Dark Invasion: 1915: Germany's Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America – A Riveting Historical Thriller of Espionage and Counterterrorism - Softcover

Blum, Howard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062307568 ISBN 13: 9780062307569

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2015

Synopsis

Combining the pulsating drive of Showtime's Homeland with the fascinating historical detail of such of narrative nonfiction bestsellers as Double Cross and In the Garden of Beasts, Dark Invasion is Howard Blum’s gritty, high-energy true-life tale of German espionage and terror on American soil during World War I, and the NYPD Inspector who helped uncover the plot—the basis for the film to be produced by and starring Bradley Cooper.

When a “neutral” United States becomes a trading partner for the Allies early in World War I, the Germans implement a secret plan to strike back. A team of saboteurs—including an expert on germ warfare, a Harvard professor, and a brilliant, debonair spymaster—devise a series of “mysterious accidents” using explosives and biological weapons, to bring down vital targets such as ships, factories, livestock, and even captains of industry like J. P. Morgan.

New York Police Inspector Tom Tunney, head of the department’s Bomb Squad, is assigned the difficult mission of stopping them. Assembling a team of loyal operatives, the cunning Irish cop hunts for the conspirators among a population of more than eight million Germans. But the deeper he finds himself in this labyrinth of deception, the more Tunney realizes that the enemy’s plan is far more complex and more dangerous than he suspected.

Full of drama and intensity, illustrated with eight pages of black and-white photos, Dark Invasion is riveting war thriller that chillingly echoes our own time.

Based on recently declassified documents and firsthand accounts, this nonfiction spy tale reveals the shocking extent of Germany’s secret war on America.

• German Espionage in America: Uncover the secret network of saboteurs, including a Harvard professor and a debonair spymaster, who orchestrated a covert campaign of terror from New York City.
• The First Homeland Security: Meet NYPD Inspector Tom Tunney, the cunning Irish cop who formed the first Bomb Squad to hunt down enemy agents in a high-stakes investigation that laid the groundwork for modern counter-terrorism.
• A Covert War of Sabotage: Witness the shocking attacks—from mysterious ship explosions and factory bombings to a plot against J.P. Morgan—designed to cripple the American war supply to the Allies.
• Narrative Nonfiction Thriller: Praised for its pulsating, Homeland-like drive, this true story is a gripping work of WWI history that reads like a novel, complete with eight pages of historical photos.

About this title

About the Author

With the publication more than fifty years ago of the acclaimed Wanted! The Search for Nazis in America, Howard Blum, a former investigative reporter for the New York Times, established himself as a bestselling author of carefully reported and page-turning nonfiction works. Among his many bestsellers are American Lightning, Dark Invasion, The Last Goodnight, and The Spy Who Knew Too Much. Several of his books are being developed as films, including When the Night Comes Falling, which is being produced as a dramatic series by Village Roadshow Productions. The father of three adult children, he divides his time between a small town in Connecticut and East Hampton, New York.

From the Back Cover

In the summer of 1914, New York City Police captain Tom Tunney is preoccupied by Manhattan's raging gang rivalries and has little idea that, halfway around the world, a much more ominous threat to the city is brewing. As Germany teeters on the brink of war, its ambassador to the United States is given instructions to find and finance a team of undercover saboteurs who can bring America to its knees before it has a chance to enter the conflict on the side of the Allies.

Overwhelmed and undermatched, Tunney's small squad of cops was the David to Germany's Goliath, the operatives of which included military officers, a germ warfare expert, a gifted Harvard professor, a bomb technician, and a document forger. As explosions leveled munitions plants and destroyed cargo ships, particularly in and around New York City, panicked officials talked about rogue activists and anarchists—but it was Tunney who suspected that these incidents were part of something bigger and became determined to bring down the culprits.

Through meticulous research—and enhanced by more than fifty images sourced from global archives—Blum deftly reconstructs an enthralling, vividly detailed saga of subterfuge, bravery, and the birth of Homeland Security.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0062307568
• ISBN 13: 9780062307569
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 496