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You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger (Bluejacket Books) | 
 enlarge | Author: Roger Hall
Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
Buy Used: $7.47
You Save: $10.48 (58%)
New (22) Used (13) from $7.47
Rating:  29 reviews
Sales Rank: 108166
Media: Paperback
Pages: 220
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 1591143535
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.548673092
EAN: 9781591143536
ASIN: 1591143535
Publication Date: May 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
With a sharp eye and wry wit, Roger Hall recounts his experiences as an American Army officer assigned to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II. First published in 1957 to critical and popular acclaim, his book has become a cult favorite in intelligence circles. The story follows Hall's experiences from a junior officer fleeing a tedious training assignment in Louisiana to his quirky and rigorous OSS training rituals in the United States, England, and Scotland. Quick to pick up on the skills necessary for behind-the-lines intelligence work, he became an expert instructor. But he was only reluctantly given operational duties because of his reputation as an iconoclast. In his droll story-telling style, Hall describes his first parachute jump in support of the French resistance as a comedy of errors that terminated prematurely. His last assignment in the war zone came when William Colby appointed him section head of an operations group that made its way on foot through Sweden. Called one of the funniest and most perceptive works ever written about life in the OSS, the book includes a wealth of unforgettable personalities that Hall encountered over the years. 220 pages. Paperback. 6 x 9 inches.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 24 more reviews...
 Roger Hall's comic experiences in the OSS April 21, 2005
George Coppedge (Czech Republic)
21 out of 22 found this review helpful
Hall's book is his funny story volunteering for, training in, and working within America's WWII OSS unit (pre-cursor to the modern CIA). Like all good soldiers, Hall sought to escape the boredom, heat, and humidity of camp life for anything else. So, he volunteered for the OSS - only knowing that at least it was something different and possibly dangerous - oh my!
The book takes us through numerous training assignments of Hall's - patrolling, ambushing, parachuting, espionage basics, infiltration into civilian organizations, and more. Typical of most American WWII soldiers, he spent far more time training than he ever did in combat. The most interesting sections of the book are his parachute and espionage training. He describes both in fascinating detail. It is quite funny to see how amateurish much of his spy training was - I suppose that's why the CIA would have liked for the book not to be published.
Hall writes in an irrevent and playful style that makes his book both fun and easy to read. He is the type of original smart-ass that self-important superior officials love to hate. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, especially as it pokes fun at a rather serious business.
I am so glad this has been reprinted April 7, 2004
Lucy Huntzinger
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
One of the funniest books I've read in any genre. If Dave Barry had been eligible for enlistment in 1942 this is the the kind of book he might have written. Roger Hall's account of his time in the O.S.S. is full of dry wit, bawdy humor, accute assessments of the Army's intelligence operations during World War II, and his own vivid personality. The pace is fast, people and situations are clearly delineated in a few deft words, and the irreverence only heightens the sobering reality of military life in a time of war. Thirty years after I first read it this book still makes me laugh.
So very glad it's back in print! October 24, 2004
Eric Oppen (Iowa Falls, IA USA)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I first read this book in the summer of 1976, when I was at Shattuck School in Faribault, MN. I thought it was an absolute hoot, and was I ever delighted to find that my high school had a copy, too! After I graduated HS, I had my eyes open for a copy, but for a long, long, long time the only ones I could find for sale had exorbitant price tags. How this was ever let go out of print escapes me.
You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger--review April 29, 2006
Richard A. Roberts (Harveysburg, Oh)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Sometimes, just sometimes, the things of your youth are
better than when you experienced them the first time: things
like "You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger," Roger Hall's
memoirs of his experiences in the OSS (Office of Strategic
Services, forerunner of the CIA) during WW2.
In 1966 Miss Estele, Greenon High School's librarian, once
very sternly suggested to me that I get my own copy of Mr.
Hall's book. Seems that I had checked out the school's copy so
much that it was in danger of disintegration.
Not wishing to run afoul of the lady with the piercing
eyes which could wound at 50 paces, I broke down and bought a
copy for myself.
I destroyed it with repeated readings.
I bought a second.
I destroyed it. Read the words off the page.
I went for a third copy. But alas the book was not to be
found. Literally for decades I searched used book stores and
book sales. Libraries. No dice. Gone. Phfttttttt.
But the book was always with me. I have never attended a
briefing or presentation without thinking of the great
exploding map overlay caper. Phrases and descriptions stalked
their ways into my daily vocabulary like two great stalking
things. I mean, how can you top, "...the account being one in
which the fact quotient was in inverse ratio to the difficulty
of the feats of derring-do allegedly performed"? I even once
wrote on a subordinate's performance evaluation, "...highly
praised for his capabilities and performance and resoundingly
damned for his irreverence."
Great stuff there.
Then a co-worker, to whom I had mentioned the book, found
that Bluejacket Press had republished it and it was available
through Amazon.com.
So as fast as I could, I got my third copy.
Would it be as funny? Well, actually, it was funnier.
Mr. Hall's wit can be rapier-like and delicately subtle.
Mr. Hall's wit can also cut a swath through inefficient
bureaucratic nonsense like a claymore. His ability to turn
ordinary words into lasting memories would make Mr. Hall a
blast with whom to split a pizza and a six-pack.
It's funnier because having spent 6 years and 3 months on
active duty in the service of His Majesty the Commandant of the
Marine Corps, I have a much deeper appreciation for the surreal
ambiance which permeates the military and which almost seems
designed to impede progress.
It's funnier because in spite of the institutionalized
blood-mindedness, we still manage, somehow, to weave our way
through lunacy's labyrinth.
It's funnier because I've lived in the Slidell, La area;
and, by-jingoes, it IS a place perfectly suited to rot away in.
This time around when I read of his experiences and
friendship with a Major William Colby, I know that William
Colby went on to become the head of the CIA.
If you like memoirs, this is the book for you. If you
like military history, this is the book for you. If you just
like funny books, this is the book for you.
Rick roberts
 Read the first edition May 9, 2005
Michael F. Coleman
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
I read this book many,many years ago. But I still remember it with great effection. The book that is being marketed now has had some of the funniest storys cencored,aka edited.So my advise is get a copy from 40 years ago and enjoy the real thing. I'm sure the editor did not think the story they cut were P.C.
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