Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy, A Reading Discussion Series at Brigham Library

Our adult reading group started in January, but there is still time to join us for a wonderful evening discussing
books about spies through out history.  Both Fiction and Non Fiction are discussed with University professors.  Funded by the Utah Humanities Council and free to the public.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: Reading Discussion Series at Brigham City Library

April 4, 2013. Thursday, 7 p.m.

Sisterhood of Spies:  The Women of the OSS by Elizabeth P. McIntosh /

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Dr. Kathryn Mackay, WSU

The daring missions of America s World War II intelligence agency, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), are the stuff of legend, yet the contributions made by the 4,000 women including Julia Child and Marlene Dietrich who served in the OSS are largely unheralded. To tell their fascinating stories, McIntosh, a veteran of sensitive OSS and CIA operations, draws on her own experiences and on interviews with more than 100 OSS women who served all over the world. Captured in rich detail are the riveting tales of clandestine spies, saboteurs, cryptographers, cartographers, analysts, and experts in propaganda, recruiting, and communications.  Also to be read and discussed is the children’s book:  Harriet The Spy.

May 2, 2013.  Thursday, 7 p.m.         Cyber War:  The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do About It by Richard A. Clark                                     Dr. Branden Little, WSU
Richard A. Clarke warned America once before about the havoc terrorism would wreak on our national security—and he was right. Now he warns us of another threat, silent but equally dangerous. Cyber War is a powerful book about technology, government, and military strategy; about criminals, spies, soldiers, and hackers. It explains clearly and convincingly what cyber war is, how cyber weapons work, and how vulnerable we are as a nation and as individuals to the vast and looming web of cyber criminals. This is the first book about the war of the future—cyber war—and a convincing argument that we may already be in peril of losing it.

June 6, 2013.  Thursday, 7 p.m.

Enigma: The Battle for the Code.  By Hugh Sebag-Montefiore

Dr. Kathryn MacKay, WSU

Winston Churchill called the cracking of the German Enigma Code “the secret weapon that won the war.” Now, for the first time, noted British journalist Hugh-Sebag-Montefiore reveals the complete story of the breaking of the code by the Allies—the breaking that played a crucial role in the outcome of World War II.

This fascinating account relates the never-before-told, hair-raising stories of the heroic British and American sailors, spies, and secret agents who faced death in order to capture vital codebooks from sinking ships and snatch them from under the noses of Nazi officials. Sebag-Montefiore also relates new details about the genesis of the code, little-known facts about how the Poles first cracked the Luftwaffe’s version of the code (and then passed it along to the British), and the feverish activities at Bletchley Park, Based in part on documents recently unearthed from American and British archives—including previously confidential government files—and in part on unforgettable, firsthand accounts of surviving witnesses, Enigma unearths the stunning truth about the brilliant piece of decryption that changed history.

July 11, 2013.  Thursday, 7 p.m.

The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

Dr. Sally Shigley, WSU

A killer at the top of his  profession. A man unknown to any secret service in the world. An assassin with a contract to kill the world's most heavily guarded man. One  man with a rifle who can change the course of  history. One man whose mission is so secretive not  even his employers know his name. And as the  minutes count down to the final act of execution, it  seems that there is no power on earth that can stop  the Jackal.

August 1, 2013.  Thursday, 7 p.m.

American Assassin by Vince Flynn /

The Camel Club by David Baldacci

Dr.Sally Shigley , WSU

American Assassin Mitch Rapp was a gifted college athlete without a care in the world . . . and then tragedy struck.  What type of man is willing to kill for his country without putting on a uniform? Kennedy finds him in the wake of the Pan Am Lockerbie terrorist attack. Two-hundred and seventy souls perished that cold December night, and thousands of family and friends were left searching for comfort. Mitch Rapp was one of them, but he was not interested in comfort. He wanted retribution.
The Camel Club: Existing at the fringes of Washington, D.C., the Club consists of four eccentric members. Led by a mysterious man known as "Oliver Stone," they study conspiracy theories, current events, and the machinations of government to discover the "truth" behind the country's actions. Their efforts bear little fruit-until the group witnesses a shocking murder...and become embroiled in an astounding, far-reaching conspiracy.

October 3, 2013.  Thursday, 7 p.m. 

Spy Handler:  Memoir of a KGB Officer by Victor Cherkashin

Dr. Branden Little, WSU

Cherkashin, a retired senior KGB officer, working with Feifer, a former Moscow correspondent for Radio Free Europe, gives readers an insider's view of the spy business from just after World War II through the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. This is at once fascinating and chilling. Cherkashin emphasizes the painstaking, plodding nature of spy work, but he also spikes his account with the stuff of a le Carre thriller Although the focus is on Soviet spycraft, Cherkashin's story--especially the recruitment and handling of Americans Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen.. Read this not just as a spy expose but also as a social history of an especially volatile period in Russia.

November 7, 2013. Thursday. 7 p.m.

Legacy of Ashes:  The History of the CIA  by Tim Weiner

Dr. Branden Little, WSU

"Must reading for anyone interested in the CIA or American intelligence since World War II." —The Washington Post "Legacy of Ashes should be must-reading for every presidential candidate—and every American who wants to understand why the nation repeatedly stumbles into one disaster abroad after another.”—The Boston Globe “A timely and vital contribution . . . [that] glitters with relevance.”—Los Angeles Times“This is by far the scariest book of the year.”—The Christian Science Monitor.

December 5, 2013.  Thursday.  7 p.m.

Enigma: A Novel by Robert Harris

Dr. Sally Shigley, WSU

At the heart of Britain's most precious World War II secret, breaking the Germans' codes lurks a spy who might be tipping off the enemy. Enter genius cryptanalyst Tom Jericho, who discovers that a woman with whom he had a sexual encounter has stolen some undeciphered cryptograms. When she disappears to boot, alarms galore ring off as the Foreign Office starts investigating and Jericho conducts a solo, unauthorized inquiry. The suspect's roommate, the mousy Hester Wallace, joins forces with Jericho, and they decipher the stolen messages.