I have a list of history writers ready whenever someone claims history books are too boring. Lindsey Fitzharris, Erik Larson, Annette Gordon-Reed, David McCullough, Greg Jenner… there are plenty of historians who know how to turn archival or oral history into a good story. Ben MacIntyre is my newest addition to the list thanks to his ability to turn his research into a spy thriller.

 Spy stories are a smash hit across all genres. We’ve all watched James Bond steal a motorbike and speed through an outdoor market or watched two famous actors (one with a real British accent and one with a fake Russian accent) trade barbs while staring at each other in a coffee shop or bar or have stayed up late to find out who the double agent is in a novel.

These narratives usually focus on either the action or the tension, suspicion, and doubt of spy craft but what MacIntyre reveals is alongside all of that is plenty of absurdity. Because of the size and scope of the intelligence mission to help with the D-Day invasion, Double Cross involves a large and sometimes complicated cast of characters often further muddled by the fact that most of them are double agents, but MacIntyre takes the time to introduce everyone and their connections to each other so you can keep track. He also uses these introduction sections as the perfect opportunity to highlight the human element of spy work. These individuals all have specific backgrounds, skills, and reasons to work for the British (or sometimes just to work against the Germans). At the start of the book you’ll wonder how this is ever going to work and by the end its even more surprising that it did.

The other reason this book impressed me is although it’s a time that is often at the forefront of public history writing, MacIntyre has poked around in corners and files mostly passed over. Not only does he investigate records to try and find the fate of a lost little dog (spoiler alert: its classified) or another where he lays out the details of Operation Midas – the name for how the Germans were tricked into funding British intelligence operations – leave you with an understanding of the large and small details and complexity of intelligence operations. (He also provides plenty of wild historical tidbits to share at happy hour if that’s your thing.)

Double Cross also expands a reader’s idea of who a spy might be. There are the spies who sneak around with hidden communication codes and guns but there are also spies who simply sit in a library (and later an office) just making things up. There are spies who try to train birds, who travel across war zones just to meet an officer for coffee, and spies who dress up as someone else to make the Germans reexamine military plans.  

There are so many ways to read about historical events like World War II, but for me it’s always been about the kind of individuals stories all throughout Double Cross. After finding this ten-year-old paperback in a second-hand bookstore, I attended an event with MacIntyre recently about his newest shiny hardcover (Prisoners of the Castle) and based on how passionate he was with the audience about sharing the stories from interviews and diaries, even ones that didn’t make it into the final text, I could tell both after leaving the event and closing the last page of this book, that passion means he’s going to be a regular on my shelf.