A Genius for Deception
How Cunning Helped the British Win Two World Wars
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Narrated by:
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Napoleon Ryan
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By:
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Nicholas Rankin
About this listen
In February 1942, intelligence officer Victor Jones erected 150 tents behind British lines in North Africa. "Hiding tanks in Bedouin tents was an old British trick," writes Nicholas Rankin. German general Erwin Rommel not only knew of the ploy, but had copied it himself. Jones knew that Rommel knew. In fact, he counted on it - for these tents were empty. With the deception that he was carrying out a deception, Jones made a weak point look like a trap. In A Genius for Deception, Nicholas Rankin offers a lively and comprehensive history of how Britain bluffed, tricked, and spied its way to victory in two world wars. As Rankin shows, a coherent program of strategic deception emerged in World War I, resting on the pillars of camouflage, propaganda, secret intelligence, and special forces. All forms of deception found an avid sponsor in Winston Churchill, who carried his enthusiasm for deceiving the enemy into World War II.
Rankin vividly recounts such little-known episodes as the invention of camouflage by two French artist-soldiers, the creation of dummy airfields for the Germans to bomb during the Blitz, and the fabrication of an army that would supposedly invade Greece. Strategic deception would be key to a number of WWII battles, culminating in the massive misdirection that proved critical to the success of the D-Day invasion in 1944. Deeply researched and written with an eye for telling detail, A Genius for Deception shows how the British used craft and cunning to help win the most devastating wars in human history.
©2008 Nicholas Rankin (P)2014 Audible Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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In the spring of 1939, a top-secret organization was founded in London: Its purpose was to plot the destruction of Hitler's war machine through spectacular acts of sabotage. The guerrilla campaign that followed was every bit as extraordinary as the six men who directed it. One of them, Cecil Clarke, was a maverick engineer who had spent the 1930s inventing futuristic caravans. Now his talents were put to more devious use: He built the dirty bomb used to assassinate Hitler's favorite, Reinhard Heydrich.
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Rip-Roarin' Tale of Devoted 'Cads'!
- By Gillian on 02-08-17
By: Giles Milton
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To End All Wars
- A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918
- By: Adam Hochschild
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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World War I stands as one of history's most senseless spasms of carnage, defying rational explanation. In a riveting, suspenseful narrative with haunting echoes for our own time, Adam Hochschild brings it to life as never before. He focuses on the long-ignored moral drama of the war's critics, alongside its generals and heroes. Thrown in jail for their opposition to the war were Britain's leading investigative journalist, a future winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and an editor who, behind bars, published a newspaper for his fellow inmates on toilet paper.
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A story of personalities
- By Tad Davis on 06-09-11
By: Adam Hochschild
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Spymistress
- The True Story of the Greatest Female Secret Agent of World War II
- By: William Stevenson
- Narrated by: Nicholas Camm
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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A rousing tale of espionage and unsung valor, this is the captivating true story of Vera Atkins, Great Britain's spymistress from the age of 25. With her fierce intelligence, blunt manner, personal courage, and exceptional informants, Vera ran countless missions throughout the 1930s. After rising to the leadership echelon in the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a covert intelligence agency formed by Winston Churchill, she became head of a clandestine army in World War II.
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Great Story - Unfortunately Monotone Performance
- By Glenn on 03-29-14
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Moscow 1941
- A City and Its People at War
- By: Rodric Braithwaite
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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The 1941 Battle of Moscow, unquestionably one of the most decisive battles of World War II, marked the first strategic defeat of the German armed forces in their seemingly unstoppable march across Europe. The Soviets lost many more people in this one battle than the British and Americans lost in the whole of the Second World War. Now, with authority and narrative power, Rodric Braithwaite tells the story in large part through the individual experiences of ordinary Russian men and women.
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slow, repetitive
- By Wylie on 12-27-06
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Rogue Heroes
- The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War
- By: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: Ben Macintyre
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Britain's Special Air Service - or SAS - was the brainchild of David Stirling, a young, gadabout aristocrat whose aimlessness in early life belied a remarkable strategic mind. Where most of his colleagues looked at a battlefield map of World War II's African theater and saw a protracted struggle with Rommel's desert forces, Stirling saw an opportunity: Given a small number of elite, well-trained men, he could parachute behind enemy lines and sabotage their airplanes and war matériel.
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Those Who Dared, Won!
