Customer Reviews

You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger (Bluejacket Books)

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Hall's book is his funny story volunteering for, training in, and working within America's WWII OSS unit (pre-cursor to the modern CIA). Like all good soldiers, Hall sought to escape the boredom, heat, and humidity of camp life for anything else. So, he volunteered for the OSS - only knowing that at least it was something different and possibly dangerous - oh my!

The book takes us through numerous training assignments of Hall's - patrolling, ambushing, parachuting, espionage basics, infiltration into civilian organizations, and more. Typical of most American WWII soldiers, he spent far more time training than he ever did in combat. The most interesting sections of the book are his parachute and espionage training. He describes both in fascinating detail. It is quite funny to see how amateurish much of his spy training was - I suppose that's why the CIA would have liked for the book not to be published.

Hall writes in an irrevent and playful style that makes his book both fun and easy to read. He is the type of original smart-ass that self-important superior officials love to hate. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, especially as it pokes fun at a rather serious business.

Sometimes, just sometimes, the things of your youth are
better than when you experienced them the first time: things
like "You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger," Roger Hall's
memoirs of his experiences in the OSS (Office of Strategic
Services, forerunner of the CIA) during WW2.


In 1966 Miss Estele, Greenon High School's librarian, once
very sternly suggested to me that I get my own copy of Mr.
Hall's book. Seems that I had checked out the school's copy so
much that it was in danger of disintegration.

Not wishing to run afoul of the lady with the piercing
eyes which could wound at 50 paces, I broke down and bought a
copy for myself.

I destroyed it with repeated readings.

I bought a second.

I destroyed it. Read the words off the page.

I went for a third copy. But alas the book was not to be
found. Literally for decades I searched used book stores and
book sales. Libraries. No dice. Gone. Phfttttttt.

But the book was always with me. I have never attended a
briefing or presentation without thinking of the great
exploding map overlay caper. Phrases and descriptions stalked
their ways into my daily vocabulary like two great stalking
things. I mean, how can you top, "...the account being one in
which the fact quotient was in inverse ratio to the difficulty
of the feats of derring-do allegedly performed"? I even once
wrote on a subordinate's performance evaluation, "...highly
praised for his capabilities and performance and resoundingly
damned for his irreverence."

Great stuff there.


Then a co-worker, to whom I had mentioned the book, found
that Bluejacket Press had republished it and it was available
through Amazon.com.


So as fast as I could, I got my third copy.


Would it be as funny? Well, actually, it was funnier.


Mr. Hall's wit can be rapier-like and delicately subtle.
Mr. Hall's wit can also cut a swath through inefficient
bureaucratic nonsense like a claymore. His ability to turn
ordinary words into lasting memories would make Mr. Hall a
blast with whom to split a pizza and a six-pack.


It's funnier because having spent 6 years and 3 months on
active duty in the service of His Majesty the Commandant of the
Marine Corps, I have a much deeper appreciation for the surreal
ambiance which permeates the military and which almost seems
designed to impede progress.

It's funnier because in spite of the institutionalized
blood-mindedness, we still manage, somehow, to weave our way
through lunacy's labyrinth.

It's funnier because I've lived in the Slidell, La area;
and, by-jingoes, it IS a place perfectly suited to rot away in.

This time around when I read of his experiences and
friendship with a Major William Colby, I know that William
Colby went on to become the head of the CIA.


If you like memoirs, this is the book for you. If you
like military history, this is the book for you. If you just
like funny books, this is the book for you.


Rick roberts

One of the funniest books I've read in any genre. If Dave Barry had been eligible for enlistment in 1942 this is the the kind of book he might have written. Roger Hall's account of his time in the O.S.S. is full of dry wit, bawdy humor, accute assessments of the Army's intelligence operations during World War II, and his own vivid personality. The pace is fast, people and situations are clearly delineated in a few deft words, and the irreverence only heightens the sobering reality of military life in a time of war. Thirty years after I first read it this book still makes me laugh.

I first read this book in the summer of 1976, when I was at Shattuck School in Faribault, MN. I thought it was an absolute hoot, and was I ever delighted to find that my high school had a copy, too! After I graduated HS, I had my eyes open for a copy, but for a long, long, long time the only ones I could find for sale had exorbitant price tags. How this was ever let go out of print escapes me.

I must admit to being prejudiced in my opinion, because YOU'RE STEPPING ON MY CLOAK AND DAGGER was written by my husband, Roger Hall. This is a wonderful book, considered a cult classic in the espionage field, about Roger's adventures in the OSS during World War II. If you don't believe me, just take a look at the OTHER Amazon reviews, and Google the title of the book and Roger's name to see reviews from major newspapers and magazines around the world. On this Veterans' Day, I salute my beloved late husband, Roger, and all others who served our country.

Having first read this book back in the 60s, it's the one I would have said most deserves to be back in print after all these years, so it's great to see that this is the case. The book is the autobiographical narrative of Roger Hall's time in the OSS, starting from his initial arrival for training, through his deployment in the European field, and finally arriving back after the war to debrief German POWs. It could have been a very dry and dull book, but Hall puts humor in nearly everywhere, and you get the idea that this is not because he's a masterful writer, carefully crafting the humor, as would Dave Barry, but rather because he and his pals had quirky sense of humor and a joy of life no matter where they were. And the book reads as well now as it did back in the 50s and 60s. Now if only a movie were made of it...

In August 1964, when I arrived at Fort Holabird, MD, the home of the US Army Intelligence School (USAINTS) I was pleasantly surprised. The place was more like a small college campus than a military installation, except for the mess hall which served better food than any institution of higher learning. There was a small but excellent library that even had a very good selection of classical music.

The most popular book in the library was "You're Stepping On My Cloak and Dagger." Not only were the library copies well-worn, the bookstore had trouble keeping copies in stock. The training portions of the book were so familiar that everyone loved the book. This book is to the intelligence business what M.A.S.H. is to combat surgeons.

No one who has ever been in the intelligence business (about 40 years for me) could read this book without laughing aloud throughout. I think that even readers without this personal experience will find the book hilarious.

I have given away numerous copies of this book over the last four decades. My last copy has been missing for many years (an unreturned loan) so I was ecstatic to find the book back in print. I have ordered several copies so that I will never again be without this long-time favorite volume.

This is one of my favorite books of all time. If you're at all interested in WWII, the O.S.S., espionage or history you should enjoy this quick read.

I was concerned when I read Michael F. Coleman's review saying it had been edited/censored from the original. I've contacted Naval Institute Press & quickly compared this new edition to my original hardcover edition. They say it's not been edited/censored and I didn't notice that it had been either. If it truly is some examples should be quoted.

I first read this book 5 years ago, and I have been waiting for someone to republish it ever since. My father-in-law has an original copy and everyone in the family reads it. I don't think it ever gets put down. It is the funniest book I have ever read, and I read alot. I almost got kicked off a public bus because I could not stop laughing. It just does not get any better than this.

I hope someone considers publishing his other two works:
"All My Pretty Ones" and "19". They are both excellent and hilarious (almost as good You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger). I would love to add them to my collection.

When I was in Junior High School and High School, I would walk 1.77 miles to school and 1.77 miles to home every day. To make good use of my time, I would read a book on the way to school and on the way home. I read hundreds of books on these trips over a period of six years. Of all of the books I read, there are two books I vividly remember. "Your Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger" is one of the two. I actually read this book several times. Then, after two years of college, I found myself enlisting in the US Army. I ended up in the United States Army Intelligence School (USAINTS) at Fort Holabird, Maryland. After a couple of days of classes, I began thinking: "This is Deja Vu all over again." Then I began comparing what I was going through with a book I had read. Wow! I was becoming the guy who wrote "Your Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger!"

When you first read this book, it sounds like great fiction. In reality, it is an accurate reflection of the author's experience. While the book is about World War II, it also reflects what military intelligence, CIA and other "spooks" are doing daily today. We got to play with the highest level of technology available to anybody.

I was in Intelligence Collection overseas and in Counter Intelligence in the U.S. Much of the activity I was involved in can only be done overseas because it is illegal to do it in the U.S. Overseas, I was in the Headquarters of the 525th Military Intelligence Group at "The Ponderosa" in northern Saigon. We hired and fired spy rings and native agents. We had rows of high security filing cabinets with dossiers on just about every espionage agents in Vietnam.\

This book is still a great tale about what it's like to be involved in espionage. It's great for all ages. If you have any interest in espionage, this is one of the "must read" books of all time involving espionage. Even all of the hilarious episodes are accurate descriptions of what really happens among spies.