The untold story of the academics who became OSS spies invented modern spycraft and helped
turn the tide of the war At the start of WWII the U.S. found itself in desperate need of an
intelligence agency. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) a precursor to today’s CIA was
quickly formed—and in an effort to fill its ranks with experts the OSS turned to academia for
recruits. Suddenly literature professors librarians and historians were training to perform
undercover operations and investigative work as part of a new WWII intelligence effort—and
these surprising spies would go on to profoundly shape both the course of the war and our
cultural institutions. Book and Dagger draws on personal histories letters and declassified
OSS files to tell the story of a small but connected group of humanities scholars turned spies.
Among them are Joseph Curtiss a literature professor who hunted down German spies and turned
them into double agents Sherman Kent a smart-mouthed history professor who rose to become the
head of analysis for all of Europe and Africa and Adele Kibre an archivist who was sent to
Stockholm to secretly acquire documents for the OSS. These unforgettable characters would
ultimately help lay the foundations of modern intelligence and transform American higher
education when they returned after the war. Thrillingly paced and rigorously researched Book
and Dagger is an inspiring and gripping true story of espionage about a group of academics who
helped beat the Nazis—a tale that reveals the indelible power of the humanities to change the
world. This riveting work of WWII history reveals: From Academia to Espionage: The untold
story of how literature professors librarians and historians were recruited into the Office
of Strategic Services (OSS) and trained in spycraft. Declassified Histories: The true stories
of operatives like Joseph Curtiss who turned German spies into double agents and archivist
Adele Kibre on her secret mission in Stockholm drawn from newly released OSS files. The
Chairborne Division: A fascinating look inside the Research and Analysis branch (R&A) the
OSS’s intellectual engine that transformed how intelligence was gathered and helped win the
war. The Birth of the CIA: How this unlikely group of scholars laid the foundations for
today’s Central Intelligence Agency forever changing the world of espionage.
