
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 AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic 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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The Mesopotamian Riddle
- An Archaeologist, a Soldier, a Clergyman and the Race to Decipher the World's Oldest Writing
- By: Joshua Hammer
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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From the ruins of Persepolis to lawless outposts of the crumbling Ottoman Empire, The Mesopotamian Riddle whisks you on a wild adventure through the golden age of archaeology in an epic quest to understand our past.
By: Joshua Hammer
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Lincoln's Spies
- Their Secret War to Save a Nation
- By: Douglas Waller
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 18 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Veteran CIA correspondent Douglas Waller delivers a riveting account of the heroes and misfits who carried out a shadow war of espionage and covert operations behind the Confederate battlefields. Lincoln’s Spies follows four agents from the North - three men and one woman - who informed Lincoln’s generals on the enemy positions for crucial battles and busted up clandestine Rebel networks.
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Review of Lincoln’s Spies
- By William on 01-16-20
By: Douglas Waller
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One Day in October
- Forty Heroes, Forty Stories
- By: Yair Agmon, Oriya Mevorach
- Narrated by: Shlomo Zacks, Michelle Atias
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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One Day in October introduces us to forty real-life Israeli heroes from that day, in their own words. All forty stories take place within the same twenty-four-hour period, in the same patch of beautiful, broken, blood-soaked land. These heroes are unforgettable, their stories inconceivable. Emerging from the pain and sorrow inflicted on that day, these first-person accounts offer consolation and hope.
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Book incredible - Female Reader Awful
- By Dlfnyc on 05-10-25
By: Yair Agmon, and others
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K - Kaltenbrunner
- By: Arthur Birago
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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He was evil incarnate, a main perpetrator of the Holocaust. Standing at six foot four inches and with deeply grotesque facial scars, he instilled fear as Hitler's top executioner of death. This thoroughly researched book takes you into the twisted psyche of one of the most vile and murdering figures of the Nazi regime. Ernst Kaltenbrunner was a high-ranking Austrian SS official, a driven anti-Semite, and fanatical Hitler loyalist. Rising quickly in the ranks, he was personally appointed as Chief of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) — which included the Gestapo, Kripo, and SD — by ...
By: Arthur Birago
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Calculated Evil
- Inside the Gruesome Crimes of the Toolbox Killers
- By: Emily V. Graves
- Narrated by: Ed Fairbanks's voice replica
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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The true story of two men who turned tools into instruments of terror—and Southern California into a hunting ground. Step into the chilling world of Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris, better known as the Toolbox Killers. This gripping true crime book pulls back the curtain on one of the most disturbing serial killer duos in American history. In 1979, a van, a box of everyday tools, and a sinister plan led to a series of horrific crimes that shocked the nation.
By: Emily V. Graves
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The Last Dynasty
- Ancient Egypt from Alexander the Great to Cleopatra
- By: Toby Wilkinson
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Alexander the Great and Cleopatra may be two of the most famous figures from the ancient world, but the Egyptian era bookended by their lives—the Ptolemaic period (305-30 BC)—is little known. In The Last Dynasty, Toby Wilkinson unravels the incredible story of this turbulent era.
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Interesting history of an oft overlooked period
- By Tom on 05-07-25
By: Toby Wilkinson
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The Center of the World
- A Global History of the Persian Gulf from the Stone Age to the Present
- By: Allen James Fromherz
- Narrated by: Kyle Snyder
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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World history began in the Persian Gulf. The ancient port cities that dotted its coastlines created the first global seaboard, a place from where faiths and cultures from around the world set sail and made contact. More than a history, The Center of the World shows us that contradictions that define our modern age have always been present.
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A TECHNICAL HISTORY OF AMERICA’S NUCLEAR WEAPONS
- THEIR DESIGN, OPERATION, DELIVERY, AND DEPLOYMENT SECOND EDITION
- By: Dr. PETER A. GOETZ
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 62 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Since 1945, the United States Armed Forces have fielded 70 different nuclear and thermonuclear devices on approximately 120 weapon systems. During this period, the manufacturing operations of the Manhattan Project, the Atomic Energy Commission, and the Department of Energy produced about 70,500 nuclear bombs and warheads. The Air Force and the Navy currently deploy eight types of thermonuclear device on six weapon systems and the Department of Defense maintains about 2,500 nuclear bombs and warheads (tactical and strategic) on active duty. It keeps approximately the same number in reserve. ...
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Magna Carta: The Making and Legacy of the Great Charter
- By: Dan Jones
- Narrated by: Dan Jones
- Length: 3 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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On a summer's day in 1215 a beleaguered English monarch met a group of disgruntled barons in a meadow by the river Thames named Runnymede. Beset by foreign crisis and domestic rebellion, King John was fast running out of options. On 15 June he reluctantly agreed to fix his regal seal to a document that would change the world.
By: Dan Jones
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The Britannias
- An Archipelago's Tale
- By: Alice Albinia
- Narrated by: Alice Albinia
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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From Neolithic Orkney, Viking Shetland, and Druidical Anglesey to the joys and strangeness of modern Thanet, The Britannias explores the farthest reaches of Britain's island topography, once known by the collective term "Britanniae" (the Britains). This expansive journey demonstrates how the smaller islands have wielded disproportionate influence on the mainland.
By: Alice Albinia
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Disciples
- The World War II Missions of the CIA Directors Who Fought for Wild Bill Donovan
- By: Douglas Waller
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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They are the most famous and controversial directors the CIA has ever had - Allen Dulles, Richard Helms, William Colby, and William Casey. Disciples is the story of these dynamic agents and their daring espionage and sabotage in wartime Europe under OSS Director Bill Donovan.
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A "Boys in the Boat" for WWII Intrigue
- By Annie M. on 03-21-16
By: Douglas Waller
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Warbody
- A Marine Sniper and the Hidden Violence of Modern Warfare
- By: Joshua Howe, Alexander Lemons
- Narrated by: Mike Lenz
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Alexander Lemons is a Marine Corps scout sniper who, after serving multiple tours during the Iraq War, returned home seriously and mysteriously ill. Joshua Howe is an environmental historian who met Lemons as a student in one of his classes. Together they have crafted a vital book that challenges us to think beyond warfare's acute violence of bullets and bombs to the "slow violence" of toxic exposure and lasting trauma.
By: Joshua Howe, and others
Essential For Understanding The Cold War
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