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Sport and the Home Front: Wartime Britain at Play, 1939-45 (Routledge Studies in Modern British History)
by Matthew TaylorSport and the Home Front contributes in significant and original ways to our understanding of the social and cultural history of the Second World War. It explores the complex and contested treatment of sport in government policy, media representations and the everyday lives of wartime citizens. Acknowledged as a core component of British culture, sport was also frequently criticised, marginalised and downplayed, existing in a constant state of tension between notions of normality and exceptionality, routine and disruption, the everyday and the extraordinary. The author argues that sport played an important, yet hitherto neglected, role in maintaining the morale of the British people and providing a reassuring sense of familiarity at a time of mass anxiety and threat. Through the conflict, sport became increasingly regarded as characteristic of Britishness; a symbol of the ‘ordinary’ everyday lives in defence of which the war was being fought. Utilised to support the welfare of war workers, the entertainment of service personnel at home and abroad and the character formation of schoolchildren and young citizens, sport permeated wartime culture, contributing to new ways in which the British imagined the past, present and future. Using a wide range of personal and public records – from diary writing and club minute books to government archives – this book breaks new ground in both the history of the British home front and the history of sport.
Sport and the Military: The British Armed Forces, 1880-1960
by Tony Mason Eliza RiediOn battleships, behind the trenches of the Western Front and in the midst of the Desert War, British servicemen and women have played sport in the least promising circumstances. When 400 soldiers were asked in Burma in 1946 what they liked about the Army, 108 put sport in first place - well ahead of comradeship and leave - and this book explores the fascinating history of organised sport in the life of officers and other ranks of all three British services from 1880-1960. Drawing on a wide range of sources, this book examines how organised sport developed in the Victorian army and navy, became the focus of criticism for Edwardian army reformers, and was officially adopted during the Great War to boost morale and esprit de corps. It shows how service sport adapted to the influx of professional sportsmen, especially footballers, during the Second World War and the National Service years.
Sport, War and the British: 1850 to the Present (Routledge Research in Sports History)
by Peter DonaldsonSpanning the colonial campaigns of the Victorian age to the War on Terror after 9/11, this study explores the role sport was perceived to have played in the lives and work of military personnel, and examines how sporting language and imagery were deployed to shape and reconfigure civilian society’s understanding of conflict. From 1850 onwards war reportage – complemented and reinforced by a glut of campaign histories, memoirs, novels and films – helped create an imagined community in which sporting attributes and qualities were employed to give meaning and order to the chaos and misery of warfare. This work explores the evolution of the Victorian notion that playing-field and battlefield were connected and then moves on to investigate the challenges this belief faced in the twentieth century, as combat became, initially, industrialised in the age of total warfare and, subsequently, professionalised in the post-nuclear world. Such a longitudinal study allows, for the first time, new light to be shed on the continuities and shifts in the way the ‘reality’ of war was captured in the British popular imagination. Drawing together the disparate fields of sport and warfare, this book serves as a vital point of reference for anyone with an interest in the cultural, social or military history of modern Britain.
Sporting Chance: Sporting Chance (Serrano Legacy #2)
by Elizabeth MoonDanger threatens the stability of the galaxy in this intriguing second novel in The Serrano Legacy—from Hugo Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Moon.After narrowly escaping from a twisted cabal that organized hunting parties using human prey, ex-Regular Space Service officer Heris Serrano and her wealthy employer Lady Cecelia must transport a special passenger home.He is Prince Gerel—first in line to the throne. Unfortunately, he was also a somewhat unknowing participant in the “hunt,” and his family is quite eager to avoid a scandal. But Lady Cecelia notices that Gerel is not himself. In fact, he seems mentally impaired, as if he’s been drugged, but the prince’s possible poisoning is only the beginning.When Heris and Cecelia arrive at the royal stronghold of Rockhouse Major, they are pulled into a political conspiracy rooted in pettiness and desires for revenge. As outside agents make moves to unseat the throne, Cecelia is incapacitated by a bitter enemy from her past.Without the protection of her benefactor, Heris and her skeleton crew must navigate the perilous halls of power to rescue Cecelia, the prince, and possibly the universe…
Sporting Firearms of Today in Use: A Look Back at the Guns and Attitudes of the 1920s?and Why They Still Matter
by Paul A. Curtis Jr.The world of sporting firearms is a constantly changing one, but it’s always important to remember the past of the sport. Sporting Firearms of Today in Use is a vintage text written by the shooting editor of Field and Stream during that time. Full of incredible insights, Sporting Firearms of Today in Use covers such topics as: * Choosing a rifle * The killing power of the shotgun * English vs. American shooting * The use of a compass * Bird dogs and hounds * Field etiquette * And much more! Now almost a hundred years after its first publication, Sporting Firearms of Today in Use remains a valuable source of information on sporting firearms from the 1920’s.
