Secrets on Display: Stories and Spycraft from the International Spy Museum

by Mark Stout (Editor), Sarah-Jane Corke (Editor)

Overview

Intelligence history comes alive in this delightful collection of stories and photographs.

Secrets on Display takes readers on a tour of the thrilling, real-life history of intelligence and espionage from around the world. With tales of spies, codebreakers, moles, terrorist-hunters, spy chiefs, propagandists, and secret agents, these new histories uncover a world that many of us only see in the movies. Bringing together stories and artifacts from the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, this book makes the world’s largest museum devoted to intelligence history accessible to everyone.

Secrets on Display brings this hidden history to life with over 200 photographs, including nearly 100 color images of artifacts—among them, James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5, the axe used to assassinate Leon Trotsky, a portion of the secret MI6 and CIA tunnel beneath East Berlin, and a precursor to the Predator drone, as well as concealment devices, secret cameras, disguise kits, cipher machines, and a host of other rare objects seldom seen by the public.

These stories, told by historians, intelligence officers, and museum professionals, will fascinate scholars, intrigue practitioners, and entice those interested in a world of secrecy that most of us can scarcely imagine.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700638819
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	06/24/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	360
File size:	19 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Mark Stout is a former senior lecturer and director of the Master of Arts in Global Security Studies program at Johns Hopkins University, and a former intelligence officer. His books include World War I and the Foundations of American Intelligence, also published by Kansas.

Sarah-Jane Corke is associate professor of historical studies at the University of New Brunswick. She is the author of US Covert Operations and Cold War Strategy: Truman, the CIA and Secret Warfare.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword: Colonel Chris P. Costa, Executive Director, International Spy Museum

Foreword: H. Keith Melton

Introduction: Designing an Open Box of Secrets, Sarah-Jane Corke and Mark Stout

1. Making the Covert Overt: Building a Modern Spy Museum, Alexis Albion and Anna Slafer

2. The Bonding of Allen Dulles and James Jesus Angleton, Jonathan Nashel

3. Spying for Teenagers: Espionage Through the Eyes of Ronald Seth’s Young Adult Spy Thrillers, Jonathan Best

4. Ripe for Recruitnment: Mata Hari as a Plausible Intelligence Asset, Amanda A. Ohlke

5. The Triumph and Downfall of Dmitri Bystrolyotov, Stalin’s Romeo Spy, Emil Draitser

6. The Rose of Balloons in Union Military Intelligence in the Civil War, James L. Green

7. The Genome of Geospatial Intelligence, Jack O’Connor

8. Concealing Colossus: Britain’s Wartime Computing History and Cold War SIGINT, David Schaefer

9. Ann Caracristi: The Making of a Codebreaker, David Sherman

10. Shaping a New Threat: How the CIA Defined “International Terrorism” in the 1970s, Silke Zoller

11. Mysteries, Secrets, and Puzzles: Designing Intelligence Analysis at the International Spy Museum, Cynthia Storer, Mark Stout, and Sarah-Jane Corke

12. Counter-disinformation and the Tools of the Intelligence Trade: An Historical Perspective, Gill Bennett

13. Gray Reflections in the Mirror: The Hanssen Case and American Counterintelligence, John F. Fox Jr.

14 “Walk It Out the Door on a Flash Drive”: Counterintelligence and the Delisle Spy Case, Wesley Wark

15. Northern Ireland, 1971: Torture, Accountability, and Sir Dick White, Tony Craig

Conclusion: The Importance of Intelligence History, Mark Stout and Sarah-Jane Corke

About the Editors and Contributors

Photo Credits

Index

Editorial Reviews

“This book has something for almost everyone curious about spying. Choose among tantalizing pictures of objects in the International Spy Museum’s one-of-a-kind collection, scholarly essays about intriguing topics, a treatise on how the architecture of the building reflects the nature of spying, even a guide to teaching analysis to school kids. Whether you read this collection of essays cover to cover, or simply dip in when the spirit moves you, you will not be disappointed.”—Nicholas Reynolds, author of Need to Know: World War II and the Rise of American Intelligence

“There’s nothing else in the world quite like the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC—or like Secrets on Display. Equally educational and entertaining, this book’s compelling chapters about the history of the museum and of espionage, paired with its stunning images spanning the museum’s unique collection, make for an intellectual and visual delight.”—David Priess, author of The President’s Book of Secrets: The Untold Story of Intelligence Briefings to America’s Presidents

“Stout and Corke have assembled some of the most important voices in intelligence history to write about one of the most interesting museums in the world. In doing so, they have found the elusive Goldilocks zone: the book is not too hot (pedantic, academic . . . boring) for the general public (or museum visitor), and not too cold (watered down) for the professional intelligence historian. It lives in that special space that makes it accessible and enjoyable for all audiences. Like the comfiest chairs, the best beds, and the tastiest porridges, Secrets on Display is just right.”—Vincent J. Houghton, director of National Cryptologic Museum

“Secrets on Display is a love letter to the International Spy Museum in Washington DC. Featuring contributions from leading scholars, museum professionals and national security practitioners, the volume succeeds in honoring the vital role played by the museum in educating the public about the murky world of espionage and intelligence. A vivid panorama of why nations spy, how they do it, and what the impact has been on policymaking, international affairs and world history.”—Christopher Moran, author of Company Confessions: Secrets, Memoirs and the CIA

“Secrets on Display draws readers into the story of the International Spy Museum and delivers top-tier intelligence history on issues ranging from SIGINT to spy fiction. By blending scholarly insights with photos of rarely seen artefacts, it offers a fresh, immersive perspective on the secret world.”—Daniela Richterova, author of Watching the Jackals: Prague’s Covert Liaisons with Cold War Terrorists and Revolutionaries

From the Publisher