About
Readers with a penchant for real-life cloak-and-dagger stories won't be disappointed with this memoir. Dan Pinck's adventures behind the lines in war-torn China resulted in some vital information being passed along to the Allies, and his up-close-and-personal look at the world of covert military operations in that country will fascinate many. But the author's engaging writing style and self-deprecating wit do not focus on the heroics typically encountered in spy stories. Pinck ignores the glamour to give a totally candid view of events. Pinck was nineteen years old when he volunteered for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in World War II, the predecessor to the CIA and US Special Operations Forces. He was quickly assigned to a remote area near Hong Kong where he worked with some sixty local agents. The sole American agent in the area, Pinck coordinated the gathering of information about troop movements and shipping along the Japanese-held coast, efforts that resulted in the sinking of several enemy ships. Prior to Japan's surrender he was mapping Japanese coastal emplacements in the area where an American invasionof China was planned.
Pinck credits his survival more to the knowledge of his Chinese colleagues than to his own skills in intelligence operations, and his book keenly illustrates that point when he explains that in serving behind enemy lines, close relationships with the natives often make the difference between success and failure, even life and death. In Peking after the war, he continued to benefit from the friendships he developed with the Chinese, and the last pages of his memoir are filled with insights about U.S.-China relations. Such a vivid, honest, and often humorous account of his exploits as a spy will appeal to a broad audience both as entertainment and as a historical document.
Pinck credits his survival more to the knowledge of his Chinese colleagues than to his own skills in intelligence operations, and his book keenly illustrates that point when he explains that in serving behind enemy lines, close relationships with the natives often make the difference between success and failure, even life and death. In Peking after the war, he continued to benefit from the friendships he developed with the Chinese, and the last pages of his memoir are filled with insights about U.S.-China relations. Such a vivid, honest, and often humorous account of his exploits as a spy will appeal to a broad audience both as entertainment and as a historical document.
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Reviews
"What most war memoirs do is capture big events. What Dan Pinck - who has does it all - does is relate the day-in, day-out experiences of being in a cover war, without overstatement. This is both quite a feat and a valuable contribution to history."
W.E.B. Griffin, author of the series Badge of Honor, Brotherhood of War, and The Corps
"Having written three books dealing with the OSS, I can say that nothing I've read better captures the dash, the mystery, and the improbability of that citizen-spy service than Dan Pinck's vivid account of his adventures in wartime China. Pinck tells his tale with a survivalist sense of humor, recognizing that war is hell but not without its amusing absurdities. Here is truth told with the punch o
Joseph Persico, author of Roosevelt's Secret War: FDR and WWII Espionage