Ashenden, Or: The British AgentThis fascinating book contains probably the most expert stories of espionage ever written. For a period of time after it was first published, the book became official required reading for persons entering the British Secret Service. During World War I, Maugham enlisted with an ambulance unit, but was soon shifted to the Intelligence Department. Although these stories were based on the author's own experiences as a British agent during the war, he emphasized that they were written purely as entertainment, at which, indeed, Ashenden succeeds. Maugham's clarity of style, the perfection of his form, the subtlety of his thought, veiled thinly behind a worldly cynicism, has made him an international figure. |
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“I have been loved by multitudes of women. I do not say it in vanity. I offer no
explanation. It is mere matter of fact. Go to Mexico City and ask them what they
know of Manuel Carmona and of his triumphs. Ask them how many women have
...
up; she was not very beautiful, I had had a hundred more beautiful, but she had
something that took my fancy and I told the old woman who kept the house to
send her to me. You will know her when you go to Mexico City; they call her La ...
Throughout his life he had never come in contact with persons, especially women
, of any social consequence, the only women he had ever known were the wives
of his brother officers, the wives of Government officials and of business men; ...
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - kristykay22 - LibraryThingThis is a compelling, although rather chilly, collection of loosely connected short stories following the intelligence work of Ashenden, a writer turned spy for the British government during World War ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - lamour - LibraryThingThis is volume three of Maugham's collected short stories. In this volume he has placed his stories that have the same protagonist, Ashendan, who is recruited to move to Switzerland where he will be a ... Read full review
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Ashenden, Or: The British Agent Volume 5 of Collected edition of the works of W. Somerset Maugham Short story index reprint series |
| Author | William Somerset Maugham |
| Edition | reprint |
| Publisher | Doubleday, Doran, 1941 |
| Original from | the University of California |
| Digitized | 23 May 2009 |
| ISBN | 0836940520, 9780836940527 |
| Length | 304 pages |
| Subjects | › Fiction / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |