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Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy: Ernest Hemingway's Secret Adventures, 1935-1961    by Nicholas Reynolds Amazon.com order for
Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy
by Nicholas Reynolds
Order:  USA  Can
William Morrow, 2017 (2017)
Hardcover, CD, e-Book
* * *   Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth

The name Ernest Hemingway is always linked to the art of writing. Considered to be America's greatest writer, no one would have suspected that Hemingway became a spy for both U.S. Intelligence as well as for Russia's NKVD (later known as the KGB)!

Working at the CIA Museum, an Oxford-trained historian, author Nicholas Reynolds, discovered clues that Ernest Hemingway's involvement in World II Intelligence work was much more involved than previously understood. Reynolds began his research with Hemingway's connection to the Spanish Civil War.

The amount of research that went into the writing of this book is a tremendous accomplishment. The back pages are proof of the dedication of the author to correctly depict the unusual man of whom he writes. I won't even try to relate all the happenings in this great man's life. Or, should I say, the drive of Hemingway's life? He always seemed to love nothing more than to have something he felt worth fighting for.

This drive led him to become a spy – an agent for the U.S. Government, for whom his activities included hunting submarines off Cuba; gaining intelligence for the Allies during the liberation of Paris; as well as undercover involvement in Cuban polities and sympathy for Castro.

He seemed to love life but was never quite content with his part in it. His greatest accolade came with the publishing of For Whom the Bell Tolls. The Sun Also Rises and The Old Man of the Sea come to my mind as personal favorite. Of course, married at least four times, his personal life must have been as hectic as his professional.

Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy: Ernest Hemingway's Secret Adventures is well worth a read. It's a well researched and written biography. Once started, it is hard not to give yourself up to the times and the man written about.

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