Excerpts of Reviews of Books By Joseph E. Persico

ROOSEVELT’S SECRET WAR: FDR and World War II Espionage
Random House

“Joseph E. Persico explores – with judicious historical zest and a fine eye for detail – the hallucinatory world of snooping, concealments, betrayals and confidence games played for world-history stakes.”
Time Magazine

“A well-paced, memorable account . . . Mr. Persico obviously admires his subject. This entertaining and thoughtful book shows there was much to admire.”
New York Times

“Surprises abound . . . But the main interest in Roosevelt’s Secret War lies in the new dimension it adds to the picture of Roosevelt the man. . . a worthwhile addition to the bulging bookshelves of World War II.
Philadelphia Inquirer

“Blending anecdotes, speculations and documented facts into an exciting story of collecting and transmitting information in wartime, Persico offers a clear-eyed take on FDR’s approach to intelligence.”
Publisher’s Weekly

MY AMERICAN JOURNEY (Colin Powell with Joseph E. Persico co-author)
Random House

My American Journey is an endearing and well written book, written with Joseph E. Persico, the author of several fine biographies.”
New York Times

“Ably written with Joseph E. Persico, My American Journey finally fleshes out for us who, indeed, is Colin Powell.”
USA Today

“It’s a good book, solid, controlled – defensive sometimes – but more honest than the books of men who pursue the presidency. The general shows a sharper eye and pen than I had expected …”
Washington Post

EDWARD R. MURROW: An American Original
McGraw Hill

“Written with insight and perceptiveness. Mr. Persico is an able reporter and a fine story teller whose taste, tact and skill have produced a memorable biography.”
New York Times

“A distinguished and compellingly readable biography. Persico brings to Murrow the intellectual discipline of the historian, the polished and memorable prose of the accomplished biographer.”
Los Angeles Times

“An absorbing tale, compellingly told.”
Washington Post

ELEVENTH MONTH, ELEVENTH DAY, ELEVENTH HOUR: Armistice Day, 1918
Random House

“Where Persico excels is in reconstructing the moment by moment journeys of men facing possible death or mutilation, many of whom were dehumanized in the process. You can see, feel and smell these doughboys, poilus, Tommies and bosches – and sense their rage and despair.”
New York Daily News

“Persico has a flair for describing the hostilities in striking terms . . . [He] seems incapable of writing an uninteresting paragraph.”
The Orlando Sentinel

“With admirable skill, Persico weaves in every facet of World War I.”
USA Today

“Joseph Persico has found a fresh way to tell the story of World War I that makes it seems like it occurred yesterday, not 86 years ago. . . . I could not stop reading, not even for sleep. . . . “
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

NUREMBERG: Infamy on Trial
The Viking Press

“Persico makes the trial read like a novel.”
New York Times

“This work will probably command, and deserves, a wider readership than any of its predecessors. Every generation needs a book like this.”
Washington Post

“It is not often that a book works at once as historical tract, morality play and crime thriller. This one does.”
Philadelphia Inquirer

THE IMPERIAL ROCKEFELLER: The Life of Nelson Rockefeller
Simon and Schuster

“Persico tells his story brilliantly. No one has written a book like this about Nelson Rockefeller before.”
New York Times

“This book has the quality of fireside reminiscences, of brave days past. The reader finishes it feeling that he knows, with some intimacy, a central, towering figure.”
The New Republic

“An excellent biography, a portrait of a complex individual by a sensitive observer. Persico has captured Rockefeller brilliantly.”
Publishers Weekly

PIERCING THE REICH: The Penetration of Nazi Germany by American Secret Agents During World War II
Viking Press

“Those of us who devour spy stories like cashew nuts are in Mr. Persico’s debt. Brilliantly researched and cleverly told.”
Washington Post

“A masterwork. It is surely the most vivid testimonial yet to the OSS. This is heart pounding stuff.”
Philadelphia Enquirer

“Persico has been able to reconstruct this operation in stunning detail, a deft narrative.”
Kirkus Reviews

MY ENEMY, MY BROTHER: Men and days of Gettysburg
Viking Press

My Enemy, My Brother is an eloquent documentary, forming the facts into a mosaic that shows the terribleness of war.”
New York Times

“. . . it has an earthiness and immediacy that are compelling.”
Saturday Review

“This vivid, absorbing action-packed narrative of the greatest battle ever fought in North America practically transports the reader onto the scene, causing sweating palms and a sense of looming danger.”
Library Journal

“The author of this magnificent study . . . has focused upon the men involved rather than upon those impersonal matters so dear to the military historian . . . Here is war as it affects men.”
Los Angeles Examiner

CASEY: William J. Casey from the OSS to the CIA
Viking

“A lively and balanced narrative that conveys his subject’s complex mixture of early selfishness and higher loyalties.”
New York Times

“ … a firmly three dimensional biography of Casey. And it clarifies the Iran-Contra fiasco as nowhere else.”
Publishers Weekly

“Compelling biography, rich with anecdote and analysis.”
Wall Street Journal

THE SPIDERWEB (A novel)
Crown

“Mr. Persico tells his story better than most writers who in recent years have been dabbling in World War II adventure tales. He has a certain amount of sympathy for the human condition . . . the writing is crisp, and the plot moves very well”
New York Times

“ A neatly built thriller, and it also has something worthwhile to say.”
Washington Post

“This book is well researched, well written and beautifully constructed.”
Penthouse