lost in the weeds while highlighting the parallels between scholarly skills and those of a good spy. There is also a look at the geopolitical tensions that were present in Greece and the difficulties posed by the dueling interests even within the Allies. Those who enjoyed the movie Monument Men as well as readers of author Stephan Tally and of Erik Larson, Robert M. Edsel and Ben Macintyre should pick up a copy of this book, a solid 4.5 ⭐️ read rounded up to 5. My thanks to NetGalley and Dutton Books for allowing me access to this work in exchange for my honest review.
Before there was a CIA there was its precursor, the Office of Strategic Services, that was spearheaded by Wild Bill Donovan. In addition to the network of spies and informants he had spread in spots all across Western Europe during WWII Donovan saw another area in need of infiltration....Greece. The Germans were advancing and would soon take that country over, not only gaining another maritime foothold but also having dominion over the historic sites and important artifacts located there. Hitler was known to have an obsession with classical Greek art and claimed that in fact the Aryan race had its roots there, and there were fears that his troops would destroy and loot there way across the country. Donovan recruited a quirky group of academics and other scholars headed by Rodney Young, an Ivy school educated archaeologist, and assigned them a two-pronged mission....gather information on the German troops' movements and plans and do anything in their power to protect the theft and destruction of Greece's priceless artifacts.
Much has been written on the OSS during WWII but most of that has focused on its work in places like France and other Northern European countries. What happened in Greece during this time has been less explored, and I found it fascinating to read about it. From museum officials hiding their treasures in caves and bank vaults and burying them underneath the museum buildings themselves to the patriotism of Greek American soldiers who were eager to both serve the US and provide aid to the country from which their parents and grandparents had emigrated, the book reads like a combination of espionage thriller and historical guide. The narrative moves along at a good clip, providing a solid level of detail without getting too lost in the weeds while highlighting the parallels between scholarly skills and those of a good spy. There is also a look at the geopolitical tensions that were present in Greece and the difficulties posed by the dueling interests even within the Allies. Those who enjoyed the movie Monument Men as well as readers of author Stephan Tally and of Erik Larson, Robert M. Edsel and Ben Macintyre should pick up a copy of this book, a solid 4.5 ⭐️ read rounded up to 5. My thanks to NetGalley and Dutton Books for allowing me access to this work in exchange for my honest review.
June 18, 2026
Thank you to Dutton for the gifted copy of The American School of Spies: The Archaeologists Who Fought the Nazis and Saved the Treasures of Ancient Greece by Stephan Talty.
I picked this up because "archaeologist spies during World War II" is one of those concepts that sounds almost too wild to be true. Somehow the real story ended up being even more fascinating than I expected.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (4.5 stars)
What makes this book so compelling is that it sits at the intersection of so many things I wouldn't normally think of together: espionage, archaeology, military history, cultural preservation, and resistance. The idea that scholars and academics became key players in protecting ancient treasures while simultaneously gathering intelligence feels like something straight out of a novel.
I especially loved learning about the lengths people went to in order to protect Greece's cultural heritage. Hiding artifacts in caves, burying them beneath museums, creating decoys to fool the Nazis... every chapter seemed to reveal another unbelievable piece of history.
The pacing was also excellent. Nonfiction can sometimes get bogged down in details, but this never felt like a textbook. It reads more like a historical thriller while still delivering plenty of context and research.
What I Loved
• The incredible true story behind the Greek Desk
• The blend of espionage, archaeology, and WWII history
• The focus on protecting cultural treasures during wartime
• Fast-paced storytelling that never felt dry
• Learning about a lesser-known aspect of World War II
• The Greek American soldiers and their connection to the mission
What Didn’t Work for Me
• There are a lot of historical figures and organizations to keep track of
• Some geopolitical discussions slowed the momentum slightly
• Readers looking for nonstop spy action may find parts more history-focused than thriller-focused
Overall, this is one of those nonfiction books that reminds you how strange and remarkable real history can be. It shines a light on a lesser-known chapter of World War II while celebrating the people who risked everything to preserve pieces of human history that could have been lost forever. If you enjoyed The Monuments Men or love hidden-history stories, this is absolutely worth picking up. 🏛️🕵️📚
I picked this up because "archaeologist spies during World War II" is one of those concepts that sounds almost too wild to be true. Somehow the real story ended up being even more fascinating than I expected.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ (4.5 stars)
What makes this book so compelling is that it sits at the intersection of so many things I wouldn't normally think of together: espionage, archaeology, military history, cultural preservation, and resistance. The idea that scholars and academics became key players in protecting ancient treasures while simultaneously gathering intelligence feels like something straight out of a novel.