Spreading My Wings: One of Britain's Top Women Pilots Tells Her Remarkable Story from Pre-War Flying to Breaking the Sound Barrier
by Diana Barnato WalkerThe remarkable autobiography of a pioneering female aviator who left a privileged life to serve in World War II. Her father was a millionaire race-car driver who became chairman of Bentley Motors, and her grandfather cofounded the De Beers mining company. But by the late 1930s, debutante Diana Barnato had enough of her affluent, chaperoned existence and sought excitement in flying—soloing at Brooklands after only six hours&’ training. Joining the Air Transport Auxiliary in 1941 to help ferry aircraft to squadrons and bases throughout the country, she flew scores of different aircraft—fighters, bombers, and trainers—in all kinds of conditions, and without a radio. By 1945, Barnato had lost many friends, a fiancé, and a husband—but she continued to fly. In 1962 she was awarded the Jean Lennox Bird Trophy for notable achievement in aviation, but her greatest moment was yet to come, when in 1963 she flew a Lightning through the sound barrier, becoming &“the fastest woman in the world.&” Spreading My Wings is her remarkable memoir, brimming with history and adventure.
Spring Comes to Emmerdale: an uplifting story of love and hope (Emmerdale, Book 2) (Emmerdale)
by Pamela BellTHE PERFECT GIFT FOR MOTHER'S DAYSpring Comes to Emmerdale is a must for fans of ITV's Emmerdale, and readers who love heartwarming and heartbreaking stories set during wartime, alike.'Enthralling. Spring Comes to Emmerdale is beautifully written and researched' - Lancashire Evening PostWorld War I wages on, and the families of Emmerdale are trying their best to move on from tragedy, while the effects of war still resonate throughout the village of Beckindale. Though grief and loss permeate, Maggie Sugden, Rose Haywood and the other inhabitants of the village are finding independence, the chance to make their own happiness - and even opening themselves up to find love. Featuring firm fan favourites like the Dingles, The Woolpack Pub and Emmerdale Farm itself, this will be a delight for any Emmerdale fan.Following on from the first in the series, Christmas At Emmerdale, the second novel picks up where the first left-off, exploring the lives of Emmerdale's much-loved families during the Great War and beyond, and how the nation's favourite village copes with the loves and lives lost.
Spring Will Come (The Bregdan Chronicles #3)
by Ginny DyeVolume 3 of the Bregdan Chronicles, Spring Will Come, continues the sweeping historical saga that now encompasses the second year of the American Civil War. As her beloved city of Richmond is transformed into a deadly Civil War battlefield, spirited Carrie Cromwell puts her medical skills to use in a Confederate hospital. Yet she struggles to understand the prejudice of her fellow Southerners. Does she really want the South to win? And will the war cost her the man she loves? Meanwhile, in the North, Rose and Moses have found freedom at last--only to be separated by war. Can Moses, now a Union spy, elude those searching for him as a runaway slave? Rose, inspired by a courageous woman, returns to Virginia to teach in a contraband camp.
Springboard To Berlin
by Phillip H. Ault John ParrisEarly on the morning of November 8th, 1942, Allied invasion forces struck simultaneously at half a dozen places in North Africa. From that moment news of the campaign poured out from innumerable points up and down the coast.Obviously no one person could be everywhere at once, or could hope to tell the complete story. This could only be done by the collaboration of several of those who were there.Springboard to Berlin is the work of four correspondents of the United Press.John A. Parris, Jr. in the London office was in an excellent position to give us a glimpse of what went on before those convoys finally slipped through the Straits of Gibraltar (Part I). He also covers Oran (Part V), having gone in with the troops at Arzu. His familiarity with the whole picture has enabled him to also provide a portion on Casablanca (Part IV) and later a chapter on the Casablanca Conference (Part VII).Leo Disher had the unique experience of actually sailing on H.M.S. Walney, which was sent to break the boom at Oran harbor (Part II).Ned Russell covers Operations at Algiers (Part III), and the November-December dash for Bizerte and Tunis (Part VI). Attached to the British First Army, he went up the coast from Bône. He also witnessed the final knockout at Bizerte and Tunis (Part IX, sent to London). John Parris and Phil Ault, then in London, also contributed to the section and got it into the hands of a naval officer bound for New York. Finally, Ned Russell continued across the Mediterranean with the invasion forces (Part X), analyzing the breakdown of the Axis African army and describing the conquest of Lampedusa and most of Sicily.Phil Ault was in the thick of the fighting at Kasserine Pass, El Guettar in Tunisia, and the other famous battles. In Part VIII he tells how the Americans won their spurs there.
