Exploring Where the Novel Ends and the Person Begins in “A Splendid Intelligence” – Chicago Review of Books

Exploring Where the Novel Ends and the Person Begins in “A Splendid Intelligence” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Cathy Curtis’s subject in A Splendid Intelligence: the Life of Elizabeth Hardwick is mighty. A writer whose career spanned decades—a ‘literary lion’. It is a chronological account of the writer’s life. The first couple of chapters trace Hardwick’s origins. It draws a portrait of a young Elizabeth whose “bookish tastes made her an anomaly … Read more

Why Intelligence Fails and Succeeds in “The Spymasters” – Chicago Review of Books

Why Intelligence Fails and Succeeds in “The Spymasters” – Chicago Review of Books

[ad_1] Double agents, covert operations, moles, dead drops, deep-sixed tapes, election meddling, secret identities, enhanced interrogation, brush passes, assassinations — when it comes to spy work, there is no shortage of bizarre and misshapen determinants that capture one’s imagination. And if these things are happening, what else is going on? The possibilities seem endless, especially … Read more