The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington by Jennet Conant Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington
Book Review: Fun History/Biography
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't know if this was intended as serious scholarship, but it is a fun look at a a well known historical era from a novel view point. It reminds me a bit of "Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are Dead", with Dahl and Ian Fleming as the side characters in a famous drama, suddenly made the main characters of their own story.Book Review: "Leaving the BSC was like removing a heavy coat"
Summary: 4 Stars
Jennet Conant writes another interesting book that delves into the lives of those who helped to shape the history of World War II. For THE IRREGULARS: ROALD DAHL AND THE BRITISH SPY RING IN WARTIME WASHINGTON, Conant examines the auspicious life of well-renowned writer of Children's literature, Roald Dahl, and his participation as a spy in the British Security Coordination(BSC) beginning in 1942 while serving as RAF pilot and ending after the war. The book is not at all an intense examination of the play by play events that occurred, though NBC columnist, Walter Winchell, also had a part, but rather it is an expose of Dahl's role, which particularly reads like a James Bond or Alfred Hitchcock film; undoubtedly, Ian Fleming was one of the key figures within this somewhat exclusive organization who conjured ideas that led to the 007 series.
Conant's book is an interesting biographical sketch of Dahl's life that happened to revolve around the political ramifications of achieving wartime victory for Britain and its allies, especially the US. She shows how he was the epitome of the James Bond-like character with his debonair, dashing good looks, and suave demeanor with various Hollywood and Washingtonian starlets, Patricia Neal and Clare Boothe Luce. However, Dahl did not live a flawless life because he had more than enough brushes with death during air combats as well as health illnesses that was less than thrilling. But when he did have time to spare on and off his somewhat Russian roulette of life, he wrote and collaborated with several people, such as Walt Disney, THE GREMLINS, and Ernest Hemingway, who breathed inspiration to Dahl's own wartime account, OVER TO YOU, which contributed and reflected upon the war effort.
THE IRREGULARS is a well-documented and detailed book that may appeal to the casual reader. It may open the doors for the curious to explore deeper into more extensive works that involve the behind the scene activities that occurred during World War II, and the bibliography at the end of the book is highly recommended for those who seek to go into that direction. Otherwise, this was an insightful book about the Norwegian-born writer that goes beyond "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory."
Book Review: Not up to Ms Conant's previous work
Summary: 3 Stars
Conant's previous WW2 books, "Tuxedo Park" and "109 East Palace", are stellar. I'm very sad to say that "Irregulars" is not.
It seems to me that the biggest difference is in the timeline: Like 'Tuxedo' and '109', 'Irregulars' is a chronicle of the human side of the war - an examination of people and relationships rather than hardware and gore. But whereas 'Tuxedo' and '109' are both set against a background of technical developments (radar and the Bomb, respectively), 'Irregulars' has no such grounding and as a result is somewhat rudderless. Time and again I found myself pausing to wonder if I had missed something. For example, at one point the book had advanced to 1943 with no mention of Pearl Harbor. Over an over again I found myself struggling to know what year we had reached so as to be able to set the book's events against the progress of the war. And I was repeatedly unable to do so.
I also felt that there were too many people covered by the book. Perhaps if one knows the actors better it would make sense, but i had a really hard time figuring out the remembering who was associated with the various countries and agencies.
The final disappointment is the book's treatment of Roald Dahl. Whewreas the man could make for a fascinating subject, this book only uses him as a connecting thread between events, and Dahl himself is never examined with any hoped-for depth. I came away wanting more.
After a while I gave up and just kinda plowed thru the book, hoping for some coherent jewel that would make it all worthwhile. Sadly, it never came.
I ENTHUSIASTICALLY recommend "Tuxedo Park" and "109 East Palace"; I'd advise skipping "The Irregulars".
Book Review: A Lightweight Treatment of British Spies in Washington During World War II.
Summary: 3 Stars
"The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington" approaches the history of the British Security Coordination (BSC), a covert propaganda initiative of World War II, from the point of view of biography, that of Roald Dahl, former RAF pilot and BSC agent in Washington who went on to write several classic children's books, including "James and the Giant Peach" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", and to marry the actress Patricia Neal. Dahl became an air attaché with the British Embassy in Washington in 1942 upon being invalided out of the RAF and for the next 3 years hobnobbed and eavesdropped in Washington social and political circles for the benefit of the British wartime interests.
Author Jennet Conant is writing about a covert operation without much documentation to go on, as many BSC documents were destroyed as the War neared its end, and MI6 won't open its archives. There are other books written about the BSC and its director William Stephenson, aka "Intrepid". But "The Irregulars" draws on personal correspondence, diaries, memoirs, and interviews to construct a story about some of the more glamorous -and more minor- BSC agents. In addition to Roald Dahl, whose writing career started in wartime Washington, Conant touches on the activities of other famous "Irregulars", as they liked to call themselves: Ian Fleming, David Ogilvy, and Ivar Bryce, the stylish aristocrat whose manner was the inspiration for Fleming's fictional James Bond.
BSC's operations were primarily geared to persuade the United States to enter the War in Europe, then to prevent the monopolization of civil airways after the war, and to ensure that Vice President Henry Wallace was removed from the 1944 Democratic ticket. "The Irregulars" focuses more on the first two of these goals, as Roald Dahl was involved in gathering intelligence for them, interspersed with society gossip about Dahl's friends and lovers. But there is a dearth of concrete information about what exactly BSC did, a tendency to hyperbole, and I learned surprisingly little about Dahl. He was a tall, libidinous, patriotic, former RAF pilot. But I couldn't tell you what he thought or describe his personality. "The Irregulars" is a meandering mix of history, biography, and gossip that doesn't get to the crux of any of those things. It impressed me as presenting more context than content.
Book Review: Trading Rumors, Secrets, Access, Influence, and Loyalties
Summary: 4 Stars
During World War II, Britain dispatched many presentable young men to argue its case to America, to pick up insights, to grab secrets that could be used, and to influence American decisions. Where several books have emphasized the spymaster behind these efforts, Canadian William Stephenson, this book looks at the young men exercising their influence in Washington, D.C. Roald Dahl (author of James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) was one of the most effective, but his peers also included Ian Fleming (author of the James Bond books) and David Ogilvy (of advertising fame . . . thinking Hathaway shirts).
Ms. Conant writes about these young men and those they seduced (men into sharing secrets and women often into their boudoirs) in a way that seems like today's gossip, foibles and all. What makes those details interesting is that they often involve prominent Americans like President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, Vice President Henry Wallace, up-and-comer Lyndon Johnson, and influential reporters and columnists. You will probably be especially interested to learn about Charles Edward Marsh, newspaper magnate, trophy wife hunter, and sponsor for promising young men (including Dahl and Johnson).
The book's main weakness is that it seems puffed up a bit to include more gossipy tidbits than are necessary for the story, but which might titillate readers. On the other hand, Ms. Conant resists falling in love with her subjects and writes candidly about their weaknesses, pains, failings, and disappointments.
To me the most interesting parts of the book came where it became transparent that President Roosevelt was using the British spies to help achieve his goals while keeping his own counsel.
The reality is that the British were acting more like today's lobbyists than they were spies . . . except that they didn't make large campaign contributions.
If you don't like books about who seduced who and how it all happened, you should avoid this book. It tells you more than you want to know in those areas.