True Spy Stories

Usborne True Stories

by Paul Dowswell, Judy Tatchell, Lisa Miles

What are real spies like? Some, like the beautiful Mata Hari, are every bit as glamorous as famous fictional agents like James Bond. But, as you'll see in 'True Spy Stories', spies usually live shadowy double lives, risking imprisonment, torture and execution for a chance to change history.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

139 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Paul Dowswell is a British writer of nonfiction and young adult novels who has written over 70 books for British publishers. He was a senior editor at Usborne Publishing, then went freelance in 1999.

Reviews

[Sheila May · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing spy stories!

[Alayayaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rate for this book is 4.0 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Awalnya sempat meragukan isi bukunya tentang kata-kata "real" storiesnya apakah benar atau nggak tapi aku cukup yakin kalau ini dari kisah nyata. Banyak banget referensinya ke dunia nyata. Perkisahnya cenderung pendek dan dialognya kurang banyak ya, apa karena ini termasuk rekon faktual kali ya? Halamannya nggak terlalu banyak dan sebetulnya banyak istilah di dunia militer yang ada di buku ini. Misal senjata jenis ini. Terus juga ada kaitannya sama sejarah apalagi banyak bawa-bawa Nazi dan Soviet. Kalau misalnya kalian orang yang penasaran, bisa sekalian searching searching biar belajar juga. Tapi kalau kalian datang untuk ceritanya, bakal tetep enak aja bacanya meski kadang hah heh hoh

[Xydel · Rating 1 out of 5]

From an 11-year-old: I've wanted to be a spy but this book just drowned by courage of being a spy. All the spies' lives end tragically. One guy was "fed in and incinerator slowly, feet first". What kid would keep wanting to be a spy when that happens?!?!?!

[Jordan Cotter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting stories. I like how a couple of them tie into very big historical events like the invasion of Russia and the attack of Pearl Harbor. It was all just plain spying (getting/sharing/selling information), but a couple assassination stories came at the end.

[Oli · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m not able to read the book so I take back my 5 star rating…. That’s disappointing.

[Phoebe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book because it contains spy stories about some of the best spies in history

[Alsjem · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this book is on its way to a charity shop so I thought I'd give it a glance through before it went - then read the lot.
I'm not overly interested in spy stories but there is no denying that true life is stranger than fiction and so it was compelling to read about those men (and woman) who put their lives at risk. Sadly it was usually for less than honourable reasons and nearly always ended in death and misery. Still I now know a little more about spies than I did this morning!

[Jidhu Jb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think that true spies were like someone which I read and saw in fiction spy movies. But this book gave me an idea about how the real spies life were. Some of the stories in this book were little boring but it is a non-fiction book. So it appears a little lacking variety. But the good thing is I just know how the lifestyle is and how they put their life in their own risks. It's not a worth reading book until you like the spies.

[Sophia Tang]

I love this book a LOT! It tells us about people who sacrifice their lives for many other people. Like spying in the World War one and two......

[Emmalynn Herbstritt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did get bored after a while when reading this book, but I still liked it. I liked the spud stories