
Life Undercover
Coming of Age in the CIA
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Narrated by:
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Amaryllis Fox
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By:
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Amaryllis Fox
About this listen
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER
"Fast and thrilling.... Life Undercover reads as if a John le Carré character landed in Eat Pray Love." (The New York Times)
Amaryllis Fox's riveting memoir tells the story of her 10 years in the most elite clandestine ops unit of the CIA, hunting the world's most dangerous terrorists in 16 countries while marrying and giving birth to a daughter
Amaryllis Fox was in her last year as an undergraduate at Oxford studying theology and international law when her writing mentor, Daniel Pearl, was captured and beheaded. Galvanized by this brutality, Fox applied to a master's program in conflict and terrorism at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, where she created an algorithm that predicted, with uncanny certainty, the likelihood of a terrorist cell arising in any village around the world.
At 21, she was recruited by the CIA. Her first assignment was reading and analyzing hundreds of classified cables a day from foreign governments and synthesizing them into daily briefs for the president. Her next assignment was at the Iraq desk in the Counterterrorism center.
At 22, she was fast-tracked into advanced operations training, sent from Langley to "the Farm", where she lived for six months in a simulated world learning how to use a Glock, how to get out of flexicuffs while locked in the trunk of a car, how to withstand torture, and the best ways to commit suicide in case of captivity.
At the end of this training, she was deployed as a spy under non-official cover - the most difficult and coveted job in the field as an art dealer specializing in tribal and indigenous art and sent to infiltrate terrorist networks in remote areas of the Middle East and Asia.
Life Undercover is exhilarating, intimate, fiercely intelligent - an impossible-to-pause record of an extraordinary life, and of Amaryllis Fox's astonishing courage and passion.
©2019 Amaryllis Fox (P)2019 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"A riveting account of the decade the author spent risking her life in the CIA’s most clandestine unit." (People)
"Gripping...Fox masterfully conveys the exhilaration and loneliness of life undercover, and her memoir reads like a great espionage novel." (Publishers Weekly starred review)
"Extraordinary...[A] remarkable life...Fox engagingly - and transparently - describes her work as an undercover agent for the CIA." (Kirkus Reviews)
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Story
Enrique Prado found himself in his first firefight at age seven. The son of a middle-class Cuban family caught in the midst of the Castro Revolution, his family fled their war-torn home for the hope of a better life in America. Fifty years later, the Cuban refugee retired from the Central Intelligence Agency as the CIA equivalent of a two-star general. Black Ops is the story of Ric’s legendary career that spanned two eras, the Cold War and the Age of Terrorism.
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Impressive and Inspiring!
- By medardo on 03-12-22
By: Ric Prado
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In True Face
- A Woman's Life in the CIA, Unmasked
- By: Jonna Mendez
- Narrated by: Barbara Benjamin-Creel
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Jonna Hiestand Mendez began her CIA career as a “contract wife” performing secretarial duties for the CIA as a convenience to her husband, a young officer stationed in Europe. She needed his permission to open a bank account or shut off the gas to their apartment. Yet Mendez had a talent for espionage, too, and she soon took on bigger and more significant roles at the Agency. She parlayed her interest in photography into an operational role overseas, an unlikely area for a woman in the CIA.
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Breaking the Glass Ceiling in the CIA
- By Maggie May on 03-11-24
By: Jonna Mendez
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The Sisterhood
- The Secret History of Women at the CIA
- By: Liza Mundy
- Narrated by: Liza Mundy
- Length: 18 hrs
- Unabridged
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Created in the aftermath of World War II, the Central Intelligence Agency relied on women even as it attempted to channel their talents and keep them down. Women sent cables, made dead drops, and maintained the agency’s secrets. Despite discrimination—even because of it—women who started as clerks, secretaries, or unpaid spouses rose to become some of the CIA’s shrewdest operatives.
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Tried- just no there, there
- By Janet Uri-Jones on 07-10-24
By: Liza Mundy
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The Recruiter
- Spying and the Lost Art of American Intelligence
- By: Douglas London
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 17 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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This revealing memoir from a 34-year veteran of the CIA who worked as a case officer and recruiter of foreign agents before and after 9/11 provides an invaluable perspective on the state of modern spy craft, how the CIA has developed, and how it must continue to evolve.
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What a whiner
- By Paw and Maw on 02-26-22
By: Douglas London
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The Spy Who Knew Too Much
- An Ex-CIA Officer’s Quest Through a Legacy of Betrayal
- By: Howard Blum
- Narrated by: Steve Hendrickson
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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On a sunlit morning in September 1978, a sloop drifts aimlessly across the Chesapeake Bay. The cabin reveals signs of a struggle, and “classified” documents, live 9 mm cartridges, and a top-secret “burst” satellite communications transmitter are discovered aboard. But where is the boat’s owner, former CIA officer John Paisley? One man may hold the key to finding out. Tennent “Pete” Bagley was once a rising star in America’s spy aristocracy, and many expected he’d eventually become CIA director.
