The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA

For the first time, the CIA has authorized a top-level operative to tell all in an unforgettable behind-the-scenes look at espionage in action.  an undisputed genius who could create an entirely new identity for anybody, anywhere, anytime, Antonio J. Mendez combined the cunning tricks of a magician with the analytical insight of a psychologist to help hundreds of people escape potentially fatal situations. From "Wild West" adventures in East Asia to Cold War intrigue in Moscow and helping six Americans escape revolutionary Tehran in 1980, Mendez was on the scene.  Here he gives us a privileged look at what really happens in the field and behind closed doors at the highest levels of international espionage, some of it shocking, frightening, and wildly inventive--all of it unforgettable.

Honored by the CIA on its 50th anniversary as being one of the agency's 50 "Trailblazers," the now-retired Mendez spins a fast-paced tale of intriguing characters partaking in skullduggery in exotic locales, made all the more appealing because Mendez himself is the featured star of the proceedings. In an almost offhand manner, he writes about seeing and doing things that would wilt the flower of courage in almost any reader. "Was I proud to be enlisting," he rhetorically ponders at one point, "on our side in the Cold War? You bet." Originally drafted by the CIA as a "technical artist" to provide cover for agents behind enemy lines, Mendez worked his way up the ladder and progressed to a full-fledged agent in the field, sneaking diplomats past enemy guards and spiriting informants into the night, eluding capture and torture at every turn--and using his artist's eye for detail to paint vivid word pictures of his predicaments. Mendez possesses a remarkably keen sense of the mechanics of a good cloak-and-dagger story, and fortunately pours it on in abundance here in his quite hefty--and surprisingly lively--autobiography. --Tjames Madison