Shining a light on a dark, secretive world

The Literary Spy: The Ultimate Source for Quotations on Espionage and Intelligence

Edited by Charles E. Lathrop

Yale University Press, 478 pages, $39.95

Even without a war going on, even if you don’t know John le Carre from John Irving, this collection of more than 3,000 quotations from sources–assembled by a CIA speechwriter and analyst–as divergent as the Bible and TV talk shows and commentaries reveals how secrecy and deception are ingrained in society.