"The Stratagems of Sun Tzu" is a timeless guide to the art of war and strategic thinking, attributed to the legendary Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu. This ancient text offers profound insights into the nature of conflict, leadership, and the psychology of warfare. Filled with wisdom and practical advice, it explores the strategic principles that have influenced military leaders, business executives, and political thinkers for centuries. Sun Tzu's stratagems continue to be studied and applied in various fields, making this book an essential resource for anyone seeking to understand the dynamics of competition and achieve success in the face of adversity.

This book is a very well-known Chinese classic, and it contains the 36 stratagems widely used by the Chinese in the past and the present. It is written in modern simplified Chinese language with Pinyin. Each Chinese character or word (if appropriate) is grouped together with its translation and Pinyin pronunciation to help a learner of the Chinese language master the language. From this text, the learner can also learn about Chinese culture, Chinese philosophy and the Chinese way of thinking and doing things.

The remarkable story of how the Allies used psychoanalysis to delve into the motivations of the Nazi leadership and to explore the mass psychology of fascism.

John Lisle reveals the untold story of the OSS Research and Development Branch—The Dirty Tricks Department—and its role in World War II. In the summer of 1942, Stanley Lovell, a renowned industrial chemist, received a mysterious order to report to an unfamiliar building in Washington, D.C. When he arrived, he was led to a barren room where he waited to meet the man who had summoned him. After a disconcerting amount of time, William “Wild Bill” Donovan, the head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), walked in the door. “You know your Sherlock Holmes, of course,” Donovan said as an introduction. “Professor Moriarty is the man I want for my staff...I think you’re it.” Following this life-changing encounter, Lovell became the head of a secret group of scientists who developed dirty tricks for the OSS, the precursor to the CIA. Their inventions included Bat Bombs, suicide pills, fighting knives, silent pistols, and camouflaged explosives. Moreover, they forged documents for undercover agents, plotted the assassination of foreign leaders, and performed truth drug experiments on unsuspecting subjects. Based on extensive archival research and personal interviews, The Dirty Tricks Department tells the story of these scheming scientists, explores the moral dilemmas that they faced, and reveals their dark legacy of directly inspiring the most infamous program in CIA history: MKULTRA.

A concise and thought-provoking look at the replaying of ancient Chinese stratagems in recent military and political occurrences and anecdotes.

Packed with dastardly details, this collection shares thrilling tales of spies from the ancient world of Sun Tzu to the latest cyber threats. From James Bond to Mata Hari, in scores of books and movies, and on the front pages of newspapers, spies have always captured our imagination. But what’s the truth behind the fiction? The Secrets of Spies sheds light on the mysterious life of the spy, explaining the real-life origins of spying, examining some of history’s most notorious spies and spycatchers, and revealing the role espionage plays today in business, politics, and everyday life. Filled with lavish illustrations and hundreds of full-color photographs, this book provides hours of fun and entertainment for any reader. Narrated in an engaging, compelling style, The Secrets of Spies is a thrilling, in-depth global investigation of the hidden history of espionage. From ninja assassins to computer hackers, the book uncovers the tools, tricks, and techniques that make up the daring art of the spy.

“The best book about America’s first modern secret service.” --Washington Post Book World In the months before World War II, FDR prepared the country for conflict with Germany and Japan by reshuffling various government agencies to create the Office of Strategic Services--America’s first intelligence agency and the direct precursor to the CIA. When he charged William (“Wild Bill”) Donovan, a successful Wall Street lawyer and Wilkie Republican, to head up the office, the die was set for some of the most fantastic and fascinating operations the U.S. government has ever conducted. Author Richard Harris Smith, himself an ex-CIA hand, documents the controversial agency from its conception as a spin-off of the Office of the Coordinator for Information to its demise under Harry Truman and reconfiguration as the CIA. During his tenure, Donovan oversaw a chaotic cast of some ten thousand agents drawn from the most conservative financial scions to the country’s most idealistic New Deal true believers. Together they usurped the roles of government agencies both foreign and domestic, concocted unbelievably complicated conspiracies, and fought the good fight against the Axis powers of Germany and Japan. For example, when OSS operatives stole vital military codebooks from the Japanese embassy in Portugal, the operation was considered a success. But the success turned into a flop as the Japanese discovered what had happened, and hastily changed a code that had already been decrypted by the U.S. Navy. Colorful personalities and truly priceless anecdotes abound in what may arguably be called the most authoritative work on the subject.

This highly accessible book provides new material and a fresh perspective on American National Intelligence practice, focusing on the first fifty years of the twentieth century, when the United States took on the responsibilities of a global superpower during the first years of the Cold War. Late to the art of intelligence, the United States during World War II created a new model of combining intelligence collection and analytic functions into a single organization—the OSS. At the end of the war, President Harry Truman and a small group of advisors developed a new, centralized agency directly subordinate to and responsible to the President, despite entrenched institutional resistance. Instrumental to the creation of the CIA was a group known colloquially as the “Missouri Gang,” which included not only President Truman but equally determined fellow Missourians Clark Clifford, Sidney Souers, and Roscoe Hillenkoetter.