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Rating: 
Summary: Heavy Going
Review: This is a strange piece of work. Holt kicks things off with a chapter extolling British general Dudley Clarke as World War II's master of deception without bothering to explain why he merits that status.
The book proceeds with a lengthy, minutely detailed record of virtually every deception operation carried out by the Allies, covering who was involved (and sometimes who wasn't), who came up with what idea and how, what resources were used, where they got them, how they got them where they were needed, at times down to the point of how the desks were arranged at headquarters, all without a single effort made to relate any of this frantic activity to the progress of the war at large or, for that matter, any external events whatsoever. An endless parade of odd operational names trundles by one after the other with no context, and, for the majority of readers, no meaning. Anyone coming to this book without a solid previous knowledge of the war would be completely lost. Beyond that, divorcing the strategic deception story from the war's larger context undercuts Holt's argument that deception was a crucial element to Allied victory, an argument I would have thought could be made with all the difficulty of falling off a chair.
"The Deceivers" is a pure example of the streetcar-transfer school of history, a historian getting so bogged down in the minutiae of his field of interest that he forgets there's a world out there. Compare this to David Kahn's masterly "Hitler's Spies" and "The Codebreakers", both dealing with closely related topics, both examplars of the historian's art.
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding Contribution
Review: Here is an outstanding contribution to a little-researched area of WWII history. The few existing texts on U.S. intelligence work during this period are often marred by lack of primary documentation and are often filled with author supposition. This text offers excellent analysis from a qualified expert in the field, coupled with an exceptional amount of first-hand information from those who lived it.
The material is presented in a logical, easy-to-read format, using language that is terse, informative yet never pedantic. The author's opinion may sneak in various passages, but overall it is an objective, thorough discussion of an area remarkably difficult to study. Intelligence is, after all, the business of secrets. That Holt has so effectively revealed these secrets--and done so in an exciting, fast-paced non-fiction book--is a testament to the author's considerable skills.
Recommended for libraries, military history fans, WWII enthusiasts and anyone interested in the history of U.S. intelligence work.
Rating:
Summary: A great book for WW2 and intelligence fans
Review: I am new at this and hope I am posting this review correctly. My wife gave me this book knowing that I am interested in military history and especially in intelligence. When I saw the ads on the back cover quoting people that said it reads like a novel and belongs on every WW2 bookshelf, I thought this was just the usual puffing, however, it is true. Holt tells the story of how the British and Americans fooled the Germans at D-day and on many other occasions with fake intelligence, telling it through the eyes of the participants, not only the allied officers (with great thumbnail character sketches of each of these) but sometimes the German intelligence agencies and spies and double agents themselves. A lot of the information is 100% new, I have never seen it reported anywhere else. Especially, his material about the work of the FBI, US military deception, the secret US outfit called Joint Security Control, etc. It really does read like a novel, like a whole batch of thrillers rolled into one. Anybody interested in WW2 or in intelligence will "have a ball" with it.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding, but not a book for superficial readers
Review: It is a treat to get history at this level seen through the eyes of the participants. Their daily lives, what their personalities and personal relationships were like, etc. There are many wartime narratives from the viewpoint of the average GI, or even the average top commander, but very few that bring to life how the staff that was actually planning and executing operations worked and lived, and what kind of people they were. Add to that the amount of new information this author has dug up about some of the most fascinating intelligence operations of World War Two--and some of the most fascinating and varied intelligence operatives, ranging from Douglas Fairbanks Jr. to F. Scott Fitzgerald's brother-in-law-- plus a very readable writing style, and you have a truly outstanding book. This is a wonderful book for people who are seriously interested in military history and intelligence. Very very highly recommended for them. People who just want a quick read should stick to James Bond.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding, but not a book for superficial readers
Review: It is a treat to get history at this level seen through the eyes of the participants. Their daily lives, what their personalities and personal relationships were like, etc. There are many wartime narratives from the viewpoint of the average GI, or even the average top commander, but very few that bring to life how the staff that was actually planning and executing operations worked and lived, and what kind of people they were. Add to that the amount of new information this author has dug up about some of the most fascinating intelligence operations of World War Two--and some of the most fascinating and varied intelligence operatives, ranging from Douglas Fairbanks Jr. to F. Scott Fitzgerald's brother-in-law-- plus a very readable writing style, and you have a truly outstanding book. This is a wonderful book for people who are seriously interested in military history and intelligence. Very very highly recommended for them. People who just want a quick read should stick to James Bond.
Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Account of Military Deception in WW II
Review: Mr. Holt has written an impressive and exhaustively long account (over 1,100 pages) of the use of military misinformation during the Second World War. Well-written and researched, the narrative itself is over 800 pages with 300 pages of documentation and indexes. This is not the book for a reader who is seeking an introduction to the subject -- it is more an encyclopedia for the reader who enjoys the nuts and bolts of spycraft.
The book covers the tactics of all the Allies and Axis powers, focusing on the brilliant exploits of the masters of the game, the British. One of Mr. Holts thesis's is that the Allied sucess in the use of military misinformation gave them a major tactical advantage over the Germans, Japanese and Italians (as was proven in the sucess of the D-Day invasion and other operations).
This is the book for the serious WW II scholar who seeks information on this little known (and written about) topic. The sheer volume of characters, events and facts is a testament to the research skills of Mr. Holt who waded through thousands of recently declassified government documents. For the causal reader, "The Deceivers" is best read as a novel for those specific sections of interest to the reader : covering the French efforts in this area under Charles de Gaulle, or the American ruses in the Pacific or the complicated deceptions involved in the Normandy invasion.
Rating:
Summary: A great book for WW2 and intelligence fans
Review: This is an impressive inventory, but it is more a social history of commanders than exciting espionage. We learn where who went to school, the acronym of their respective organization and what their projects code names were ( there are hundreds listed).
But the eyes just glaze over, and it never becomes personal or exciting.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece. One of the all-time great books on intelligen
Review: This unique book is one of the handful of all-time great books on intelligence. It ranks alongside Kahn's The Codebreakers and Hitler's Spies, Hinsley's great history of British intelligence in WWII, Masterman's Double-Cross System, James Bamford's books, and some of the books by Christopher Andrew and Nigel West. And it is also a tremendous contribution to the history of World War II. The paper cover quotes two of the greatest authorities on WWII, Sir Michael Howard and Prof. Ernest May, saying that it is an essential addition to any WWII collection and they are right.
Any reader about WWII knows about a few of the deceptions the Allies brought off such as the one at D-Day and "The Man Who Never Was". Holt not only gives far more information about these than has ever been published. He also puts them into context as part of the overall history of Allied deception and how it developed from 1940 to 1945. And he has a huge amount of absolutely new information. This is especially true as far as U.S. deception, which has never been written about previously. Holt was allowed to use files in the Pentagon which had never before been declassified and he made the most of them.
As an old Naval Intelligence guy I was particularly glad to see the tremendous amount of material never before seen about the U.S. deceptions in the Pacific.
Also, the three appendixes are the kind of material for any student of intelligence history to die for, as the saying is. There is a list of all the Allied deception operations (you will be amazed how many there were), a list of all the Allied double agents and other channels that were played back to the Axis (again, you will be surprised how many of these there were), plus a list of all the phony units (army, air force, and navy, not just U.S. but British, French, Greek, etc. etc.)) that were palmed off on the enemy.
A definitely exceptional feature of this book is not only its complete and detailed history but how readable it is. It is told through the personalities of the American and British officers that conducted the deceptions and they are brought to life the way history books rarely do. One of the quotes from experts on the paper cover says it reads like a novel and this is totally true. In this field, in my experience a similar accomplishment has been managed only by David Kahn.
This book is a 100% "must have" for anybody seriously interested in WWII or intelligence.
Rating:
Summary: Bureaucratic Boredom
Review: You certainly can't say that the title is midleading; it is all, too accurate. You'll learn very little about deception operations in WW II but you'll damn sure know where all these guys had lunch! While some of this is interesting, I suspect you'd find much the same type of thing about any bureaucracy. And, as you might expect, it's highly overwrought (and over-written) with three-letter abbreviations and obscure code words (even when they are superflouous) Having plowed through this, I know little more about Allied deception operations in WW II than I did when I started (But I do know the various clubs that some of these folks hung out in.), which is what the title of the book implies it will be about -- Deception Operations. Unless you like reading about the lives of dull people, I might suggest you pass this one by.
Rating:
Summary: Bureaucratic Boredom
Review: You certainly can't say that the title is midleading; it is all, too accurate. You'll learn very little about deception operations in WW II but you'll damn sure know where all these guys had lunch! While some of this is interesting, I suspect you'd find much the same type of thing about any bureaucracy. And, as you might expect, it's highly overwrought (and over-written) with three-letter abbreviations and obscure code words (even when they are superflouous) Having plowed through this, I know little more about Allied deception operations in WW II than I did when I started (But I do know the various clubs that some of these folks hung out in.), which is what the title of the book implies it will be about -- Deception Operations. Unless you like reading about the lives of dull people, I might suggest you pass this one by.
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