A former CIA officer and curator of the CIA Museum unveils the shocking, untold story of Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingwayās secret life as a spy for both the Americans and the Soviets before and during World War II.
While he was the curator of the CIA Museum, Nicholas Reynolds, a longtime military intelligence expert, began to discover tantalizing clues that suggested Ernest Hemingwayās involvement in the Second World War was much more complex and dangerous than has been previously understood. Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy brings to light for the first time this riveting secret side of Hemingwayās lifeāwhen he worked closely with both the American OSS, a precursor to the CIA, and the Soviet NKVD, the USSRās forerunner to the KGB to defeat Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.
Reynolds dig deep into Hemingwayās involvement in World War II, from his recruitment by both the Americans and the Sovietsāwho valued Hemingway for his journalistic skills and access to sourcesāthrough his key role in gaining tactical intelligence for the Allies during the liberation of Paris, to his later doubts about communist ideology and his undercover work in Cuba. As he examines the links between his work as a spy and as an author, Reynolds reveals how Hemingwayās wartime experiences shook his faith in literature and contributed to the writerās block that plagued him for much of the final two decades of his life. Reynolds also illuminates how those same experiences also informed one of Hemingwayās greatest worksāThe Old Man and the Seaāthe final novel published during his lifetime.
A unique portrait as fast-paced and exciting as the best espionage thrillers, Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy illuminates a hidden side of a revered artist and is a thrilling addition to the annals of World War II.