A behind-the-scenes account of the experiences of Secret Service agents draws on interviews with current and former agents who served during the administrations of such presidents as JFK, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

"Carol Leonnig has been covering the Secret Service for The Washington Post for most of the last decade, bringing to light the gaffes and scandals that plague the agency today--from a toxic work culture to outdated equipment and training to the deep resentment among the ranks with the agency's leadership. But the Secret Service wasn't always so troubled. The Secret Service was born in 1865, in the wake of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, but...

John Jakes, the acclaimed author of the #1 New York Times bestselling North and South Trilogy, returns to the Civil War era with the story of two couples divided by war and allegiance, who discover that love doesn’t take sides...
A Rebel sympathizer’s affection for a former Pinkerton detective turned Union agent cannot save him from the horrors of a Richmond prison. A Confederate officer sacrifices his rank to save an...

Charlie Wilson's War is the untold story of the last battle of the Cold War and how it fueled the rise of militant Islam. Charlie Wilson, a maverick congressman from east Texas, conspired with a rogue CIA operative to launch the biggest, meanest, and most successful covert operation in the Agency's history.

In the early 1980s, after a Houston socialite turned Wilson's attention to the ragged Afghan freedom fighters who continued to fight

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Seeking an escape from the monotony and drudgery of days-on-end army life, Frank Rocklin, an actor, approaches his commanding general with a bold plan to spy on Vicksburg and assess its military condition. Vicksburg is the last major Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi. This mission lays the groundwork for a proposition from Allan Pinkerton, the head of the Federal Secret Service. Pinkerton wants to send Frank and an acting troupe to the

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The romance of war in its most thrilling form is exemplified in this narrative of the adventures of The World's Greatest Military Spies and Secret Service Agents. Much has been published upon the subject of espionage, and the memoirs and secret histories of the courts of Europe give us instances of men and women who have gained favor and money, if not honor and glory, by selling back-stairs gossip concerning their fellow creatures; but the aim of...

"On the snow-covered slopes of Utah, the President of the United States has been kidnapped and his Secret Service detail massacred. Only one agent has survived--ex-Navy SEAL Scot Harvath. He doesn't buy the official line that Middle Eastern terrorists are behind the attack and begins his own campaign to find the truth and exact revenge. But now, framed for murder by a sinister cabal, Harvath takes his fight to the towering mountains of Switzerland--and...

In April 1862, 20 Union soldiers crossed Confederate lines to steal a locomotive called the General and destroy a critical Confederate supply line. In the aftermath half the team was executed; the half that escaped received the newly established Medal of Honor. -- publishers description.

With never-before published contemporary photographs, facsimile documents and other illustrations, this book presents the true story of The Northwest Conspiracy. It was a daring plan that came close to destroying the Union from within, by getting Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to join the Confederacy while New York City was in flames. Chicago was ready for rebellion, 100,000 Northern Confederates stood ready to strike. Based on official papers hitherto...

"From the beloved author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series comes a new short story collection: half spy stories, half tales of revenge, all highlight the kinder, funnier, and gentler side of espionage and retribution. In this dual collection of short stories, Alexander McCall Smith brings his trademark humor and warmth to inventive tales of spying and vengeance. In one story, a spy dropped deep into enemy territory manages to disguise himself--quite...