Customer Reviews

Agent 146: The True Story of a Nazi Spy in America

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Agent 146 was a quick read and detailed the time before the author's career as a spy, during the time, and after. The story held my interest from beginning to end. It was interesting to learn how a man became a master spy and all the emotions and issues that come along with the job. The author was a spy and a soldier, but he was also a person with strong emotions. This was a big part of the book as he struggled with love and loyalty. A truly amazing account on a battlefield fought with wit, subterfuge, and proper manners.

I loved this book! It is a thrilling and captivating story told by a Nazi spy. It gives you a fascinating look at WW2 from the other side. This new perspective enhanced my understand of the war in many ways. Agent 146 is a book that is entrancing and informative. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in WW2.

"Page-turners" in literature are a rarity, but Erich Gimpel's book will keep your interest from beginning to end. From his secret submarine trip to Maine in 1944 to his near-hanging, there is never a slack moment. Erich was one of the few German spies who actually operated in America during the war, and in the 1950s a film was made of his adventures entitled "Spy for Germany": it is still being shown on TV.

I "read" this book as a book on tape. I found this book enjoyable to "read". If you want to read something interesting about clandestine spying in The US during WWII, read this! I think reading this book was "time well spent". Email:boland7214@aol.

Sure there are things in this book that question the credibility of the author, but isn't all history written looking back when memories, sometimes are not the best? Rose colored glasses are used when recalling impossible situations? I don't know. But what I am sure about is Agent 146 was impossible to put down. From start to finish I was captivated in the life of danger, the inside look at Nazi Germany and the hair raising cat and mouse chase through New York City. Maybe some of it is hyped up, maybe not, but I couldn't put this book down and I encourage anyone with any interest in World War II to read it!

Excellent story behind the landing of two spies in America. Was a quick read do to the pace of the book. I never wanted to put it down. Highly suggest anyone interested in this period of history picking this book up to get an idea of what went on in this often unheard of side the Nazi attempt to win WW2.

Erich Gimpel did not die in 1956 in Germany as the official review at top states. He was living in South America as of 2002, with photographic proof if one simply searches the web carefully enough. I don't know where that death date comes from, but as far as I know he was still living in his '90's even as of 2004.

I liked _Agent 146_ more than I disliked it. With any espionage book, of course, one always has the question as to what percentage of the truth is being told. I felt that Herr Gimpel was as fair as possible to those he encountered, both German and American, and remembered many interesting anecdotes that had the ring of truth--both from an American and a German standpoint.

Unfortunately, this book--first published in 1957, according to my copy--was evidently written by a British ghostwriter. There is no other explanation for the fact that each and every single solitary American in the book speaks entirely with British terminology. Until the part where Gimpel is captured by the FBI, it isn't a factor, but thereafter all the terminology, slang and diction of every American depicted is purely that of the United Kingdom. It is very disruptive to the reader to see Americans acting American yet speaking British. It would be just as disruptive had Gimpel fallen instead into English hands and then later had an American ghost make a great colonial hash of all the British participants' speech.

Recommended even so, but the publisher should be severely censured for having so lazily allowed this to pass. We all know that it is very hard, years after the fact, to precisely quote people one only met briefly. Sometimes, as in this case, we are forcibly reminded just how imprecisely the person in question remembers the conversations--for that's the obvious explanation. Gimpel must have furnished sketchy notes, and the ghost turned them into a book, using the form of speech he knew: British English.

If you can get past the surreality of a bunch of Americans having suddenly and inexplicably adopted Anglophilia, it's a pretty good spy book.

I have read this book as part of a research project about Operation Magpie. This book is filled with fictional accounts and statements almost from cover to cover. There are no footnotes because nowhere can the account of this story as told by the author be verified. My source of comparison is mainly official government FBI, Trial, and Prison files about this case.

Erich Gimpel narrates Walter Mitty-like escapad-es, with absolutely no corroboration Characters are imply initials or phoney names. Some incidentsreported simply did not happen, such as a "JoanKenneth" knocking at the Military Commissionhearing room, asking to testify in favor of Gimpel. The record of trial and witness list show no such appearance. Also, it would have been impossible tobreach the security at Governors Island. So beware! There are many more fictions presented as fact. Hisaccount of his escape attempt at Leavenworth doesnot jive with the Bureau of Prisons account, whichled to his transfer to Alcatraz.The "true" story of a spy in America? Not in my book. There is no record that he sent a single message (transmitter was never assembled---FBI found the parts in a box after his capture).His performance for the Abwehr was consistent with the failure of German intelligence throughout WW II.