Secret Service: British Agents in France, 1792-1815 by by Elizabeth Sparrow

Description: Very Good Minus in a Very Good Minus dust jacket; Hardcover; Dust jacket is clean and intact with no tears, just minor shelfwear and edgewear, and has not been price-clipped (Now fitted with a new, Brodart jacket protector); Light wear to the boards, but with two "bumped" edge-corners; The textblock edges are unblemished; The endpapers and all text pages are clean and unmarked; The binding is excellent with a straight spine; This book will be shipped in a sturdy cardboard box with foam padding; Medium Format (8.5" - 9.75" tall); Black dust jacket with photo of documents, and title in white lettering; 1999, Boydell Press; 474 pages; "Secret Service: British Agents in France, 1792-1815 ," by Elizabeth Sparrow. Seller Background: We are a small, online bookseller based out of Bellingham, WA specializing in modern rare and out-of-print titles. We have been active in the book trade for over ten years and have been an active Ebay member since 2002. All of our books are carefully cleaned and restored to the best possible condition prior to being offered for sale. Our books are graded conservatively with ex-library books never graded above "Good" and used books very rarely graded above "Very Good". Domestic Shipping Notes: We use a fulfillment company (Amazon Fulfillment) to package and ship all orders shipping to a location within the USA. Orders placed with "Standard Shipping" ship by USPS Media Mail. Orders placed with "Expedited Shipping" ship by either Fed-Ex or UPS 2-day delivery. A street address is required for the Expedited Shipping service (FedEx/UPS cannot delivery to PO Boxes). Our fulfillment company also offers a 1-day/overnight shipping option which is available upon special request. Return Policy: We accept returns for any reason as long as we are notified of your intent to return within two weeks of the date of receipt. The buyer is responsible for return shipping on all discretionary returns. If the return is due to an error in our description or from damage caused by the shipping carrier we will reimburse all shipping costs paid by the buyer. Book Info: Something rare in the study of a period or a subject: a genuinely substantial addition to knowledge, of a kind that will henceforth need to be taken fully into account in any study of the British conduct of the great French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. JOHN EHRMAN A tour de force of research, an essential document for future students of the subject. JOHN LE CARR Elizabeth Sparrow traces the origins of the British secret service to the turbulent aftermath of the French revolution, when Pitts government, concerned to forestall civil unrest in England, set uppolice surveillance to counteract immigration and sedition. Close study of hitherto unknown Aliens Office documents reveals the expansion of this activity into a foreign secret service, the world of the Scarlet Pimpernel, drawing on an international intelligentsia to infiltrate the French revolutionary government and subsequently, as his domination of Europe seemed ever more certain, Napoleons military machine. ELIZABETH SPARROW is an independent scholar, author of a number of articles on the early history of the British secret service. (Customer Review): It might be thought that effective espionage has only existed in the 20th century, but as the British Director of Military Operations, James Edmonds, commented in 1908, the military successes of Napoleon and Wellington "were largely due to carefully elaborated spy systems". Napoleon himself is reputed to have said that a spy in the right place was worth 40,000 men, although his famous spy Schulmeister was only ever rewarded with plenty of money and not the Legion dHonneur he reputedly craved. On the other side of the coin, the French would regularly attribute their setbacks to "English gold". The authoress tells the story of the operations run by the British during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Begun by the Aliens Office to control French agitators among the migrs fleeing Revolutionary France, under Wickham the networks expanded into a system capable of both gathering vital military and political intelligence, while channelling money to the Continental Allies. It should be more accurately described as the activities of both the British and French, as the various French factions and leaders jockey for position backed by Britain. Virtually anyone of any consequence is included, plus unsavoury characters and throughout the story, the shadowy and cunning Joseph Fouche lives a charmed life, keeping just enough incriminating documentation out of Napoleons way to prevent the Emperor taking decisive action against him. The success of the British network is stunning - they are often in control of the Paris police - as they attempt to support a series of potential new rulers in France (and ultimately Bonaparte). Then, they act in support of their Allies against the expansionist plans of Emperor Napoleon, otherwise unmarked; (Customer Review): I did enjoy this book - but it is not one I found easy to read. Even with Elizabeth Sparrows relatively easy style it is difficult at times to unravel the complex relationships and payments - double crosses and so on. The world of subterfuge is a truly murky place. The book is well set out though and the topic is utterly fascinating. So while I found it difficult to untangle the threads I found the subject compelling. She has made the divisions in sections and chapters well, so while you can read the book from start to finish for a complete overview - if you have a specific interest in a time period or place it is easy to pick up and read for that period - which is really what I ended up doing. Perhaps only giving 4 stars is underselling the book because the topic is difficult and Sparrow does do a great job making sense of it. A very impressive job actually - it just didnt grab me by the throat the way some other books do. I would definitely recommend this book for those with an interest in the British History in this period or for people with an interest in the Napoleonic Wars. Or maybe for people who just want to know how to be sly and cunning - there are some great tips! Inventory #: SKU-321AJ03811161

Price: 197.5 USD

Location: Bellingham, Washington

End Time: 2024-05-08T08:28:34.000Z

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