The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA

from EowynA

A couple chapters of this book was the basis for the movie "Argo." I have always been fascinated by tales of spies and espionage, and this is the true story of one of the CIA's finest - an artist by training and inclination, a Cold War spy in action. The story is that of Tony Mendez, told by him ...

from MatthewN

This was a neat book. It introduces you to a portion of the CIA that you never knew existed. There was a TV show on a couple of years ago called "The Agency" that featured some of the forgery and disguise work, but I don't know how much of that was real and how much was Hollywood. This book talks...

from nmele

Mendez is in the news again because of the part he played in smuggling six U.S. diplomats out of Iran in early 1980, but don't read this book merely to get that story. Read it because Mendez manages to write 300 pages of fascinating stories without revealing any trade secrets, keeping the suspens...

from mbowen

mendez' book throws a new light on the spy business which has not been exploited very well in other fiction about spycraft - the value of disguise. not since watching 'the killing fields' in which dith pran keeps mumbling 'ankertill brewer' over and over, has the drama of exfiltration been so dra...

from addunn3

OK, I read this book because of the movie ARGO. Rather a disappointing read, though. Having lived through the era that he describes (cold war and beyond) it brings back memories. It also makes the Spy Museum in DC much more interesting. It is hard to believe that adults (on all sides of the polit...