I especially loved learning about the lengths people went to in order to protect Greece's cultural heritage. Hiding artifacts in caves, burying them beneath museums, creating decoys to fool the Nazis... every chapter seemed to reveal another unbelievable piece of history.
The pacing was also excellent. Nonfiction can sometimes get bogged down in details, but this never felt like a textbook. It reads more like a historical thriller while still delivering plenty of context and research.
What I Loved
• The incredible true story behind the Greek Desk
• The blend of espionage, archaeology, and WWII history
• The focus on protecting cultural treasures during wartime
• Fast-paced storytelling that never felt dry
• Learning about a lesser-known aspect of World War II
• The Greek American soldiers and their connection to the mission
What Didn’t Work for Me
• There are a lot of historical figures and organizations to keep track of
• Some geopolitical discussions slowed the momentum slightly
• Readers looking for nonstop spy action may find parts more history-focused than thriller-focused
Overall, this is one of those nonfiction books that reminds you how strange and remarkable real history can be. It shines a light on a lesser-known chapter of World War II while celebrating the people who risked everything to preserve pieces of human history that could have been lost forever. If you enjoyed The Monuments Men or love hidden-history stories, this is absolutely worth picking up. 🏛️🕵️📚
June 19, 2026
For more reviews and bookish posts visit: https://www.ManOfLaBook.com
The American School of Spies: The Archaeologists Who Fought the Nazis and Saved the Treasures of Ancient Greece by Stephan Talty tells about the "Greek Desk", an OSS operation during World War II using a ragtag team of archaeologists and academics instead of seasoned commandos. Mr. Talty is an Irish best-selling author.
The book makes the point that protecting historical artifacts is sometimes just as important as as protecting its borders. A group of academics, archaeologists and classicist are, mostly of Greek origins, went undercover to try and save antiquities, and Greece itself from the Nazis.
The American School of Spies by Stephan Talty tells of their mission in an exciting, readable manner. The Greek and American scholars have weaponized their knowledge of the Greek language, its history, mythology, antiquities, the greed of Nazi officers and, of course, geography to execute high-risk operations in both sabotage and hiding antiquities from plunder.
The book's most interesting part is the psychological transition of the amateur spies. They went from academics, teachers, and researchers to forging documents, lying, and coordinating resistance cells while the Gestapo is a step or two behind them.
This is an amazing story that, as far as I know, have fallen under the shadow of Europe's Monument Men. Saving the heritage of Greece, could be seen as saving the founding of democracy itself. Ironically, Greece, at the time, was not even a democracy. I enjoyed the combination of the quiet, efficient and all too human academics turned spies and saboteurs, to that of the likes of William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan, the aggressive head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).
This book, however, does take careful reading, and even that sometimes doesn't work. The intricate story or intricate networks got me lost at several points. The author always goes back to the main mission, but the side missions, which are important and exciting, still took me out of the narrative and it was a challenge to get back.
The American School of Spies: The Archaeologists Who Fought the Nazis and Saved the Treasures of Ancient Greece by Stephan Talty tells about the "Greek Desk", an OSS operation during World War II using a ragtag team of archaeologists and academics instead of seasoned commandos. Mr. Talty is an Irish best-selling author.
The book makes the point that protecting historical artifacts is sometimes just as important as as protecting its borders. A group of academics, archaeologists and classicist are, mostly of Greek origins, went undercover to try and save antiquities, and Greece itself from the Nazis.
