Elyse Graham's Book and Dagger offers a fascinating dive into an underexplored facet of World War II espionage—the recruitment of librarians and academics as spies by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). This book uncovers a unique and intriguing chapter of wartime intelligence, blending history with the personal stories of those who balanced the roles of scholars and spies.
Graham explores how the very skills that make librarians and professors ideal candidates for academic roles—attention to detail, rigorous research methods, and a deep understanding of historical contexts—also made them exceptional spies. Their occupations gave them perfect cover and access to archives not often seen as top secret, yet held invaluable information critical to Allied operations.
A captivating read for anyone curious about the often-hidden roles that contribute to major historical events.

I normally read fiction, especially mysteries, but when I was offered an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher, Harper Collins, something about the description caught my interest, so I thought I’d try it, and I’m very happy I did, my husband loves history so I had heard of some of the information in the book, but not in depth. To quote the author, the book is about “a group of seemingly unlikely people, though novices to spy craft, created new ways of doing intelligence that won a war, revolutionized spycraft, and changed the world.” When I think of spies I think of James Bond, here we’re introduced to librarians and researchers who can tell you the details of a city the U.S. wants to invade through telephone books, trade manuals and local newspapers so the military isn’t going in blind. The details described to give a spy a successful background story while in a foreign country were so interesting and not something I’d given much thought to. I’ve already recommended the book to my husband and his group of history loving friends, it’s well written, interesting and the ideas discussed are as pertinent to today as they were during WWII.

A fascinating account of the OSS agents during WWII who were recruited from academia to fight the Nazis. (Ordinary people doing extraordinary things!) A little-known fact is that during WWII, history and literature professors were recruited and made excellent spies. (Who'd a thought?) Graham’s a historian and professor, so it's no surprise that the book is impeccably researched. For bibliophiles and WWII buffs alike.

This was a fascinating topic to explore. When I think about WWII books, I think of subject matter like Nazis, weapons, troop movements, etc. But librarians and professors turned into spies? This was a new one for me, and I enjoyed it!