Declassified: 50 Top-Secret Documents That Changed History

by Thomas B. Allen

Culled from archives around the world, the 50 documents in Declassified illuminate the secret and often inaccessible stories of agents, espionage, and behind-the-scenes events that played critical roles in American history. Moving through time from Elizabethan England to the Cold War and beyond, noted author Tom Allen places each document in its historical and cultural context, sharing the quirky and little-known truths behind state secrets and clandestine operations. Each of seven chapters centers on one particular secrets of war, the art of the double cross, spy vs. spy, espionage accidents, and more. Through support and access provided by the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., this lively history contains never-before-published and hard-to-find documents―printed from scans of the originals wherever possible. These include The Zimmerman Telegram, which led America into World War I; letters from Robert Hanssen to his Soviet spymaster, marking the start of his devastating career as a mole; and papers as recent as the Presidential Daily Brief that announced that Bin Laden was determined to strike the U.S.―delivered in August 2001. The public interest in state secrets and espionage has been piqued by our current international conflicts, and this engrossing book―well priced and engagingly written for the general reader―will definitely feed that fascination.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Espionage, Politics

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Thomas B. Allen's writings range from articles for National Geographic Magazine to books on espionage and military history.
He is the father of Roger MacBride Allen.

Reviews

[ALLEN · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea of spies and spooks, classified and declassified documents, goes back only about 150 years in the popular imagination. But Thomas B. Allen, in his DECLASSIFED: 50 TOP-SECRET DOCUMENTS THAT CHANGED HISTORY, uses a liberal interpretation of "classification" and takes his survey back to the late 16th Century (Spanish Armada - 1586) up to the very early 21st Century (Bin-Laden Wants to Attack America). The bulk of the documents, unsurprisingly, come from wartime, WWI and WWII probably the leaders.

I'd have enjoyed this book more if the chapters had been arranged simply in chronological order, rather than by themes such as "Secrets of War" and "In Defense of the Realm" that did not add as much to my understanding of the field as I had hoped. Therefore, one star off. This is not to say that this book is mere trivia; though -- it's interesting to read but rather like wandering around a rather hastily contrived exhibition gallery. My own favorites include Albert Einstein's 1939 letter to Franklin Roosevelt cautioning FDR that the Germans had the capability of developing an atomic bomb (but was this letter really classified after the end of the war?) and Robert Hansen's 1985 offer to spy for the Soviets. In the not-so-much-fun category, the 1963 exposure of Anthony Blunt as a British spy (the memo still too "redacted" to be coherent); a small part of the "Griswold Brief" in 1973, detailing what the federal government could expect if the "Pentagon Papers" were published (well documented elsewhere, and two pages thereof in this book are close to meaningless).

Used copies are plentiful and cheap.

[Mihai M Tiganus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cartea reprezintă o culegere de documente desecretizate. Majoritate sunt vechi dar totuși ne ajuta să ne facem o imagine despre complicata lume a spionajului.Nu este atractivă din punct de vedere al modului de prezentare dar are o importanță istorică reală.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really fascinating and even though it was packed with info, it’s a quick read. Each item/person/situation had a succinct description that summed it up quite nicely without being too wordy or textbook-y.

I found out some super interesting stuff!! For instance, and excuse my ignorance (or forgetfulness) but there was a real spy who Ian Fleming based James Bond off of (however - a quick Google search to find out that guy’s name because I already forgot, gives me some conflicting answers. Sigh). Okay, how about the fact that there was a real Lawrence of Arabia! Ha! Who knew??!!

Anyway - since I love history and am a mini hoarder (how else to preserve all that history people??!) I loved seeing all the old documents that were still in existence. Amazing!

There was a whole very cool but confusing section about double agents (the explanation of a double agent just didn’t compute for my tired brain, thus the confusion - lol). Nobody is loyal or who they really say they are!

So yeah, very interesting book!

[Keith Muehler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed 75% of the book. It was overwhelming how much information is classified secret every year. It is also truly amazing how much is still redacted on documents that have been declassified, to protect sources and methods of gathering intelligence.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The universe of books presenting lists of 50 or 100 people, battles, wars, weapons, aircraft, events, incidents, etc. appears populated by an infinite quantity, suggesting that perhaps some one should prepare a book of the 50 or 100 best such list titles? Nevertheless, Thomas Allen and National Geographic have broken new ground with this interesting and useful work that brings together 50 formerly secret documents and their associated stories, each presented as a single chapter and including an assessment of the surrounding episodes' impact on history. As a collection of free-standing individual stories - one per chapter - the book can be read straight through or the reader can choose to just dip into it at different points to read a chapter here or another chapter there and not lose anything by ignoring the collection's chronological structure. The book also provides a bibliography and a list of Internet sites that offer the interested reader additional information on each of the stories presented therein.

The 50 selected "secret documents" presented here cover a span of history from the reign of England's Queen Elizabeth up through the American Revolution, the American Civil War, both world wars, the Korean conflict, the Vietnam war, and finally the events of September 11, 2001 and first administration of President George W. Bush. The individuals revealed in these accounts include soldiers, politicians, spies, double agents, triple agents, spymasters, valets, crowned heads of state, elected presidents, dictators, and even ordinary citizens. A number of the presented tales also show the often-unhappy end awaiting the practioners of the black arts of espionage, as a number are imprisoned, lost at sea, or otherwise disappear from history into obscurity and to unknown ends. The techniques and technologies discussed include secret handwriting, codes, encryption, hollow coins, eavesdropping, deception, kidnapping, blackmail, counterfeiting, shredded documents, and even outright theft, among others. A number of chapters present stories that either directly relate to or resonate with our modern world of the global war on terror and post-cold war hi-tech and old-fashioned human espionage.

One complaint that can be made is that the limitations of this format compel authors to sometimes omit interesting details not central to the story of the document or object. For example, reference is made in several chapters to the use by merchants in past centuries of codes, ciphers, and encryption in their business correspondence and even telegrams by merchants. During the 19th Century, it was possible to find such codes available for sale through your book dealer, with instructions on how to personalize the purchased code to prevent anyone else who bought that same code from reading your messages. Similarly, the authors only hint at the possible link between Confederate Secret Service operations in Canada, the plan by a detachment of Union cavalry to assassinate Confederate President Jefferson Davis under cover of a raid to free prisoners of war held in Richmond, and finally the John Wilkes Booth plot to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln after the end of the war.

A definite plus for the reader is the inclusion of illustrations showing the various documents or objects discussed in each chapter, only one of which shows a reconstruction; all other images show original documents or objects. The images add extra interest by giving the reader the chance to visually examine "what all the fuss was about." Unfortunately, in one instance the wrong document is illustrated. The document on pages 72-73 is identified as the "Enciphered message sent from Red Army Gen. Terenty Shtykov to Soviet Foreign Secretary Andrey Vyshinsky telling of a meeting Shtykov had had with Sung" both in its caption and in the text on page 74. The document pictured is the letter from Stalin using the code name "Filippov" to Mao and Zhou regarding Chinese military support for North Korea referred to later in the same chapter. The Shtykov document is, as a result, not actually shown.

A related error was made in the selection of portraits showing the individual or individuals associated with each document. On page 101, the portrait identified as that of "Richard Montgomery, double agent for Abraham Lincoln and the Union Army" is actually that of Revolutionary War General Richard Montgomery who was killed in the assault on Quebec (ironically a command he shared with Benedict Arnold who is the subject of another chapter in this book). The State of Arkansas uses the same Library of Congress collection portrait on its state website in connection with its Montgomery County which was named for this earlier General Montgomery.

On the good news side, you can visit a physical representative of the story of Benedict Arnold since the British frigate HMS Rose was the subject of a modern reconstruction project. That ship appeared in the recent film "Master and Commander" as HMS Surprise and was since rechristened under that name. The now-HMS Surprise can be found at the San Diego Maritime Museum.

You can also learn more about the Zimmermann telegram of First World War infamy, including a decrypted and translated text of this German telegram intercepted as it was sent to Mexico during the First World War at the National Archives website.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read summarizing 50 once-secret documents that changed the course of history. Documents from the Elizabethan age through the 21st century are covered. My only quibble with the book is there are some editing mistakes that seem a bit sloppy. For example, a picture on page 101 of Richard Montgomery is clearly of the wrong Richard Montgomery (a general from almost a century before). Despite this, it was still an enjoyable read.

[Regan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good read! I stumbled on it after looking for another book, Spy the Lie, that the author was on the Pat Thurston show about and had to pick this one up. Interesting histories behind some of the events that got us to where we are today.

[Elias Pinkes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talking about each story individually very appealing and interesting how one small document can impact all of history

[Adrian Tihoc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good info's but they are not chronologically put in order...

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

National Geographic and the International Spy Museum bring you an interesting look at history through declassified documents, nothing too in-depth on each document though. Enough to make you think a little harder and possibly do a bit of research onto the subjects that grab your attention. The various documents span years – from the Cold War to World War Two back to the days of the Civil War and some go back much further.

Basically you are presented with a (sometimes poor quality) photograph of the document, a few pages describing the history of the paper, and then how it affected history. Again, nothing too in-depth, just what it is, how and why it was written, and the impact that it had.

The documents are broken down into various categories and grouped together, such as Secrets of War, Counter Intelligence, State Secrets, and each section has documents from a fairly wide range of timelines. As much as the times and technology have changed a lot remains the same.

It’s a little difficult to recommend this book to a wide audience, if you are interested in history, military history, spies, intrigue, cryptography, classified documents, you should pick it up. Especially if it’s on sale, however if those topics do not interest you at all – pass on it.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr. Allen has written an interesting book. He briefly discusses 50 of the most important/prominent espionage stories in history. The only issue I have with the book is the discussion of each story often seemed too brief. Most sections only contained three or four pages, giving only the briefest glimpse of the incident. In spite of this, the book works well as an introduction to espionage. [return][return] The title is somewhat misleading, while the book attaches some type of document to each of the 50 incidents, in many of the cases the document is only of minor importance. Additionally several of the incidents involve documents that are not what the average person would consider “declassified”.

[Michelle]

Maybe this book is for a history buff. I was hoping it would ignite interest in history by learning a little dirk... but it was mostly stuff I had no prior knowledge of or was just plain not worth writing a book about. If things are declassified past the point of anyone caring then maybe a book shouldn't be written about it because most of these didn't sound like anything worth keeping a secret about.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book written by the curator of the Spy Museum takes a look at secret documents and the espionage stories that go with them. From stories of the Cambridge 5, Aldrich Ames, Robert Hanssen and Benedict Arnold the stories are pretty brief but interesting and the photos of the documents they show are pretty cool to look at.

[Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit repetitive, but interesting & informative. This covers a broad range of declassified history, from the Spanish Armada to Al Qaeda. I wish it focused less on the Cold War, even if that era did generate more government secrets than any other.

[Jeff Raymond · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book chronicling some of the most important formerly classified pieces of intelligence/instances of espionage in history. A pretty interesting grouping of pieces, with some fun stories and some crazy older issues it brought up. Not too bad.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

50 summaries of documents declassified by US government. Circumstances around documents summarized and implications on history noted. Several spy stories included. Very interesting read!

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've heard most of it already

[Chad Zimmermann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not worth the time. Pretty boring.

[daniel dirnfeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

INTERESTING BOOK.

[Alexander]

Great read to ingest small snippets of formerly classified documents.