This book grew out of an exhibit the author curated while working as a historian for the CIA Museum in McLean, VA. Drawing on his intelligence background, Reynolds uncovers a trove of documents that point to American novelist Ernest Hemingway's recruitment in 1940 by the NKVD, the precursor of the KGB. Although there is evidence for the recruitment, there is no proof Hemingway ever actually spied for the Soviets. Much of the story is filled out by supposition, signaled by phrases such as "perhaps," "may have," and "most likely." Hemingway's attraction to the Soviets is attributed mostly to an alliance against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Reynolds ably researches Hemingway's World War II adventures, both in Cuba and Europe, including clandestine activities supporting America's war effort. The final chapters cover Hemingway's predicament as an American in Cuba in the years leading up to Castro's Revolution and the Bay of Pigs, his reaction to Senator McCarthy's Communist witch hunt, and his paranoid delusions concerning FBI surveillance. Includes a generous selection of photographs. VERDICT An intriguing study highlighting the tension between Hemingway's Soviet sympathies and his identity as a U.S. patriot, particularly during the Cold War. Recommended for Hemingway enthusiasts and for readers interested in the history of Soviet espionage in the United States. [See Prepub Alert, 10/3/16.]-William Gargan, Brooklyn Coll. Lib., CUNY © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

This thoroughly researched exploration of Hemingway's military adventurism fails to deliver a convincing conclusion. Reynolds gamely connects the author's interactions with Soviet operatives in the Spanish Civil War to his fears of persecution during the post-WWII American Red Scare. He also documents Hemingway's contact with the NKVD Soviet spy agency, antisubmarine patrol efforts in his fishing boat in Cuban waters, and creation of an amateur counterintelligence operation in Havana in 1942, as interesting sidelines to his creative life. But the author, a military historian, rarely accounts for the role Hemingway's tremendous ego played as a motivating force. Hemingway's activities in 1944 postinvasion France did assist in Paris's liberation, but also prompted a U.S. Army investigation for violating noncombatant status. The book is filled with admissions that "no one is likely to ever know" the extent of Hemingway's involvement with the Soviets and overly puffed-up martial language, such as describing combat coverage as "rid[ing] to the sound of the guns." In addressing Hemingway's later years, Reynolds notes that "fantasy and reality mixed in Hemingway's thoughts and politics," but doesn't adequately address how depression, narcissism, and celebrity treatment may have affected the writer's conduct. In concluding that Hemingway was "a gifted but overconfident amateur" in politics and espionage, Reynolds overstates the toll those pursuits took on the writer. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.