That Devious Spy: A book review about Roald Dahl's time as a British spyIn September 1940 , a good-natured young RAF pilot named Roald Dahl crashed in the Western Desert of North Africa. Following the accident, Dahl suffered serious injuries to his head, nose and back. In 1942, Dahl was ordered to accept a job at the British Embassy in Washington, where he worked as assistant air attaché. He was 26 years old and he desperately wanted to be in the middle of the battle, where he could shoot at other enemy planes and soldiers from his Gladiator plane. He didn't want to be pushed into an office where he had to sit at a desk for 11 hours. Shortly after his arrival at the United States Capitol, Dahl was "caught up in the complex web of intrigue orchestrated by [William] Stephenson, the legendary Canadian spymaster, who outmaneuvered the FBI and the State Department and succeeded in to create an elaborate clandestine organization whose aim was to weaken isolationist forces in America and influence American policy in favor of Great Britain. Tall, handsome and intelligent, Dahl had all the makings of an ideal agent. A courageous officer wounded in combat, looking stunning in his ceremonial uniform. It was all England could ask for as the romantic representative of its imperiled island. He was also arrogant, idiosyncratic, and incorrigible, and probably the last person anyone would have considered trustworthy enough to be entrusted with anything secret. was a survivor. When he got into trouble, he was astute enough to make himself useful to British intelligence, providing them with gossip that proved he had a nose for scandal and a writer's ear for damning detail. Already attached to the British air force...... middle of paper ......ct enabled the American government to lend the Allied powers the equipment needed for the war (Hinsley). Shortly after arriving in the US capital, Dahl met Charles Marsh, a newspaper industrialist who befriended important and powerful people in Washington, DC. Marsh was an "exemplary host and an entertaining and informative guide to the stratified society of Washington, where money new and old, the entire Congress and the diplomatic corps, all jostled for recognition" (78).BibliographyHinsley , FH, et al. British intelligence during the Second World War. Flight. 1-5. Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1997-1990Lovell, Mary S. Cast No Shadow: The Life of the American Spy Who Changed the Course of World War II. New York: Pantheon, 1992 Persico, The Secret War of Joseph E. Roosevelt: FDR and World War II Espionage. New York: Random House 2001