Reviews
"It is a wallop of a story, people engaging in the sorts of international dangers that is the stuff of the movies& all jungles and cities and intrigue and risk, with an exquisite attention to detail that illuminates the OSS and its players." - Portland Oregonian, "A thoroughly engrossing story, one Conant tells exceptionally well." --Publishers Weekly (starred review), Praise for A Covert Affair "Jennet Conant's A Covert Affair is an absolutely top-class work of the true-spy genre; elegantly written, authentic, exceptionally sophisticated, and not at all what you might expect of a book with a picture of Julia Child on the cover. This ain't about cooking." --Alan Furst, author of Spies of the Balkans, "What more could you want from a book? Here is a discussion of propaganda and covert actions written with text-book clarity. Salacious gossip about the upper circles of Washington's political and media community. A writing style that has one racing from page to page, eager to soak in more details. I thump my desk with glee over Jennet Conant's The Irregulars &. A truly fascinating book." --Joseph C. Goulden, The Washington Times, Praise for Tuxedo Park "Remarkable and remarkably told, as if F. Scott Fitzgerald had penned Batman ." --Kirkus (starred review), Praise for The Irregulars "What critics praise most in Jennet Conant's The Irregulars is the quality that is becoming the author's signature knack: her ability to show how a seemingly obscure group of characters personifies the mood of a time and place and exercises more influence than one might expect&. Expert writing and research. " --Booklist, "A brilliantly researched and written account... a well-researched and well-written account of this period in American history....Conant, a terrific writer, conducted voluminous research and crafted a fascinating story that reads as though she was actually there." -- The Seattle Times, "The value of Conant's anecdotal approach is... in its depiction of ordinary relationships in extraordinary circumstances--of the way friendships, feuds and romances develop in strange and secretive settings." -- The New York Times Book Review, "Conant has written a book full of fascinating material about wartime and postwar America and how they intersected....Conant doesn't disappoint in her picture of the whirlwind life of the OSS, created very much in the image of its founder, the maverick William J. Donovan. Her glimpses of how he overcame bureaucratic rivalries and turf wars are as exciting as her picture of life in the field, complete with dengue fever, cobras and scorpions." -- Los Angeles Times, "A Covert Affair is a skillfully told tale of espionage, combining just enough background information with the right amount of boisterous anecdote to make the reader feel simultaneously amused and informed." -Salon.com, "A brilliantly researched and written account& a well-researched and well-written account of this period in American history&.Conant, a terrific writer, conducted voluminous research and crafted a fascinating story that reads as though she was actually there." - The Seattle Times, "A Covert Affair is a skillfully told tale of espionage, combining just enough background information with the right amount of boisterous anecdote to make the reader feel simultaneously amused and informed." --Salon.com, "Exhaustively researched and vividly written&. Conant vividly captures the personalities." --Boston Globe, "It is a wallop of a story, people engaging in the sorts of international dangers that is the stuff of the movies... all jungles and cities and intrigue and risk, with an exquisite attention to detail that illuminates the OSS and its players." - Portland Oregonian, "Conant has written a book full of fascinating material about wartime and postwar America and how they intersected....Conant doesn't disappoint in her picture of the whirlwind life of the OSS, created very much in the image of its founder, the maverick William J. Donovan. Her glimpses of how he overcame bureaucratic rivalries and turf wars are as exciting as her picture of life in the field, complete with dengue fever, cobras and scorpions." - Los Angeles Times, "A brilliantly researched and written account… a well-researched and well-written account of this period in American history….Conant, a terrific writer, conducted voluminous research and crafted a fascinating story that reads as though she was actually there." - The Seattle Times, "It is a wallop of a story, people engaging in the sorts of international dangers that is the stuff of the movies... all jungles and cities and intrigue and risk, with an exquisite attention to detail that illuminates the OSS and its players." -- Portland Oregonian, "It is a wallop of a story, people engaging in the sorts of international dangers that is the stuff of the movies… all jungles and cities and intrigue and risk, with an exquisite attention to detail that illuminates the OSS and its players." - Portland Oregonian, "A brilliantly researched and written account... a well-researched and well-written account of this period in American history....Conant, a terrific writer, conducted voluminous research and crafted a fascinating story that reads as though she was actually there." - The Seattle Times, "The value of Conant's anecdotal approach is... in its depiction of ordinary relationships in extraordinary circumstances--of the way friendships, feuds and romances develop in strange and secretive settings." - The New York Times Book Review, "As was true of her excellent first book, Tuxedo Park, in The Irregulars [Conant] removes the dust of history. & Entertaining and instructive." --Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post
