Agent Garbo
The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day
By Stephan Talty
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Hardcover, 9780547614816, 320pp.)
Publication Date: July 3, 2012
Other Editions of This Title: Paperback
Categories: Military - World War II
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One of history's greatest spies finally gets his due: Agent Garbo tells the astonishing story of a self-made secret agent who matched wits with the best minds of the Third Reich—and won. Juan Pujol was a nobody, a Barcelona poultry farmer determined to oppose the Nazis. Using only his gift for daring falsehoods, Pujol became Germany's most valued agent—or double agent: it took four tries before the British believed he was really on their side.
"Agent Garbo" turned in a masterpiece of deception worthy of his big-screen namesake. Pujol created an imaginary million-man army, invented armadas out of thin air, and brought a vast network of fictional sub-agents whirring to life. For his greatest performance, Pujol had to convince the German high command that the D-Day invasion of Normandy was a feint, and the real attack was aimed at Calais. They bought it, turning the tide of battle at the crucial moment.
Based on years of archival research and interviews with Pujol's family, Agent Garbo is a true-life thriller set in the shadow-world of espionage and deception.
STEPHAN TALTY is a widely published journalist who has contributed to the New York Times Magazine, GQ, Men’s Journal, Time Out New York, Details, and many other publications. He is the author of Escape from the Land of Snows, the best-selling Empire of Blue Water, The Illustrious Dead, and Mulatto America.
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