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The, too long, story of an obsession
- By Tony on 10-30-22
By: Howard Blum
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The Moscow Rules
- The Secret CIA Tactics That Helped America Win the Cold War
- By: Jonna Mendez, Antonio J. J. Mendez
- Narrated by: Wilson Bethel
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Antonio Mendez and his future wife, Jonna, were CIA operatives working to spy on Moscow in the late 1970s, at one of the most dangerous moments in the Cold War. Soviets kept files on all foreigners, studied their patterns, tapped their phones, and even planted listening devices within the US embassy. In short, intelligence work was effectively impossible. The Soviet threat loomed larger than ever. The Moscow Rules tells the story of the intelligence breakthroughs that turned the odds in America's favor.
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Interesting, clean, pro-CIA history
- By Alexander M Leasenby on 02-27-20
By: Jonna Mendez, and others
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The Syndicate Spy
- A Juliet Arroway Novel
- By: Brittany Butler
- Narrated by: Amy Landon
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Syndicate operative Juliet Arroway and her best friend, Mariam, a progressive Saudi princess, are tasked with hunting down terrorists and putting an end to the global energy war, the same mission that cost Juliet’s father his life. But when multiple terrorist attacks result in devastating losses, including the death of Juliet’s longtime boyfriend, and the Syndicate begins to suspect that Mariam’s family is somehow involved, Juliet must rise above her heartbreak to discover the truth.
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Left Liberal agenda and more about characters feeling and less about main plot.
- By Gopi Mistry on 03-07-24
By: Brittany Butler
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Spycraft
- The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs from Communism to Al-Qaeda
- By: Robert Wallace, Henry Robert Schelsinger
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Now, in the first book ever written about this ultrasecretive department, the former director of OTS teams up with an internationally renowned intelligence historian to give listeners an unprecedented look at the devices and operations deemed "inappropriate for public disclosure" by the CIA just two years ago.
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Unique, informative history of the CIA
- By Richard on 07-29-08
By: Robert Wallace, and others
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The Unit
- My Life Fighting Terrorists as One of America's Most Secret Military Operatives
- By: Adam Gamal, Kelly Kennedy
- Narrated by: Adam Gamal, Peter Ganim
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Inside our military is a team of operators whose work is so secretive that the name of the unit itself is classified. Highly-trained in warfare, self-defense, infiltration, and deep surveillance, "the Unit," as the Department of Defense has asked us to refer to it, has been responsible for preventing dozens of terrorist attacks in the Western world. Never before has a member of this unit shared their story — until now.
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Meh
- By Anonymous User on 03-06-24
By: Adam Gamal, and others
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Ghost Wars
- The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001
- By: Steve Coll
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 26 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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The explosive first-hand account of America's secret history in Afghanistan. With the publication of Ghost Wars, Steve Coll became not only a Pulitzer Prize winner, but also the expert on the rise of the Taliban, the emergence of Bin Laden, and the secret efforts by CIA officers and their agents to capture or kill Bin Laden in Afghanistan after 1998.
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An Exceptional Accomplishment
- By Joe on 11-08-13
By: Steve Coll
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Agent Zigzag
- A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
- By: Ben MacIntyre
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Eddie Chapman was a charming criminal, a con man, and a philanderer. He was also one of the most remarkable double agents Britain has ever produced. Inside the traitor was a man of loyalty; inside the villain was a hero. The problem for Chapman, his spymasters, and his lovers was to know where one persona ended and the other began.
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What a great character
- By Michael on 02-24-09
By: Ben MacIntyre
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Catch and Kill
- Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators
- By: Ronan Farrow
- Narrated by: Ronan Farrow
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2017, a routine network television investigation led to a story only whispered about: one of Hollywood’s most powerful producers was a predator, protected by fear, wealth, and a conspiracy of silence. As Farrow drew closer to the truth, shadowy operatives, from high-priced lawyers to elite war-hardened spies, mounted a secret campaign of intimidation, threatening his career, following his every move, and weaponizing an account of abuse in his own family.