- By Matthew on 10-07-16
By: Ben Macintyre
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Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs
- The Unknown Story of World War II's OSS
- By: Patrick K. O'Donnell
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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"A revealing look into the intrigue and extraordinary courage of our intelligence gatherers of World War II. A rare combination of suspense thriller and true heroism by a great American writer." (Clive Cussler, New York Times best-selling author)
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Great book...
- By Nicholas G. on 05-11-05
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Crete 1941
- The Battle and the Resistance
- By: Antony Beevor
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Nazi Germany expected its airborne attack on Crete in 1941 to be a textbook victory based on tactical surprise. Little did they know that the British, using Ultra intercepts, had already laid a careful trap. It should have been the first German defeat of the war, but a fatal misunderstanding turned the battle around.
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Engrossing
- By Jean on 02-01-16
By: Antony Beevor
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Douglas MacArthur
- American Warrior
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 39 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Douglas MacArthur was arguably the last American public figure to be worshipped unreservedly as a national hero, the last military figure to conjure up the romantic stirrings once evoked by George Armstrong Custer and Robert E. Lee. But he was also one of America's most divisive figures, a man whose entire career was steeped in controversy. Was he an avatar or an anachronism, a brilliant strategist or a vainglorious mountebank?
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Claims to be balanced... glosses over flaws
- By Us 5 Camp on 07-03-18
By: Arthur Herman
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Operation Mincemeat
- How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory
- By: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Ben Macintyre’s Agent Zigzag was hailed as “rollicking, spellbinding” (New York Times), “wildly improbable but entirely true” (Entertainment Weekly), and, quite simply, “the best book ever written” (Boston Globe). In his new book, Operation Mincemeat, he tells an extraordinary story that will delight his legions of fans. In 1943, from a windowless basement office in London, two brilliant intelligence officers conceived a plan that was both simple and complicated - Operation Mincemeat.
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Better than the movie
- By Jack M on 06-23-10
By: Ben Macintyre
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Patton, Montgomery, Rommel
- Masters of War
- By: Terry Brighton
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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In the Second World War, the United States, Great Britain, and Germany each produced one land-force commander who stood out from the rest: George Patton, Bernard Montgomery, and Erwin Rommel. All were arrogant, publicity seeking, and personally flawed, yet each possessed a genius for command and an unrivaled enthusiasm for combat.
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Excellent ... Patton, Montgomery, Rommel
- By John VandenBrook on 01-10-10
By: Terry Brighton
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Berlin Diary
- The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, 1934–1941
- By: William L. Shirer
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 15 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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By the acclaimed journalist and New York Times best-selling author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, this day-by-day eyewitness account of the momentous events leading up to World War II in Europe is the private, personal, utterly revealing journal of a great foreign correspondent.
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The Real Rise and Fall
- By Robert on 02-26-14
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Forgotten
- The Untold Story of D-day's Black Heroes, at Home and at War
- By: Linda Hervieux
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In the early hours of June 6, 1944, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, a unit of African American soldiers, landed on the beaches of France. Their orders were to man a curtain of armed balloons meant to deter enemy aircraft. One member of the 320th would be nominated for the Medal of Honor, an award he would never receive because the nation's highest decoration was not given to black soldiers in World War II.
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What I did not know
- By Elvis C. on 08-07-18
By: Linda Hervieux
What listeners say about A Genius for Deception
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- T
- 12-25-20
Great book
Stranger than fiction in some aspects. Highly recommend. Narration was amazing. Needs better, longer conclusion.
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- Kevin Stokes
- 05-26-15
Highly Recommended even for Fiction Readers
I mostly read fiction, so this book was a radical departure for me. The stories I usually read are carefully engineered to hold my interest for every moment through character building, exciting plot elements and the satisfaction of the conclusion.
It is quite an accomplishment that the author could produce 20+ hours of information about what seems to be a very narrow facet of world war 2 that is more interesting than the lion's share of epic fiction I read.
There is something very satisfying in the knowledge that all these wild tales are actually true. In today's books and movies, we are routinely presented with gigantic conspiracies and unlikely coincidences which defy common sense. In this book, the author brings to light a variety of all kinds of daring plans, many of which actually worked. He also does a good job of filling in the background, giving the reader an understanding of why these plans were necessary. He also fleshes out some of the more interesting personalities involved.
Not every chapter of the book was equally interesting, but as a book of this type I would put it in the top of its category.
As an American, it stood out that the author does not my country in very high regard, but this attitude was not a major theme and did not stop me from enjoying the book. My overall conclusion is that any listener who enjoys reading about WW2 will not regret purchasing this title.
