The Irregulars

Although I truly intended my next read to focus on just about anything except World War II, I was enticed to read The Irregulars by its subtitle: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington. Really? The man who wrote James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory spied on American during World War II? This sounded too good to pass up.

Jennet Conant has clearly researched her topic thoroughly and I learned a great deal about the establishment of intelligence operations in this country (and Britain’s initial influence over those operations) as well as learning more about Roald Dahl himself. (I was previously ignorant of the facts that he was Norwegian, suffered a lifetime of pain as the result of a crash during his short-lived career as a pilot in the RAF, and was a notorious carouser, womanizer, and friend of Hemingway.) The book also provides a behind-the-scenes look at the wheel-and-deal politics, if not government, of the era (and probably any era). Churchill’s decline, Truman’s rise, and Roosevelt’s demise are all chronicled here, in both American and British perspectives. 

That said, I found the book to be quite dry, almost academic in nature, particularly in comparison to the similarly-focused Operation Mincemeat or In the Garden of Beasts. Ultimately, I felt The Irregulars would have been stronger had it been shorter. Many passages simply run too long, with long passages from personal correspondence and far too many details for all but the most avid historian. I was also distracted by the tremendous number of typographical errors, most of which had been kindly annotated by a previous reader of the library’s copy. I do assume these errors have been corrected in subsequent editions.

Unless you’re intent on reading everything ever written about World War II or clandestine operations (as in Operation Mincemeat, Ian Fleming features prominently), an interest in Roald Dahl and his life before children’s literature is a pre-requisite to adding this book to your list.