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A Genius for Deception: How Cunning Helped the British Win Two World Wars |  | Author: Nicholas Rankin
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
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Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 162118
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Reprint
Pages: 480
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6 x 1.5
ISBN: 019538704X
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.48641
EAN: 9780195387049
ASIN: 019538704X
Publication Date: November 10, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In February 1942, intelligence officer Victor Jones erected 150 tents behind British lines in North Africa. "Hiding tanks in Bedouin tents was an old British trick," writes Nicholas Rankin; German general Erwin Rommel not only knew of the ploy, but had copied it himself. Jones knew that Rommel knew. In fact, he counted on it--for these tents were empty. With the deception that he was carrying out a deception, Jones made a weak point look like a trap.
In A Genius for Deception, Rankin offers a lively and comprehensive history of how Britain bluffed, tricked, and spied its way to victory in two world wars. As he shows, a coherent program of strategic deception emerged in World War I, resting on the pillars of camouflage, propaganda, secret intelligence, and special forces. All forms of deception found an avid sponsor in Winston Churchill, who carried his enthusiasm for deceiving the enemy into World War II. Rankin vividly recounts such little-known episodes as the invention of camouflage by two French artist-soldiers, the creation of dummy airfields for the Germans to bomb during the Blitz, and the fabrication of an army that would supposedly invade Greece. Strategic deception would be key to a number of WWII battles, culminating in the massive misdirection that proved critical to the success of the D-Day invasion in 1944.
Deeply researched and written with an eye for telling detail, A Genius for Deception shows how British used craft and cunning to help win the most devastating wars in human history.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 7
 Very detailed history of deception campaigns run by the British during two world wars March 18, 2010
Jeff (Northern California)
Nicholas Rankin has written a very detailed history of the British use of deception in war. He's clearly done his research well and has a readable prose style (American readers will find that he uses several words that will send them for their dictionaries.) I found this work to be a bit overly long and and that he treated some topics with more pages than I thought was warranted (fake trees for observation posts in WWI) and not enough in others (the case of 'The Man Who Never Was' in WWII.
But on the whole, the book will be of interest to anyone interested in espionage, camouflage, and the history of WWI and WWII. American readers will need to go to Wikipedia for some references (e.g., Hammer Films is very well known in the UK; not so well known in America.)
It's a story made up of many strands and Rankin has done a good job pulling all of this together from a lot of sources. The photographs were very useful.
 A Cracking Good Read February 3, 2010
J P. Rich (Los Angeles, California United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Nicholas Rankin's fresh take on British military history makes for an engaging read. Yes, certain topics may interest you more than others, but where else can you read about the origins of modern camouflage and the controversies surrounding its proponents, then cut to the desert warfare tactics of Lawrence of Arabia, then to counterspying. I have read avidly on WWI and WWII, but I learned new facts in every chapter.
Extremely detailed account of Deception used by th British in World Wae II. December 23, 2009
Charles L. Chosewood (Georgia Coastal Island)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Extremely detailed account of deception used by the British in World War II.
No warts left unexposed as to qualifications of those involved. The Cover obviously was created by an illustrator who either had no knowledge of history,
didn't care about accuracy, or was "Home Schooled"!! The glaring example was the aircraft in black on the cover which is obviously a Jet plus the fact 4 engine aircraft even prop driven were used only for reconnaissance and a possible one flite across Russia to Japan. None of those aircraft produced by Foklewolf (sp) had any part in any deception scheme and no four engine jets were used in The Battle of Britain by the Luftwaffe. Other than that glaring error on the dust jacket, which almost turned me off from a purchase the book was accurate, enlightening, and accurate Highly recommended!
A Genius for Deception December 18, 2009
Dan Mcguire (Rockville, UT)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
An excellent book if you are into this genre. Lots of details, names, dates, but interesting reading. It is especially exciting for me because of previous books I have read on the subject, such as The Wizard War.
If you like history, you will love this book.
Long but informative December 17, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
EwGog (Croton, NY)
It read a lot longer than 480 printed pages, but it also provided a great deal of informstion in a relatively readable fashion. Worth the time and money.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 7
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