The American School of Spies by Stephan Talty tells of their mission in an exciting, readable manner. The Greek and American scholars have weaponized their knowledge of the Greek language, its history, mythology, antiquities, the greed of Nazi officers and, of course, geography to execute high-risk operations in both sabotage and hiding antiquities from plunder.
The book's most interesting part is the psychological transition of the amateur spies. They went from academics, teachers, and researchers to forging documents, lying, and coordinating resistance cells while the Gestapo is a step or two behind them.
This is an amazing story that, as far as I know, have fallen under the shadow of Europe's Monument Men. Saving the heritage of Greece, could be seen as saving the founding of democracy itself. Ironically, Greece, at the time, was not even a democracy. I enjoyed the combination of the quiet, efficient and all too human academics turned spies and saboteurs, to that of the likes of William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan, the aggressive head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).
This book, however, does take careful reading, and even that sometimes doesn't work. The intricate story or intricate networks got me lost at several points. The author always goes back to the main mission, but the side missions, which are important and exciting, still took me out of the narrative and it was a challenge to get back.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
The American School of Spies is an interesting new book about WWII and the effort of a group of dedicated American archaeologists and classicists who went undercover in a dangerous effort to hide and protect significant works of art and culture as the Nazis were invading Greece. With an art background, Hitler appreciated the sculpture and other artifacts from ancient Greece and wanted to add them to his plunder.
How this group of scholars and academicians were able to succeed against incredibly difficult odds is a story most people know nothing about. We may have read or seen the movie "Monuments Men" about efforts to save artwork in France and other countries, but little is known about Greece until now.
As a country in southern Europe, Greece was isolated during WWII. Mussolini controlled Italy, the Ottoman empire most of the Balkans. War raged in Africa before the Allies turned on Italy. Greece was not a big concern of the Allies except for Great Britain. Greece was never a colony, but it faced great influence from the British.
The geopolitical aspects of the war and its impact on Greece is a sidebar to the book's main story, and one very interesting. Greece wanted independence, but Communists also wanted to control Greece after the Nazis left.
I learned a great deal about Greece that I had no knowledge of despite visiting the country a couple of times. Climbing up the Acropolis to see the Parthenon years ago I had no idea it was once controlled by the Nazis, nor did I realize if I looked close enough I might see evidence of bullet holes in the structure.
My rating is 4.5/5, rounded down to 4 stars.
I want to thank the author, publisher Dutton, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an ARC of this book.
How this group of scholars and academicians were able to succeed against incredibly difficult odds is a story most people know nothing about. We may have read or seen the movie "Monuments Men" about efforts to save artwork in France and other countries, but little is known about Greece until now.
As a country in southern Europe, Greece was isolated during WWII. Mussolini controlled Italy, the Ottoman empire most of the Balkans. War raged in Africa before the Allies turned on Italy. Greece was not a big concern of the Allies except for Great Britain. Greece was never a colony, but it faced great influence from the British.
The geopolitical aspects of the war and its impact on Greece is a sidebar to the book's main story, and one very interesting. Greece wanted independence, but Communists also wanted to control Greece after the Nazis left.
I learned a great deal about Greece that I had no knowledge of despite visiting the country a couple of times. Climbing up the Acropolis to see the Parthenon years ago I had no idea it was once controlled by the Nazis, nor did I realize if I looked close enough I might see evidence of bullet holes in the structure.
My rating is 4.5/5, rounded down to 4 stars.
I want to thank the author, publisher Dutton, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an ARC of this book.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
The American School of Spies: The Archaeologists Who Fought the Nazis and Saved the Treasures of Ancient Greece by Stephan Talty is a fascinating blend of history, espionage, and wartime heroism. Talty uncovers the little-known story of archaeologists and scholars connected to the American School of Classical Studies at Athens who used their deep knowledge of Greece to aid the Allied war effort during World War II. The result is a gripping narrative that combines intellectual history with the suspense of a spy thriller.
One of the book’s greatest strengths is its ability to bring overlooked historical figures to life. Talty portrays these archaeologists not as distant academics, but as courageous individuals who risked their lives to resist Nazi occupation and protect Greece’s cultural treasures. The book also highlights the importance of preserving history and heritage during times of war, adding emotional depth to the larger geopolitical story.
