The Secret Armies

by Albert Marrin

An exploration of codes, codebreakers, secret weapons, spies, assassinations, and sabotage analyzes how these changed the course of World War II

Genres: Nonfiction, History, World War II, Audiobook

239 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Albert Marrin is a historian and the author of more than twenty nonfiction books for young people. He has won various awards for his writing, including the 2005 James Madison Book Award and the 2008 National Endowment for Humanities Medal. In 2011, his book Flesh and Blood So Cheap was a National Book Award Finalist. Marrin is the Chairman of the History Department at New York's Yeshiva University.

Reviews

[Rachel Lauto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved Albert Marrin's look at espionage, double-agents, and tattle-tales in The Secret Armies. Though meant for a younger audience than I, I still found much information I didn't know and was thoroughly captivated by the bravery of so many men and women serving the Allies in WWII. A must-read for lovers of espionage, history, and courage.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

What terrific book, definitely 4 stars from me. It was marked as a JF on my copy but should be young adult for subject matter. There was a lot of killing, torture and brutality described, though not in too much graphic detail. I suppose I always knew there were spies and secret codes and such, but I had no idea just how complex and intense and important these things were in the war (and probably still are). It was new to me, and astonishing! I was in awe reading about the women spies. I am not made of that kind of stuff! And who are these brilliant people to create and break such elaborate secret code systems? Then the crushing decisions that directed the use of such information- if you save everyone, the enemy will know you are intercepting intelligence, therefore you must decide who shall die and who shall be saved. It was all very sobering.
I read this book at a good time. I had recently watched Darkest Hour, an excellent movie about Winston Churchill and the decision to fight Hitler. Then in London I visited the Churchill War rooms. Put together, that made for an impactful experience.

This is a fairly short book, and not so in depth that it is laborious to read. So worth reading.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

We read this for our history class & I found it very interesting read!

[Star Shining Forever · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again, we only listened to the audiobook version. It was fantastic!!! It includes stories on famous and not-so-famous spies in World War 2.

We were on a long road trip when we were going through it for the first time. (Our family loves listening to stories in the van!) It was so enthralling our little guys stayed up well into the night listening. It reached the end of one cassette and we heard a voice from the back (where we thought everyone was asleep) say, "Can you turn it over?" :-D

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

For Those of you who like spys, ok read.

[Emily Becker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A readable book on how the US and British spied on Germany.