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2 people found this helpful
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- algotte
- 12-14-17
Great book, but need quiet space to listen
The book is great. The narrator was a bit hard to follow, since he liked to trail off at the end of sentences or for dramatic effect. It made listening in the car or other noisy areas difficult. I found myself rewinding often to try to catch what was said.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Northwesterner
- 05-11-20
Compelling storytelling at its finest
I'm not one to really gush about an audiobook but this is one that is compelling in both the author storytelling skill as well as Napeleon Ryan's as narrator. Napeleon was not only so well suited but beautifully directed as weil in his delivery. So kudos to everyone who created this wonderful audiowork.
Let me paint two pictures that came to my minds eye as I listened:
1. You're in a UK Command bunker in WWll. The room is filled with information flowing in and out filtered by various folks in the dim light. In the middle of the room, a map of Europe with little models of ships and soldiers representing movements and data.
In the middle of the smokey room, speaking is the Command Leader: The leader is the narrator Napeleon Ryan.
2. Or perhaps you're sitting with a retired WWll leader in a dark paneled wood room, with cigar and a whiskey located in a quiet reserved and discrete club in London. And Napeleon Ryan, as the leader is sharing you this story.
Author Nicholas Rankin's rich mesmerizing work comes alive further with Napoleon Ryan crisp, concise delivery. I don't know if this book won any awards or if it was nominated, but I would have voted for it. This audio book delivers and then some! I look forward to more from Nicholas Rankin and Napoleon Ryan.
In the 70s, there was a acclaimed British TV series called World at War narrated by Sir Lawrence Olivier. In my opinion, this book and the audiobook, like World at War, is compelling storytelling at its finest. So enjoy!
And Mr. Rankin, keep writing these wonderful works! You have a gift.
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- Jean
- 10-23-14
A page turner
Nicholas Rankin tells about Archibald Wavell, whose career began in the Boer War and ended with him a Field Marshall and Viceroy of India. Wavell wrote “The beginnings of any war by the British are always marked by improvidence, improvisation, and too often, alas, impossibilities being asked of the troops.” Improvisation defined British deception operations, camouflaging soldiers in the field, building entire fake armies and fake cities to fool airborne reconnaissance and bombers, counter sniping with dummy heads-all originated in the British amateur spirit and gift for discovering a way forward out of the strangest materials. The first half of the book is about World War One and the second half covers World War Two.
At the outbreak of World War I in 1914 Solomon J. Solomon a portrait painter became obsessed with camouflaging soldiers. With the help from members of the London theatrical and artistic worlds he started a British Army School of Camouflage in Hyde Park. Another painter marine artist Norman Wilkinson designed a better method to camouflage ships from submarine attacks. He used a vivid painting of the vessel that dazzled and gave the impression that the head is where the stern is.
Sefton Delmer in late 1930s produced a German language radio program to entertain and seed disinformation to demoralize Hitler’s troops. The program ran all during the war. The author also discusses the famous Operation Mincemeat. Rankin states that the British Military have always looked for ways to outsmart their enemies, by hiding the extent of and defensive weakness and obscuring the timing and direction of any offensives. The author states the British integrate deception into the highest level of strategic planning during the two world wars. Some escapades became famous: phony units with pretend tanks, a double of General Bernard Montgomery arriving in Gibraltar to discuss fake operations. I got a good laugh at one story Rankin tells about the Luftwaffe paying tribute to a dummy railhead in Egypt by dropping a wooden bomb on it.
Churchill loved cloak-dagger exploits and was fascinated by cryptography, and military wizardry. Churchill promoted unorthodox figures who excelled in the crucial field of camouflage, propaganda, secret intelligence and Special Forces operation. Rank quotes one of Churchill’s famous declarations that he lived up to that “in wartime the truth should be protected by a bodyguard of lies.”
The book is a page turner and lots of fun; it covers many exciting and interesting illustration of British deception. If you are interested in either WWI or WWII or just in military history this is a must book for you. It is fairly long at about 22 hours. Napoleon Ryan does a great job narrating the book.
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3 people found this helpful
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- David
- 09-29-15
Interesting
The first half of the book covers the First World War. Perhaps, because I've spent very little time with that period, the narrative seemed a bit confusing. I wasn't sure of the point nor that all would qualify under the deception label. The Second World War section is better, and the connection to the First makes the first part more important and significant. Overall interesting.
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