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A Covert Affair: Julia Child And Paul Child In The OSS (2011)

by Jennet Conant(Favorite Author)

3.01 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1439168504 (ISBN13: 9781439168509)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Simon & Schuster

review 1: This book could have been a little bit better blurbed. The focus of the title is really Jane Foster and how knowing her and being friendly with her affected the Child's. About half way through I found myself getting frustrated with the focus on Jane Foster and the lack of information on Julia and Paul. If I'd had more realistic expectations regarding what the title was about I would have been happier with it (and possibly given it another star.) The work this group did was definitely interesting and the work gives you a lot of insight into the development of Paul and Julia's relationship and eventual marriage.
review 2: A fairly well-written account of the activities of some of "Wild" Bill Donovan's Office of Strategic Service recruits in the Asian theater,... more how they got there, and what happened to them after the War. It's interesting reading about a cadre where the word "Intelligence" can be used without irony, which isn't to say that some of their schemes weren't downright harebrained (Gregory Bateson's plan to dye the Irrawaddy yellow, foiled when it was discovered that the Naval dye needed salt water to activate, comes to mind).The tragedy, over and above Jane Foster's post-War life, is that all of that Intelligence was thrown away at Potsdam, when Truman decided that the colonial powers needed coddling, which meant the continued subjugation of South Asia and Southeast Asia. History might well have changed had we been able to broker a transition to independence for the countries in the region. less

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