1915: Germany's Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America
by Howard Blum
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Feb 2014
496 pages
Genre: History, Current Affairs and Religion
Publication Information
Combining the pulsating drive of Showtime's Homeland with the fascinating historical detail of such of narrative nonfiction bestsellers as Double Cross and In the Garden of Beasts, Dark Invasion is Howard Blum's gritty, high-energy true-life tale of German espionage and terror on American soil during World War I, and the NYPD Inspector who helped uncover the plot - the basis for the film to be produced by and starring Bradley Cooper.
When a "neutral" United States becomes a trading partner for the Allies early in World War I, the Germans implement a secret plan to strike back. A team of saboteurs - including an expert on germ warfare, a Harvard professor, and a brilliant, debonair spymaster - devise a series of "mysterious accidents" using explosives and biological weapons, to bring down vital targets such as ships, factories, livestock, and even captains of industry like J. P. Morgan.
New York Police Inspector Tom Tunney, head of the department's Bomb Squad, is assigned the difficult mission of stopping them. Assembling a team of loyal operatives, the cunning Irish cop hunts for the conspirators among a population of more than eight million Germans. But the deeper he finds himself in this labyrinth of deception, the more Tunney realizes that the enemy's plan is far more complex and more dangerous than he suspected.
Full of drama and intensity, illustrated with eight pages of black and-white photos, Dark Invasion is riveting war thriller that chillingly echoes our own time.
"Starred Review. Terrifically engaging and pertinent tale of the New York City bomb squad that foiled German terrorist plots against the United States at the outbreak of World War I... Instructive, yes, but also as engrossing as good detective fiction." - Kirkus
"Blum's narrative of America's first exercise in homeland security is a worthwhile page-turner, combining the best features of a police procedural and a spy novel with a firm base in verifiable events." - Publishers Weekly
"Dark Invasion is a must-read for lovers of suspense and anyone who wants to understand how the basis of our homeland security system was born." - Tom Reiss, New York Times bestselling author of The Black Count and The Orientalist
"A suspense-filled tale, Dark Invasion uncovers a fascinating corner of history when courageous New York City police officers fought insurmountable odds to defend America against sophisticated German saboteurs at the start of World War I." - Ronald Kessler, author of The Secrets of the FBI and In the President's Secret Service
"In his gripping and expertly crafted narrative, Blum demonstrates that the best stories are true." - Scott Miller, author of The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Mark Shafer/courtesy of Vanity Fair
Howard Blum is the author of, the national bestsellers Wanted!, The Gold of Exodus, and Gangland. Currently a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, Blum was also a reporter at the New York Times, where he won numerous journalism awards and was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his investigative reporting.
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