Read Beat (...and repeat)
If you're like me, you like to know things but how much time to invest? That's the question. Here's the answer: Read Beat--Interviews with authors of new releases. These aren't book reviews but short (about 25-30 minutes on the average) chats with folks that usually have taken a lot of time to research a topic, enough to write a book about it. Hopefully, there's a topic or two that interests you. I try to come up with subjects that fascinate me or I need to know more about. Hopefully, listeners will agree. I'm Steve Tarter, former reporter for the Peoria Journal Star and a contributor to WCBU-FM, the Peoria public radio outlet, from 20202 to 2024. I post regularly on stevetarter.substack.com.
Read Beat (...and repeat)
"A Quiet Company of Dangerous Men" by Shannon Monaghan
By now most of us have heard of some of the daring deeds executed by the special operations teams that worked undercover during WWII. Shannon Monaghan has added to that body of work through her latest release, A Quiet Company of Dangerous Men.
Monaghan follows the exploits of four Britishers, David Smiley, Peter Kemp, Billy McLean, and Julian Amery. These four show remarkable courage and resilience as they wend their way through WWII from Albania (where the primary goal was to keep German troops tied up in the Balkans rather than heading off to fight Russia) to Cairo to Romania to Thailand and other points in between.
Along the way in Monaghan's book, Peter Fleming pops up. That's Ian Fleming's older brother, a star in his own write and a purported model for the character we know as James Bond.
You learn in Quiet Company that undercover work is anything but easy. You're not only fighting an enemy as dangerous as Nazi Germany but dealing with local political divisions and regional rivalries. Then there's the matter of bureaucracy which dictates movement and supplies.
Monaghan follows her four fighters through the war into other wars and other fronts: the Mideast, Hungary, and Vietnam being a few of them. "They saw the Cold War coming," said Monaghan.
While reading Monaghan's work, clandestine maneuvering becomes routine. In 1949, seeking the help of an Italian military group in overthrowing the Hoxha regime in Albania, our heroes flew in to make their pitch. "If it's no, I'll leave one bottle of brandy in your hotel room. If it's yes, I'll leave six," they were told.
They got six.
