
Double Agent
The First Hero of World War II and How the FBI Outwitted and Destroyed a Nazi Spy Ring
Peter Duffy(Author)
Scribner Book Company (Publisher)
Published on 7. July 2015
Book
Paperback/Softback
352 pages
978-1-4516-6796-7 (ISBN)
Description
The never-before-told tale of the German-American who infiltrated New York's Nazi underground in the days leading up to World War II: ?Thrilling, well-researched, well-told, fascinating? (Minneapolis Star Tribune).
He was the first hero of World War II and yet the American public has never seen his face. William G. Sebold, a naturalized American of German birth, risked his life to become the first double agent in the history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He spent sixteen months in the Nazi underground of New York City, consorting with a colorful cast of spies. Sebold was at the center of the most sophisticated investigation yet devised by the FBI, which established a short-wave radio station on Long Island to communicate with Hamburg spymasters and set up a ?research office? in Times Square that allowed agents hidden behind a two-way mirror to film meetings conducted between Sebold and the spy suspects.
The result was the arrest and conviction of thirty-three spies, still the largest espionage case in American history. The guilty verdicts were announced in Brooklyn federal court just hours after Adolf Hitler declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941, which meant that the Führer could not call upon a small army of embedded spies and saboteurs during the most trying days of the coming struggle. ?As you know,? an FBI official later told J. Edgar Hoover, ?Sebold gave us the most outstanding case in Bureau history.?
In Double Agent, Peter Duffy tells this full account. Here is a story ?rich with eccentric characters, suspense, and details of spycraft in the war's early days....The result is a compelling cultural history with all the intricacy and intrigue of a good spy novel? (The Boston Globe).
He was the first hero of World War II and yet the American public has never seen his face. William G. Sebold, a naturalized American of German birth, risked his life to become the first double agent in the history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He spent sixteen months in the Nazi underground of New York City, consorting with a colorful cast of spies. Sebold was at the center of the most sophisticated investigation yet devised by the FBI, which established a short-wave radio station on Long Island to communicate with Hamburg spymasters and set up a ?research office? in Times Square that allowed agents hidden behind a two-way mirror to film meetings conducted between Sebold and the spy suspects.
The result was the arrest and conviction of thirty-three spies, still the largest espionage case in American history. The guilty verdicts were announced in Brooklyn federal court just hours after Adolf Hitler declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941, which meant that the Führer could not call upon a small army of embedded spies and saboteurs during the most trying days of the coming struggle. ?As you know,? an FBI official later told J. Edgar Hoover, ?Sebold gave us the most outstanding case in Bureau history.?
In Double Agent, Peter Duffy tells this full account. Here is a story ?rich with eccentric characters, suspense, and details of spycraft in the war's early days....The result is a compelling cultural history with all the intricacy and intrigue of a good spy novel? (The Boston Globe).
More details
Language
English
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 213 mm
Width: 139 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
322 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4516-6796-7 (9781451667967)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Peter Duffy
Double Agent
The First Hero of World War II and How the FBI Outwitted and Destroyed a Nazi Spy Ring
E-Book
07/2014
1st Edition
Scribner
€2.96
Available for download
Person
Peter Duffy is the author of Double Agent, The Bielski Brothers, and The Killing of Major Denis Mahon. He also works as a freelance journalist and writes regularly for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, New York magazine, The New Republic, Slate, and many other outlets. He lives in New York City with his wife and daughter. Visit his website at PeterDuffy.net.