Don’t look here for James Bond, Jason Bourne or Gabriel Allon! This is about the real, more dangerous, less glamorous, but more consequential activities that have had a major impact on world history. We will focus on three periods in which espionage, whether government-sanctioned or individual men and women bravely acting outside official channels, helped win the good fight.

In other words, we will explore the role of many different types of covert activities played in the historical context of the time. For example, the role of the resistance to Nazi occupation or divided Berlin before the teardown of the wall. The historic times: World War II, the Vietnam era, and the Cold War.

Over 10 weeks, we will alternate, reading a book (four novels, one non-fiction) one week, watching a film (at home) the next. We WON’T be comparing the print and film versions of the same works, but the book and film pairs will have related topics. Books will be readily available through the Minuteman Library system or as inexpensive used books. Films will be available as rental CDs, free on Kanopy, or at small rental fees from major streaming services or YouTube.

Both the books and the films are remarkably varied; so something for everyone! See the list of resources for this class.

This will be a guided discussion course, with some brief background lectures and/or video clips.

Weekly preparation time will be at least several hours per book, depending on length of book and your reading speed. Films typically take around two hours.