Churchill's Wizards: The British Genius for Deception, 1914-1945
by Nicholas Rankin
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List Price: ££25.00
Our Price: ££11.25
Your Save: £ 0.00 ( % )
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Manufacturer: Faber and Faber
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780571221950
ISBN: 0571221955
Label: Faber and Faber
Number Of Pages: 480
Publication Date: 2008-10-02
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Studio: Faber and Faber
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Deception!
Comment: The two rather breathy reviews above are a little excessive. Yes, the writing is good albeit with Rankin throwing in some words that are straight out of the darkest corners of the most obscure dictionaries. However, the content is lacking; short on Maskelyne and even Operation Mincemeat gets only a passing discussion. There are also lengthy passages about the personal politics behind the protagonists, where I would have preferred a more in depth treatment of what they did. Finally, the epilogue where Rankin speculates about 'our generation' and implied deception leading us into Iraq and Afghanistan: out of context and speculative. Nice cover though - it will look good on the bookshelf.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A book too far
Comment: Firstly a very well written book. The author has a genuine skill for telling a story, which to be honest is just as well.
Whilst the writing was entertaining and informative the whole setup of the book was very disappointing. It seemed to lurch from one subject to the other rather than with a smooth flow between individual subjects.
One great dissapointment was an almost sideways and singular reference to Jasper Maskelyne (who could've had a chapter all to himself) yet the author devoted more word space to one of his relatives' rather tertiary involvement in the evacuation of the BEF.
All in all a good attempt but I wont be picking this up and re-reading it again in a hurry.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Comments by Michael Calum Jacques, author of '1st Century Radical'.
Comment: Firstly, may I begin on stating that I endorse every statement made by the previous reviewer, Tristan Edwards. His review represents this work accurately and perceptively. This reviewer is surprised that anybody could fail to find that previous review helpful.
This reviewer would like to present some biographical data about the author of 'Wizards'. Nicholas Rankin is a well-known name in broadcasting and, now, in historical literature too,especially since his book Dead Man's Chest (which traced the steps of Robert Louis Stevenson's between Scotland and Samoa)and Telegram from Guernica, an extremely well received treatise on the life of the war-correspondent and propagandist, George Lowther Steer 1909 - 1944). Rankin, then is seasoned in the dual disciplines of communication and of historical research. 'Wizards' combines these disciplines with thoroughness and esprit.
The author sets the historical context very carefully, whilst maintaining the readers concentration and interest (as observed by the previous reviewer) with deft phrases and vivid, sometimes terse, descriptive phraseology and terminology.
By the time the Second World War 'occurred', the British military and secret services had become masters of the art of deception. This book chronicles their achievements, despite the difficulties in obtaining 'the full story' in certain instances; British geniuses cracked what had appeared to be apparently impenetrable German secret codes and were able to glean intelligence from their messages. Apprehended German spies were used to send back false information to officers.
And there is more ... much more; in short, Nicholas Rankin entertainingly presents the reader with well-researched heroic episodes about the hurriedly assembled band of 'creative mavericks' who purloined a victory in what that phrase-smith Churchill referred to as 'the war of the Unknown Warriors'. As alluded to earlier, some of the material was apparently not that easy to obtain; "Official secrecy has weighed heavily on the subject", Rankin says. As well as making the finished project an even greater achievement, that fact renders this work even more commendable to the general reader and valuable to the interested historian.
Michael Calum Jacques (author of 1st Century Radical: the shadowy origins of the man who became known as Jesus Christ)
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wizardry!
Comment: I must start by saying that 'Churchill's Wizards' is first and foremost a great read. Nicholas Rankin has managed to turn what at first sight may seem like a forbiddingly esoteric subject into a thoroughly accessible and engaging narrative full of intrigue and incident. This is in no small part down to some very accomplished writing, which throughout the book is always adding splashes of colour to the blacks and whites of historical fact. The rather wonderful picture of Gavrilo Princip at the start of the book, `a tubercular and weedy-looking youth,' consoling himself with a sandwich in Moritz Schiller's cafe after a failed attempt on the life of the Archduke and just before he was to be given a second chance by way of the infamous `wrong turn', is a case in point I think.
`Wizards' story of the secret wars of deception that were fought beneath the surface of the two World Wars is as surprising as it is fascinating. The tales of ingenuity, audacity and at times damn right eccentricity that characterised the British deceptions and ruses are each interesting in their own right and are invariably drawn with much humour and heart. But it is how these portraits fit into the bigger picture that will have the reader gripped; as `Wizards' reworks the annals of war from the perspective of deception. Giving us fresh takes on familiar campaigns and events like `Gallipoli' and `D-day' that have been all but exhausted by books and films.
I have to say that Mr Rankin does this with all the subtlety and skill of one of his 'camofluers': seamlessly integrating vast tracts of unfamiliar territory into the well-trodden historical landscapes of the first and second World Wars. But rather than hollowed-out trees and dummy tanks what one can expect to find when they examine this book is something of real substance. That is, a superbly crafted piece of scholarship that is hugely informative and very, very readable.
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