Talty’s writing is engaging and cinematic, making complex historical events accessible without oversimplifying them. The pacing keeps the story moving, especially during the espionage and resistance sections, while still providing rich historical context about Greece and archaeology. Readers interested in World War II history, secret operations, or cultural preservation will find the book especially rewarding.
Overall, The American School of Spies is an absorbing and well-researched work of nonfiction that shines a light on an extraordinary chapter of history. It successfully combines adventure, scholarship, and wartime drama into a compelling and memorable read.
One of the book’s greatest strengths is its ability to bring overlooked historical figures to life. Talty portrays these archaeologists not as distant academics, but as courageous individuals who risked their lives to resist Nazi occupation and protect Greece’s cultural treasures. The book also highlights the importance of preserving history and heritage during times of war, adding emotional depth to the larger geopolitical story.
Talty’s writing is engaging and cinematic, making complex historical events accessible without oversimplifying them. The pacing keeps the story moving, especially during the espionage and resistance sections, while still providing rich historical context about Greece and archaeology. Readers interested in World War II history, secret operations, or cultural preservation will find the book especially rewarding.
Overall, The American School of Spies is an absorbing and well-researched work of nonfiction that shines a light on an extraordinary chapter of history. It successfully combines adventure, scholarship, and wartime drama into a compelling and memorable read.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I’m a history nerd which is why I like historical fiction and history books so much. And when I find a book about a little known historical topic to me, it’s an exciting day (so my thanks to NetGalley and Dutton for allowing me access to this ARC).
This is the story of an OSS’s (the American predecessor to the CIA) decision to save Greek artifacts and prepare Greece for D-Day. William Donovan, the head of OSS, in 1942, tapped a young Ivy League archeologist, Rodney Young, to assemble a team to gather intel and help save ancient artifacts. Young assembled a most atypical group: classicists, academics, epigraphers and other scholars known as “the Greek Desk.” Along with Greek allies, they went to save Greek artifacts and treasure from Nazi art predators. Eventually the US sent in its Greek American soldiers to save Greece.
I am so thankful to these men and women as I got to see many marvelous Greek artifacts when I visited Greece. I never thought in seeing them about the heroic efforts that occurred so that these were preserved. That’s why a book like this is so incredibly important. We need to remember and honor the past. My thanks to the author for doing that.
Highly recommend.
This is the story of an OSS’s (the American predecessor to the CIA) decision to save Greek artifacts and prepare Greece for D-Day. William Donovan, the head of OSS, in 1942, tapped a young Ivy League archeologist, Rodney Young, to assemble a team to gather intel and help save ancient artifacts. Young assembled a most atypical group: classicists, academics, epigraphers and other scholars known as “the Greek Desk.” Along with Greek allies, they went to save Greek artifacts and treasure from Nazi art predators. Eventually the US sent in its Greek American soldiers to save Greece.
I am so thankful to these men and women as I got to see many marvelous Greek artifacts when I visited Greece. I never thought in seeing them about the heroic efforts that occurred so that these were preserved. That’s why a book like this is so incredibly important. We need to remember and honor the past. My thanks to the author for doing that.
Highly recommend.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
There are certain corners of World War II which are frequently forgotten. One of them is Greece, and Stephan Talty is here to shed some light on it in The American School of Spies.
Talty looks at a group of American spies and some other likely (and not so likely) allies as they try to keep the treasures of Greece from being destroyed or straight up stolen by the dang Nazis. I enjoy every single one of Talty's books because he always writes books which feel like they are very detailed while being briskly paced. This one feels like an especially fast read since he does have about half a dozen main characters who aren't always directly connected.
The main crux of the narrative is about protecting Greece's treasures with a healthy dose of post-World War II Red Scare thrown in for a little spice at the end. This is the type of book which is great for people who want to dip their toe into World War II without reading a 1,000-page tome. Talty always delivers and this book is no different.
(This book was provided as an advanced reader copy by NetGalley and Dutton Books.)