Springfield Armory (Images of America)
by Alex MackenziePres. George Washington authorized Springfield Armory to begin manufacturing small arms for the US military in 1794. Over nearly two centuries until its closure in 1968, the government armory at Springfield, Massachusetts, became legendary, not only for the arms provided to soldiers during conflicts such as the War of 1812, the Civil War, and World War II, but also for the way in which those arms were crafted. The drive to produce firearms of high quality and quantity for the nation's military created a need to improve manufacturing methods and machinery. Armory advancements, such as the interchangeability of parts, helped lay the groundwork of the American Industrial Revolution. Because of these efforts, Springfield Armory is recognized not only as a first-rate government arms manufacturer, but also as a hub of industry, attracting thousands of skilled men and women from around the world.
Spruce Root Basketry of the Alaska Tlingit
by Frances Lackey PaulThe beautiful, artistic, and unique baskets of the Tlingit of southeastern Alaska. Numerous photos throughout.From earliest times the basket was made to use. In the huge community house of the winter village or the bark shelter of the summer fishing camp the furniture Consisted of baskets and wooden boxes. The old Tlingit did not understand the arts of pottery making or metal working. Baskets were used for cooking kettles, in which the women placed their meat or berries. They then dropped hot stones on the food with wooden tongs, added enough water to generate steam, covered the basket, and then set it aside until the food was cooked. Baskets, so closely woven as to be water tight, were their water jars and drinking cups. Baskets were one form of the family trunk, especially when traveling, because of their light weight. Baskets were used for gathering berries, roots and shellfish, for trying out seal and eulachon oil, for food dishes and for storage of food for winter. The typical work hat of the district, even some types of ceremonial hat, the headdresses of shaman or Indian doctors, shot pouches, work baskets, rattles and spoon bags were all woven from spruce root or cedar bark. This art was also used to make fish traps, net bags for eulachon fishing, huge mats for canoe sails and floor covering, the cradle swing for the baby and the winding sheet for the old shaman when his body was taken to the lonely burial house.
Spy Fiction, Spy Films and Real Intelligence (Studies in Intelligence)
by Wesley K. WarkThis book won the Canadian Crime Writers' Arthur Ellis Award for the Best Genre Criticism/Reference book of 1991. This collection of essays is an attempt to explore the history of spy fiction and spy films and investigate the significance of the ideas they contain. The volume offers new insights into the development and symbolism of British spy fiction.
Spy Killer
by L. Ron HubbardDiscover intrigue and suspense. Kurt Reid may be innocent of the murder he's charged with (and of grand larceny, for that matter), but he's got no time to be thrown in jail and defend himself. Instead, Reid flees to pre-Communist China and Shanghai, the exotic city of mystery and death.Reid takes refuge in a tea house where he meets White Russian Varinka Savischna, whom he manages to rescue from certain death. As beautiful as she is smart, she recruits him in her crusade against Chinese intelligence services. Unfortunately, Reid manages to get himself captured by the Chinese and blackmailed into pursuing and assassinating a Japanese spy.Now Reid must enter the cloak-and-dagger world of espionage and intrigue, where everything and everyone is not who or what they appear to be. "...novella length adventure-cum-mystery stories based in 1930's China offer further evidence of Hubbard's pulp-action mastery." --Ellery Queen
Spy Pilot: Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 Incident, and a Controversial Cold War Legacy
by Sergei Khrushchev Keith Dunnavant Francis Gary PowersBased on newly available information, the son of famed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers presents the facts and dispels misinformation about the Cold War espionage program that turned his father into a Cold War icon..One of the most talked-about events of the Cold War was the downing of the American U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers over the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960. The event was recently depicted in the Steven Spielberg movie Bridge of Spies. Powers was captured by the KGB, subjected to a televised show trial, and imprisoned, all of which created an international incident. Soviet authorities eventually released him in exchange for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. On his return to the United States, Powers was exonerated of any wrongdoing while imprisoned in Russia, yet, due to bad press and the government's unwillingness to heartily defend Powers, a cloud of controversy lingered until his untimely death in 1977. Now his son, Francis Gary Powers Jr. and acclaimed historian Keith Dunnavant have written this new account of Powers's life based on personal files that had never been previously available. Delving into old audio tapes, letters his father wrote and received while imprisoned in the Soviet Union, the transcript of his father's debriefing by the CIA, other recently declassified documents about the U-2 program, and interviews with the spy pilot's contemporaries, Powers and Dunnavant set the record straight. The result is a fascinating piece of Cold War history. This is also a book about a son's journey to understand his father, pursuing justice and a measure of peace. Almost sixty years after the fact, this will be the definitive account of one of the most important events of the Cold War.
Spy Ships: One Hundred Years of Intelligence Collection by Ships and Submarines
by Norman Polmar Lee J. MathersAlmost from the first days of seafaring, men have used ships for &“spying&” and intelligence collection. Since early in the twentieth century, with the technological advancements of radio and radar, the U.S. Navy and other government agencies and many other navies have used increasingly specialized ships and submarines to ferret out the secrets of other nations. The United States and the Soviet Union/Russia have been the leaders in those efforts, especially during the forty-five years of the Cold War. But, as Norman Polmar and Lee J. Mathers reveal, so has China, which has become a major maritime power in the twenty-first century, with special interests in the South China Sea and with increasing hostility toward the United States. Through extensive, meticulous research and through the lens of such notorious spy ship events as the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, the North Korean capture of the USS Pueblo, and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency&’s success in clandestinely salvaging part of a Soviet submarine with the Hughes Glomar Explorer, Spy Ships is a fascinating and valuable resource for understanding maritime intelligence collection and what we have learned from it.
Spy Sub
by Roger C. DunhamThis is a story about a secret mission to find a lost Soviet submarine in the great depths of the Pacific Ocean, a mission never acknowledged by the U. S. Department of Defense. Deeply beneath the searching navy of the Soviet Union, the nuclear submarine hunt was so secret that even the men on the vessel never knew the object of their search. The brave exploits of these sailors and their remarkable commanding officer, enduring near-tragedies at sea and nearly-impossible challenges deep under the Pacific, are described by the author who also provides his own personal experiences under the tightest secrecy ever required for a submarine mission. The failures, the near catastrophes, and the challenges are described in personal detail, and the final outcome bringing critical Cold War information to the president of the United States is a saga like none in the annals of submarine exploits.
Spy and Counterspy: Secret Agents and Double Agents from the Second World War to the Cold War
by Ian DearThe shadowy world of supposedly legalized spying has an enduring fascination for us all. Spy and Counterspy reveals for the first time the web of spies that spanned the globe during and after the Second World War, working for organisations like MI5 & MI6, the CIA & OSS, Soviet Smersh & NKVD, Japanese Tokko and the German Gestapo. These men and women lived extraordinary lives, always on the edge of exposure and the risk of death. Many of them were so in love with the Great Game of espionage that they betrayed their countries and acted as double and sometimes even triple agents in a complex deception that threatened the very grasp of power in government. Their war in the shadows remained unrecognized until today.
Spy of the Century: Alfred Redl & the Betrayal of Austro-Hungary
by John Sadler Silvie FischThis military biography reveals the secret life of a closeted Austro-Hungarian intelligence officer who became a double agent in pre-WWI Europe. On the night of May 24th, 1913, three high-ranking military officials waited outside a hotel in the center of Vienna. At around two am they heard a gunshot and knew that one of their own had just ended his life. Colonel Alfred Redl, the former deputy head of the Evidenzbüro, the Austro-Hungarian General Staff&’s directorate of military intelligence, and confidant of the heir to the throne. His suicide note read: &‘Levity and passion have destroyed me&’. No one knew that for almost a decade, Redl had been giving military secrets to the Italians, French, and Russians. His motives for betraying the army he revered were a mystery for over a century. But after the discovery of long-lost records, the truth has been revealed.Spy of the Century tells the tragic story of a devoted military man who was forced to hide his homosexuality, and used his wealth to please his young lover. Authors John Sadler and Silvie Fisch vividly reconstruct Redl&’s secret life and dramatic downfall.