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Excellent book
- By Jonathan Knodel on 10-16-19
By: Ronan Farrow
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The Seventh Floor
- A Novel
- By: David McCloskey
- Narrated by: Sharon Freedman
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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A Russian arrives in Singapore with a secret to sell. When the Russian is killed and Sam Joseph, the CIA officer dispatched for the meet, goes missing, operational chief Artemis Procter is made a scapegoat for the disaster and run out of the service. Months later, Sam appears at Procter's doorstep with an explosive secret: there is a Russian mole burrowed deep within the highest ranks of the CIA.
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Dreadful
- By Anon Y. Mouse on 10-24-24
By: David McCloskey
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The Looming Tower
- Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
- By: Lawrence Wright
- Narrated by: Lawrence Wright
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America. Lawrence Wright's remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States.
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Supremely thorough and interesting
- By Josh on 10-05-17
By: Lawrence Wright
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The Billion Dollar Spy
- A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal
- By: David E. Hoffman
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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While getting into his car on the evening of February 16, 1978, the chief of the CIA's Moscow station was handed an envelope by an unknown Russian. Its contents stunned the Americans: details of top-secret Soviet research and development in military technology that was totally unknown to the United States.
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Compelling as historical thriller, character study
- By Mr. Pointy on 08-25-15
By: David E. Hoffman
What listeners say about Life Undercover
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- Ezaki
- 12-01-21
Thank you Ms Fox
There are going to be a lot of children of CIA officers , especially those growing up during the Cold War, hearing your wold and seeing their own.
Well done, from one of those children.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Annie Martin
- 07-06-22
Enthralling and Poetic
This book is ironically truthful- the names and places may have changed but the grit and honesty of human emotion is present throughout. A fascinating read for those interested in spy craft or someone looking for an interesting memoir. The tagline for this book couldn’t be more succinctly put. Fox has artfully woven together the pivotal developmental milestones many of us experience, creating an incredibly relatable tapestry- then again most of us are not toiling away with finding the balance in our humanity while simultaneously being deep undercover.
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1 person found this helpful
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- @aShockInTheDark
- 01-20-21
Not What I Expected - but Great
Very interesting, informative and entertaing. Sometimes I'll struggle with a book that isn't 100% fascinating, but this was very easy to stick with.
I was looking for something more procedural about the CIA: The experience of recruitment, oddball details about what training and work is like... the handling friends and family... and this book DID cover these areas and more. It wasn't exactly what I had imagined- it was BETTER!
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- Kristine Jesus's Family
- 12-12-20
Great!
I can't imagine doing all of the play acting Amaryllis and her coworkers did. Their lives and so many other people's lives depended on her and her coworkers ability to act and to talk in precise ways that had to be quickly adapted for each situation as it unfolded. Very skilled self control and observation of people around her. She gives great examples of skills required to reach desired outcomes. This is a very interesting book and it drew me in. I would like to meet Amaryllis. I think she would be a good friend.
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- Matt Creech
- 06-12-20
A captivating story, though with few "spy" details
This story gives a detailed and holistic view into the life of a woman who was recruited into the CIA, and eventually went undercover as a nuclear weapons broker dealing with terrorist organizations. I'd expected a story full of spy-novel action and incredible stories of sleuthing and manipulation. What I got was different, but more interesting: Fox tells how she found her way to the CIA, then gradually unfolds her account of life as a spy, full of the sort of details that bring the story to life (and feel like the things that'd occupy a real spy's time & energy) but would be left out of a Hollywood spy film. It doesn't paint a rosy picture, but rather offers a glimpse into the life of a real spy, leaving the reader with the impression that in the real world things are more complicated than they might seem: the heroes are often reckless, the villains often misunderstood, and a spy in the middle often left wondering whether or not they've truly made the world a safer place.
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- L. Pincus
- 12-24-19
Good honest story
Thanks for your honest insight, and your grace under fire. As a mother of a son in the same employment...a little nerve wracking as well. Thankfully, he was raised with an open mind and with empathy.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Montana Cowboy-343
- 12-21-19
Exceptional...
A sobering reminder of the people whos work is performed in service to the citizens of the United States. And the costs paid by all who undertake the protection of the greater community of humanity...
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1 person found this helpful
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- MXM
- 09-03-20
Excellent
Thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end. Lots of insight, intrigue and wisdom. It is worth a second read and I don’t do that often.
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- Annmeredith Wardwell
- 06-11-23
Rivitting
Exciting, minus the one thoughtful and poignant story of a young woman’s life. Loved her right vulnerability at her journey and experience.
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- Mr Dangerous
- 10-16-19
Book of the year...
This is not just a book about being in the CIA. Being undercover. This is so much more. I was beyond surprised at how good this book was. So much depth, deep emotion, trade craft, intensity. Fox has a way with words, has a way with thoughts.
This is literature. I rarely say that about a book.
Fox gave and excellent read.
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49 people found this helpful