Critical Acclaim for Wild Bill Donovan

WBD-Book

The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage

Read an Excerpt from Wild Bill Donovan

  • A New York Times Bestseller
  • Washington Post Best Book for 2011
  • Wall Street Journal Notable Book for 2011

“Entertaining history…As [Waller] amply shows, Donovan was a combination of bold innovator and imprudent rule bender, which made him not only a remarkable wartime leader but also an extraordinary figure in American history.” —The New York Times

“[A] superb, dramatic yet scholarly biography…Wild Bill Donovan is the first carefully researched, in-depth biography of the legendary World War II spymaster. For anyone interested in the history of American intelligence, it is required reading.” —The Washington Post

“[A] fast-moving and well-written biography…The tales of OSS derring-do…are thrilling…Mr. Waller, a former Newsweek and Time correspondent, makes a powerful case that Donovan was a great American.” —Wall Street Journal

“Contemporary history is seldom as relevant and engaging as Douglas Waller’s new biography, Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage, which is—by turns—fascinatingly instructive and thoroughly entertaining.” —Los Angeles Times

“In this fast-paced, entertaining and engrossing biography, the author delivers a portrait of a hard-driving, Type A extrovert willing to take on political enemies…Waller, whose previous books include a biography of Gen. Billy Mitchell and an account of life aboard a Trident nuclear submarine, comes through with a well-calibrated assessment of Donovan and the impact of the OSS on the war…The book is replete with fascinating anecdotes and tales of derring-do that offer the stuff of espionage thrillers combined with political chicanery and historical fact.” —Associated Press

“Drawing on government documents and the interviews conducted with Donovan’s relatives and friends, Waller delivers a rollicking read that uncovers the myths surrounding one of America’s greatest legends.”—The Daily Beast

“An exhaustive but never dull account of the founder of America’s original intelligence agency, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). A wholly satisfying biography.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Waller brings to his latest biography the high skills as a biographer…Exhaustively researched but not exhaustingly written, this will probably stand as the definitive biography of a seminal figure in the history of American intelligence.” —Booklist

“Waller captures it all in this meticulously researched biography of the man most recognized as Wild Bill.” —The Buffalo News