
The Determined Spy
The Turbulent Life and Times of CIA Pioneer Frank Wisner
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Narrated by:
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Robert Fass
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By:
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Douglas Waller
About this listen
From Douglas Waller, New York Times bestselling author of Wild Bill Donovan, an intimate and expertly researched biography of little-known early CIA leader Frank Wisner, whose behind-the-scenes influence on Cold War policy—and hundreds of highly secret anti-Soviet missions—resonates with the international crises we see today.
Frank Wisner was one of the most powerful men in 1950s Washington, though few knew it. Reporting directly to senior U.S. officials—his work largely hidden from Congress and the public—Wisner masterminded some of the CIA’s most daring and controversial operations in the early years of the Cold War, commanding thousands of clandestine agents around the world.
Following an early career marked by exciting escapades as a key World War II spy under General William “Wild Bill” Donovan, Wisner quickly rose through the postwar intelligence ranks to lead a newly created top-secret unit tasked—under little oversight—with overseeing massive propaganda, economic warfare, sabotage, subversion, and guerrilla operations all over the world, including such daring initiatives as the CIA-backed coups in Iran and Guatemala.
But simultaneously, Wisner faced a demon few at the time understood: bipolar disorder. When this debilitating disease resulted in his breakdown and transfer to a mental hospital, the repercussions were felt throughout Washington’s highest levels of power.
Waller’s sensitive and exhaustively researched biography is the riveting story of both Frank Wisner as a national figure who inspired a cadre of future CIA secret warriors, and also an intimate and empathetic portrait of a man whose harrowing struggle with bipolar disorder makes his impressive accomplishments on the world stage even more remarkable.
©2025 Douglas Waller (P)2025 Penguin AudioCritic reviews
"A revealing look at the early history of a spy agency with a decidedly checkered past."—Kirkus
“In The Determined Spy, Douglas Waller does an admirable job of piecing together long hidden and very forbidden secrets, among them development of the notorious MKUltra mind-bending drugs intended to create human robots. For more than a decade, during the coldest days of the spy war with Moscow, Frank Wisner ran the CIA’s most secret department as deputy director of plans. For spy-readers, Waller’s new book is a wonderful follow-on to his earlier book on the founder of the OSS, Wild Bill Donovan.”—James Bamford, national bestselling author of The Puzzle Palace, Body of Secrets, and SpyFail
"Secret agents, soaring ideals, coup plots and intelligence disasters—all of it runs through Douglas Waller’s remarkable biography of CIA pioneer Frank Wisner. This is a tale of a shadow warrior at the dawn of the Cold War who fervently fought for freedom then tragically succumbed to personal demons."—David E. Hoffman, national bestselling author of The Billion Dollar Spy
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Story
When Nazi forces entered Kraków, Poland in 1939, unexpected and unresisted, Josef Lewkowicz's life became a nightmare overnight as he and his family were rounded up and sent to concentration camps across German-occupied territory. It wasn't long before Josef found himself face-to-face with SS kommandant Amon Goeth, whose brutality was made infamous by the film Schindler's List. As Josef struggled to survive the violence, horror, and degradations of one prison camp after another—he was kept alive only by his faith and his profound sense of justice.
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Questions
- By justin mcintosh on 03-17-25
By: Josef Lewkowicz
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How to Seal Your Own Fate
- Castle Knoll Files, Book 2
- By: Kristen Perrin
- Narrated by: Alexandra Dowling, Jessica Hayles
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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Kristen Perrin is back with the second novel in her Castle Knoll series. Annie Adams is caught in a new web of murder that spans decades, returning us to the idyllic English village that holds layers of secrets.
By: Kristen Perrin
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The Fate of the Day
- The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780
- By: Rick Atkinson
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 32 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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The first twenty-one months of the American Revolution—which began at Lexington and ended at Princeton—was the story of a ragged group of militiamen and soldiers fighting to forge a new nation. By the winter of 1777, the exhausted Continental Army could claim only that it had barely escaped annihilation by the world’s most formidable fighting force. Two years into the war, George III is as determined as ever to bring his rebellious colonies to heel.
By: Rick Atkinson
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Forged in Hell
- The Gripping True Story of the Special Forces Heroes Who Broke the Nazi Stranglehold
- By: Damien Lewis
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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July 1943: The largest invasion fleet ever assembled sailed for fortress Europe, aiming to bulldoze its way onto Nazi shores. At its vanguard went a few hundred elite forces soldiers. The Royal Navy warship carrying them-a former passenger ferry transformed for battle-bore the iconic winged dagger emblem carved on its prow, plus the motto 'Who Dares Wins,' painstakingly fashioned with the most rudimentary tools by Sergeant William 'Bill' Deakins, the foremost explosives expert on board and a Royal Engineer by trade.
By: Damien Lewis
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Mark Twain
- By: Ron Chernow
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 48 hrs
- Unabridged
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Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Ron Chernow illuminates the full, fascinating, and complex life of the writer long celebrated as the father of American literature, Mark Twain.
By: Ron Chernow
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The Spy Coast
- A Thriller (The Martini Club, Book 1)
- By: Tess Gerritsen
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber, Brittany Pressley
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Former spy Maggie Bird came to the seaside village of Purity, Maine, eager to put the past behind her after a mission went tragically wrong. These days, she’s living quietly on her chicken farm, still wary of blowback from the events that forced her early retirement. But when a body turns up in Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a message from former foes who haven’t forgotten her. Maggie turns to her local circle of old friends—all retirees from the CIA—to help uncover the truth about who is trying to kill her, and why.
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OUTSTANDING!!!!
- By shelley on 11-01-23
By: Tess Gerritsen