Spy: A Novel
by Danielle SteelA young woman is caught up in a dangerous double life on behalf of her country during World War II in Danielle Steel&’s thrilling new novel. At eighteen, Alexandra Wickham is presented to King George V and Queen Mary in an exquisite white lace and satin dress her mother has ordered from Paris. With her delicate blond looks, she is a stunning beauty who seems destined for a privileged life. But fate, a world war, and her own quietly rebellious personality lead her down a different path. By 1939, Europe is on fire and England is at war. From her home in idyllic Hampshire, Alex makes her way to London as a volunteer in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. But she has skills that draw the attention of another branch of the service. Fluent in French and German, she would make the perfect secret agent. Within a year, Alex is shocking her family in trousers and bright red lipstick. They must never know about the work she does—no one can know, not even the pilot she falls in love with. While her country and those dearest to her pay the terrible price of war, Alex learns the art of espionage, leading to life-and-death missions behind enemy lines and a long career as a spy in exotic places and historic times. Spy follows Alex&’s extraordinary adventures in World War II and afterward in India, Pakistan, Morocco, Hong Kong, Moscow, and Washington, D.C., when her husband, Richard, enters the foreign service and both become witnesses to a rapidly changing world from post-war to Cold War. She lives life on the edge, with a secret she must always keep hidden.
Spy: The Inside Story of How the FBI's Robert Hanssen Betrayed America
by David WiseThe book narrates the full, authoritative story of how FBI agent Robert Hanssen, code name grayday, spied for Russia for twenty-two years in what has been called the "worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history"-and how he was finally caught in an incredible gambit by U.S. intelligence.
Spy: The Inside Story of How the FBI's Robert Hanssen Betrayed America (Core Ser.)
by David WiseSpy tells, for the first time, the full, authoritative story of how FBI agent Robert Hanssen, code name grayday, spied for Russia for twenty-two years in what has been called the "worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history"-and how he was finally caught in an incredible gambit by U.S. intelligence.David Wise, the nation's leading espionage writer, has called on his unique knowledge and unrivaled intelligence sources to write the definitive, inside story of how Robert Hanssen betrayed his country, and why.Spy at last reveals the mind and motives of a man who was a walking paradox: FBI counterspy, KGB mole, devout Catholic, obsessed pornographer who secretly televised himself and his wife having sex so that his best friend could watch, defender of family values, fantasy James Bond who took a stripper to Hong Kong and carried a machine gun in his car trunk.Brimming with startling new details sure to make headlines, Spy discloses:-the previously untold story of how the FBI got the actual file on Robert Hanssen out of KGB headquarters in Moscow for $7 million in an unprecedented operation that ended in Hanssen's arrest.-how for three years, the FBI pursued a CIA officer, code name gray deceiver, in the mistaken belief that he was the mole they were seeking inside U.S. intelligence. The innocent officer was accused as a spy and suspended by the CIA for nearly two years. -why Hanssen spied, based on exclusive interviews with Dr. David L. Charney, the psychiatrist who met with Hanssen in his jail cell more than thirty times. Hanssen, in an extraordinary arrangement, authorized Charney to talk to the author.-the full story of Robert Hanssen's bizarre sex life, including the hidden video camera he set up in his bedroom and how he plotted to drug his wife, Bonnie, so that his best friend could father her child.- how Hanssen and the CIA's Aldrich Ames betrayed three Russians secretly spying for the FBI-including tophat, a Soviet general-who were then executed by Moscow. -that after Hanssen was already working for the KGB, he directed a study of moles in the FBI when-as he alone knew-he was the mole.Robert Hanssen betrayed the FBI. He betrayed his country. He betrayed his wife. He betrayed his children. He betrayed his best friend, offering him up to the KGB. He betrayed his God. Most of all, he betrayed himself. Only David Wise could tell the astonishing, full story, and he does so, in masterly style, in Spy.From the Hardcover edition.
Spycraft
by Robert Wallace H. Keith Melton George J. Tenet Henry R. SchlesingerWho's spying on you? And how are they doing it? Spycraft offers an unprecedented look at the CIA's most secretive operations and the devices that made them possible. Written by the former director of the CIA's Office of Technical Service, Robert Wallace (a real-life Q, straight out of the James Bond films), and internationally renowned intelligence historian H. Keith Melton, Spycraft reveals how the CIA carries out its life-and-death missions against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions - including the Cold War, the Cuben Missile Crisis, and the War on Terror. More relevant than ever - given the news about Edward Snowden and the NSA, concerns about privacy rights, organizations like Julian Assange's WikiLeaks, and popular entertainment like The Americans and Homeland - Spycraft is an important and revealing primer on the fundamentals of high-tech espionage.
Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to Al-Qaeda
by Robert Wallace H. Keith Melton George J. Tenet Henry R. SchlesingerAN UNPRECEDENTED HISTORY OF THE CIA'S SECRET AND AMAZING GADGETRY BEHIND THE ART OF ESPIONAGE In this look at the CIA's most secretive operations and the devices that made them possible, Spycraft tells gripping life-and-death stories about a group of spytechs--much of it never previously revealed and with images never before seen by the public. The CIA's Office of Technical Service is the ultrasecret department that grappled with challenges such as: What does it take to build a quiet helicopter? How does one embed a listening device in a cat?What is an invisible photo used for? These amazingly inventive devices were created and employed against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions--including the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and continuing terrorist threats. Written by Robert Wallace, the former director of the Office of Technical Service, and internationally renowned intelligence historian Keith Melton, Spycraft is both a fantastic encyclopedia of gadgetry and a revealing primer on the fundamentals of high-tech espionage. "The first comprehensive look at the technical achievements of American espionage from the 1940s to the present." --WIRED "Reveals more concrete information about CIA tradecraft than any book." --THE WASHINGTON TIMES "This is a story I thought could never be told." --JAMES M. OLSON, former chief of CIA counterintelligenceFrom the Trade Paperback edition.
Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to Al-Qaeda
by Robert Wallace H. Keith Melton George J. Tenet Henry R. SchlesingerAn unprecedented history of the CIA's secret and amazing gadgetry behind the art of espionageIn this look at the CIA's most secretive operations and the devices that made them possible, Spycraft tells gripping life-and-death stories about a group of spytechs--much of it never previously revealed and with images never before seen by the public. The CIA's Office of Technical Service is the ultrasecret department that grappled with challenges such as: What does it take to build a quiet helicopter? How does one embed a listening device in a cat?What is an invisible photo used for? These amazingly inventive devices were created and employed against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions--including the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and continuing terrorist threats. Written by Robert Wallace, the former director of the Office of Technical Service, and internationally renowned intelligence historian Keith Melton, Spycraft is both a fantastic encyclopedia of gadgetry and a revealing primer on the fundamentals of high-tech espionage. "The first comprehensive look at the technical achievements of American espionage from the 1940s to the present."--Wired "Reveals more concrete information about CIA tradecraft than any book."--The Washington Times "This is a story I thought could never be told."--JAMES M. OLSON, former chief of CIA counterintelligenceFrom the Trade Paperback edition.
Spying from the Sky: At the Controls of US Cold War Aerial Intelligence
by Robert L. RichardsonThe &“must read&” story of America&’s first high-altitude aviation program and one of its pilots (Francis Gary Powers Jr.). William &“Greg&” Gregory was born into a sharecropper&’s life in the hills of North Central Tennessee. From the back of a mule-drawn plow, Greg learned the value of resilience and the importance of determined living. Refusing to accept a life of poverty, he found a way out: a work-study college program that made it possible for him to leave farming behind forever. While at college, Greg completed the Civilian Pilot Training Program and was subsequently accepted into the US Army&’s pilot training program. Earning his wings in 1942, he became a P-38 combat pilot and served in North Africa during the summer of 1943—a critical time when the Luftwaffe was still a potent threat, and America had begun the march northward from the Mediterranean into Europe proper. Following the war, Greg served with a B-29 unit, then transitioned to the new, red-hot B-47 strategic bomber. In his frequent deployments, he was always assigned the same target in the Soviet Union: Joseph Stalin&’s hometown of Tbilisi. While a B-47 pilot, Greg was selected to join America&’s first high-altitude program, the Black Knights. Flying RB-57D aircraft, he and his team flew peripheral &“ferret&” missions around the Soviet Union and its satellites, collecting critical order-of-battle data desperately needed by the US Air Force at that time. When the program neared its design end—and following the Gary Powers shoot-down over the Soviet Union—Greg was assigned to command of the CIA&’s U-2 unit at Edwards AFB. Over this five-year command, he and his team provided critical overflight intelligence during the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam buildup, and more. He also became one of the first pilots to fly U-2s off aircraft carriers in a demonstration project. Spying from the Sky is the in-depth biography of William Gregory, who attended the National War College, was assigned to the reconnaissance office at the Pentagon, and was named vice-commandant of the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) before retiring from the force in 1972.