Sisterhood of Spies: The Women of the OSS

Sisterhood of Spies is a real-life James Bond story, double-X chromosome-style. Here, though, the heroines aren't sex kittens in black spandex, but rather upper-crust women risking their lives in the service of a country at war. Elizabeth P. McIntosh was a reporter in Hawaii when the Office of Strategic Services (the C.I.A.'s precursor) recruited her to aid in its campaign of wartime disinformation. Fifty-five years later, she's taken it upon herself to tell the story of the women who served with her undercover--some of whom have also achieved aboveground celebrity, such as Marlene Dietrich and Julia Child. The narratives contained in Sisterhood of Spies couldn't be any more gripping if they were written as fiction: Nazi interrogation ordeals, daring escapes across mountain passes, expeditions behind enemy lines, even Mata Hari-style affairs. Ms. McIntosh's book is a fond ode to these women and a bravery that has remained unsung too long.