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“Tony is one of the officers of the
Central Intelligence Agency who have dedicated their lives to the quiet service
of their country. His experiences are part of the story, still mostly
classified, of how the men and women of the CIA helped bring down the Berlin
Wall and win the Cold War. The story, of course, is a continuing one. Tony’s
colleagues and protégés are still at their quiet work, now against rogue states
and terrorists, and are still making our country a safer place to live. I am
happy that Tony has been able to bring his story, and its lessons of service,
to the public.”
— Porter J. Goss, first director of the Central Intelligence Agency
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A rare and unique glimpse into the CIA's Office of Technical Services, and, in particular, into the secret work undertaken to supportclandestine operations. A thoroughly absorbing read for both the aficionado and the layman.
— Nigel West
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“What is it like to be a spy?
Anyone who has ever wondered about those shadowy figures (so often described in
fiction by le Carré and others) can now get a peek into the world of 1950s and
1960s espionage. Mendez worked in the CIA’s Technical Services Department for
over twenty-five years, eventually rising to its top position. With the
approval of the CIA’s censors, he has written a remarkably detailed picture of
his work as a document forger and disguise maker for undercover assignments all
over the world. This is endlessly fascinating stuff, especially for a
generation raised on James Bond and George Smiley.”
— Library Journal
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“Palpably proud to have been a
secret agent, Mendez effectively conveys the thrills its practitioners derive
from espionage, via an anecdotal accounting of his varied thirty-year career…The
reader receives a vivid sense of the clandestine world through his part in the
successful operations to extract a KGB defector from India and an Iranian spy
from revolutionary Iran…Garnished with his efforts to defeat KGB surveillance
in Moscow (and glazed, no doubt, by coauthor McConnell), Mendez’s memoir is a
dish cloak-and-dagger connoisseurs will savor.”
— Booklist
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“The coauthors convey with clarity
something of this shadow world which requires of its inhabitants hard work,
strong stomachs, low blood pressure, and a full measure of creative
improvisation. A swift, engrossing summary of a life and a way of life.”
— Kirkus Reviews
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“CIA operative Antonio Mendez’s
memoir is an entertaining audiobook that offers insight into international espionage
and brings a distinguished career to life. Mendez…is most famous for his skill
at subterfuge, doing everything from creating fake documents to devising disguises
to help his colleagues escape or avoid danger. Those roles permeate the book,
and that is where narrator John Pruden focuses his performance….Pruden delivers
the material with the same sense of joy and amazement that Mendez clearly
experienced while at the agency. The result is one of the most enjoyable
audiobooks in years. Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
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“One of the most enjoyable
audiobooks in years.”
— AudioFile