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Summary and Reviews of Blind Man's Bluff by Sherry Sontag

Blind Man's Bluff by Sherry Sontag

Blind Man's Bluff

The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage

by Sherry Sontag
  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Readers' Rating (9):
  • First Published:
  • Nov 1, 1998, 352 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Oct 1999, 255 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

An excellent history of U.S. submarine espionage operations that reads like a Tom Clancy novel.

Two investigative reporters and a researcher have joined forces to produce an excellent history of U.S. submarine espionage operations that reads like a Tom Clancy novel. They take the story from the early days of the cold war, when we lost, by accident, the diesel submarine Cochino on a spy mission and nearly lost the Gudgeon to Soviet antisubmarine forces. They continue through the shift to nuclear submarines, the loss of the Scorpion (destroyed by defective torpedoes after completing a spy mission), the role of the Halibut in finding the Soviet missile boat later salvaged by the CIA's Glomar Explorer, and the cable-tapping operations in which the Parche won more presidential unit citations than any other submarine in American history. They also cover open-sea efforts to shadow Soviet submarines, which occasionally led to dangerous collisions, and add to our knowledge of the horrendous safety record of the Soviet nuclear navy and the vices and virtues of Hyman G. Rickover, father of its American counterpart. Roland Green. Copyright© 1998, American Library Association. All rights reserved

A Deadly Beginning

You gotta be nuts," Harris M. Austin grumbled under his breath as he watched the ugliest-looking piece of junk he had ever seen pull into the British naval base in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. This couldn't be his sub. This couldn't be the Cochino.



Almost anyone else on the busy pier would have thought that he was just a twenty-eight-year-old radioman. He knew better. He was here on direct orders from the U.S. chief of Naval Operations. He had been briefed by admirals who commanded the U.S. naval forces in Europe, his background checked and double-checked. And today he was about to join the crew of this sub as one of the Navy's newest spies, a "spook," someone who had been trained to snatch Soviet military signals and electronic communications out of thin air. It was going to be his job to attempt a daring grab for some of the Soviet Union's deepest secrets.

Austin jumped down onto the pier and began pulling mooring lines along with...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

The New York Times Book Review
[A]n evocative and important look at the Cold War. Blind Man's Bluff The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage is also satisfying to read, at times hurtling forward with the speed of a Polaris submarine.

The Wall Street Journal
Judging from the citations and the inferred sources, the veterans of the silent service are silent no more. The book is full of hair-raising stories of men in peril under the sea.

Author Blurb John Weisman, Author of the Rogue Warrior series
This is the kind of non-fiction that drives people like me crazy, why? Because it's almost impossible to make up stuff this good

Author Blurb Seymour M Hersh, Author of The Dark Side of Camelot
A compelling account of one of the great secrets of the Cold War - the undersea spying that put so many American, and Soviet lives at risk. Blind Man's Bluff reads like an adventure novel, but it's all too real.

Reader Reviews

Brian McPherson

Accurate presentation of submarine activity
This is a book that everyone needs to read. It is extremely accurate in telling the story of the life and times of the cold war nuclear submarine. The inclusion of the "Horse and Cow" Bar (H and C Ballroom) in Vallejo adds to the ...   Read More
David Squires

A must read!!! Excellent book on covert sub activity during the cold war.
B-RET

G- Reat book!!!!!! yea
um.... i hate book reports that i am doing for this book but i love this book really good!!!!!:)
R.Kaufmann

Great reading, truth really is stranger than fiction.

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