Sign in with Facebook
Steve's Reviews > Jack 1939
Jack 1939
by Francine Mathews (Goodreads Author)
by Francine Mathews (Goodreads Author)
[Disclaimer: I won this book through a goodreads giveaway. It is an uncorrected proof edition.]
Jack is John F. Kennedy (JFK). In 1939 he is a Junior at Harvard with serious (and historically accurate) medical issues. He has arranged to spend his Spring term and summer doing independent study in Europe (also historically acurate).
Other facts the book is based on:
o President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR), foreseeing a world war and dissatisfied with the foreign intelligence the State Department and military were able (or willing) to collect, was recruiting an informal intelligence network, led by William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan.
o FDR appointed business tycoon and political rival Joseph Kennedy ambassador to Britain, in part to "keep his friends close and his enemies closer" and in part to keep him out of the way.
o The German military had improved on a business machine for sending coded messages, creating the unbreakable Enigma cypher.
o Polish codebreakers stole an Enigma machine and made progress cracking its secrets. Just before Germany invaded Poland in August 1939 they handed their work over to British intelligence. This led to the top-secret Ultra codebreaking project that was decisive in the Allied victory.
o Perhaps most surprising, Nazi money appears to have been contributed to American elections with the aim of electing isolationists and defeating FDR, who was likely to lead America to war with Germany. Many American elites were also supporting such campaigns.
Blending inventive fiction together with these facts and others, novelist Francine Mathews, a former CIA intelligence analyst, weaves an espionage thriller that is a fun read and a revealing look into prewar European and American politics.
A bit of plot summary with no real spoilers:
(view spoiler)
I was amazed at how many incredible elements of this story turned out to be confirmed as fact by a simple web search. You will be entertained and may learn some surprising things about pre-war America and Europe.
A partial list of real people in Jack 1939:
(view spoiler)
Jack is John F. Kennedy (JFK). In 1939 he is a Junior at Harvard with serious (and historically accurate) medical issues. He has arranged to spend his Spring term and summer doing independent study in Europe (also historically acurate).
Other facts the book is based on:
o President Franklin Roosevelt (FDR), foreseeing a world war and dissatisfied with the foreign intelligence the State Department and military were able (or willing) to collect, was recruiting an informal intelligence network, led by William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan.
o FDR appointed business tycoon and political rival Joseph Kennedy ambassador to Britain, in part to "keep his friends close and his enemies closer" and in part to keep him out of the way.
o The German military had improved on a business machine for sending coded messages, creating the unbreakable Enigma cypher.
o Polish codebreakers stole an Enigma machine and made progress cracking its secrets. Just before Germany invaded Poland in August 1939 they handed their work over to British intelligence. This led to the top-secret Ultra codebreaking project that was decisive in the Allied victory.
o Perhaps most surprising, Nazi money appears to have been contributed to American elections with the aim of electing isolationists and defeating FDR, who was likely to lead America to war with Germany. Many American elites were also supporting such campaigns.
Blending inventive fiction together with these facts and others, novelist Francine Mathews, a former CIA intelligence analyst, weaves an espionage thriller that is a fun read and a revealing look into prewar European and American politics.
A bit of plot summary with no real spoilers:
(view spoiler)
I was amazed at how many incredible elements of this story turned out to be confirmed as fact by a simple web search. You will be entertained and may learn some surprising things about pre-war America and Europe.
A partial list of real people in Jack 1939:
(view spoiler)
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read Jack 1939.
sign in »