Talty looks at a group of American spies and some other likely (and not so likely) allies as they try to keep the treasures of Greece from being destroyed or straight up stolen by the dang Nazis. I enjoy every single one of Talty's books because he always writes books which feel like they are very detailed while being briskly paced. This one feels like an especially fast read since he does have about half a dozen main characters who aren't always directly connected.
The main crux of the narrative is about protecting Greece's treasures with a healthy dose of post-World War II Red Scare thrown in for a little spice at the end. This is the type of book which is great for people who want to dip their toe into World War II without reading a 1,000-page tome. Talty always delivers and this book is no different.
(This book was provided as an advanced reader copy by NetGalley and Dutton Books.)
June 14, 2026
4.25 stars
Excited to have found a WWII story I knew nothing about, and it's a good one. Covering three types of operatives recruited by the OSS to work in or for Greece in 1943 and beyond, we get to know the bosses, aka the archaeologists of the title, who worked outside of Greece; the spies who gathered intel on the ground in Greece; and the commandos who conducted operations against the Nazis. also in Greece The latter two groups were primarily Greek Americans.
The book is full of nail-biting scenes of antiquities being rushed into hiding, spies almost found out, informants secreted out of harm's way, and commandos grievously injured. Of course I was happy to see another Bryn Mawr alum, Dorothy Cox, in a prominent role.
However, part 3 of the book, about the retreat of the Nazis from Greece and the factions fighting over the country's future, is a total snooze. Could be just me, but I found it v boring, hence 4.25 stars.
Excited to have found a WWII story I knew nothing about, and it's a good one. Covering three types of operatives recruited by the OSS to work in or for Greece in 1943 and beyond, we get to know the bosses, aka the archaeologists of the title, who worked outside of Greece; the spies who gathered intel on the ground in Greece; and the commandos who conducted operations against the Nazis. also in Greece The latter two groups were primarily Greek Americans.
The book is full of nail-biting scenes of antiquities being rushed into hiding, spies almost found out, informants secreted out of harm's way, and commandos grievously injured. Of course I was happy to see another Bryn Mawr alum, Dorothy Cox, in a prominent role.
However, part 3 of the book, about the retreat of the Nazis from Greece and the factions fighting over the country's future, is a total snooze. Could be just me, but I found it v boring, hence 4.25 stars.
June 19, 2026
I'm so glad when a book comes out that deals with parts of World War II that I really had not heard about. We all know about the war in Europe - the countries being primarily, France, German, Italy and England. My dad served in North Africa and I learned about that hemisphere from him. But Greece? Who knew? Not I .
Seeing these scholars form a network and take on the Nazis was very interesting to me. I would have expected a professional group of spies doing this work. The chances they took to save these incredible antiquities had me in awe of them. My only complaint is that people dropped in and out of the story and I wasn't quite sure what had happened to them. Other than that, this is a must read for a WWII history buff.
Seeing these scholars form a network and take on the Nazis was very interesting to me. I would have expected a professional group of spies doing this work. The chances they took to save these incredible antiquities had me in awe of them. My only complaint is that people dropped in and out of the story and I wasn't quite sure what had happened to them. Other than that, this is a must read for a WWII history buff.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A historic look at the spies planted in Greece, the information processed by individuals and some of tasks carried out by the Greek underground. This is about the spies placed in Greece by William 'Wild Bill' Donovan. Spies new to the craft, with some training and some mistakes made. How the Greeks hid their antiquities from the Nazis, efforts made to keep these treasures from leaving the country and how the Americans ran supplies to the Greek underground.
I found this to be a missing chapter concerning my overall knowledge of WWII., the Greeks participation and what it was like under occupied Greece. I enjoyed this book immensely and would recommend it to any Greek, or WWII buff.
I found this to be a missing chapter concerning my overall knowledge of WWII., the Greeks participation and what it was like under occupied Greece. I enjoyed this book immensely and would recommend it to any Greek, or WWII buff.
June 17, 2026
Spies! Archaeology! WW2! Right up my alley. I was most impressed by the women and men that undertook the challenge of espionage, in a foreign country, with very little training. Most of these subjects were trained archaeologists and had little or no background in the spy game. Very courageous and daring.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews