Sisters in Life and in Death. Review of Women of the OSS. Sisterhood of Spies by Elizabeth P. McIntosh

Young and brave, the women of the OSS organised resistance groups, committed sabotage, forged documents and encoded and decoded messages, as well as being involved in many other espionage activities. This book is based on over 100 interviews with men and women who served in the OSS and the CIA and with writers, scholars and historians.  Elizabeth P. McIntosh does justice to the women who fought for freedom in this fascinating book.

She tells exciting tales about these 'sisters', including the stories of Maria Gulovich, who led soldiers to freedom across mountainous terrain through snow and bitter weather, Countess Ramanones who reported on the gossip of the Spanish aristocracy, Cornelia Dodson, who met the future fashion designer Emilio Pucci to ask him to search for Mussolini's missing diaries, and Virginia Hall, who only had on leg but didn't that affect her clandestine activities. McIntosh also writes about exciting operations, such as Operation Sunrise which led to the unconditional surrender of German troops in Italy. There are many famous people mentioned in the book as well, including Clark Gable and Marlene Dietrich. She also adds her own story as a young woman working in China and India in the very heart of the dangerous Pacific war. I also liked reading about the leader of the OSS Maj. General William J. Donovan with his twinkling Irish blue eyes.and his theory about the Temple of Apollo in Delphi in Greece.

I greatly enjoyed this book and it made me interested in reading more about the women in the OSS.

I received this free book from the Naval Institute Press in return for an honest review.

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