Spying in America: Espionage from the Revolutionary War to the Dawn of the Cold War

Sulick blends the historical record with his own intelligence expertise to create a nonfiction espionage thriller on par with the best of Ian Fleming and John Le Carre. ― Choice

As a former CIA chief of counterintelligence and director of the National Clandestine Service, Sulick offers glimpses into the motivations, operations, and mistakes of both individuals and nations in this examination of 30 acts of espionage.…His simple style breezes the reader through one individual and era of American history after another. . . . These annals read like fiction, which plays into Sulick’s statement that, due to our unique geographical location and emphasis on individual liberties, Americans possess a disbelief that the threat of espionage exists within our borders. . . . Yet as Sulick proves with this broad work, foreign attempts at espionage have existed since the country’s inception and will surely continue. ― Publishers Weekly

Recognizing a gap in the subject literature, Sulick, a 28-year veteran of the CIA, including years overseeing its clandestine and counterintelligence departments, has written an informative collection of case studies, rather than a narrative history, reviewing some of the most important espionage activities against the United States and within its borders. He highlights the tradecraft of the spies, their access to secret information, American bureaucratic turf wars, and (in many cases very belated) counterespionage efforts. . . . What is most interesting are the motivations of citizens to betray their own country in contrast to those sent here to spy on us . . . The author certainly knows the subject inside and out. This is an easy-to-read introduction for interested laypersons or those taking beginning courses on the history of intelligence operations. ― Library Journal

Mr. Sulick’s timely and valuable book, Spying in America: Espionage from the Revolutionary War to the Dawn of the Cold War, should have been required reading before those ladies and gentlemen [of the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee] ever sought national office, because in its succinct, well-written chapters, the author lays out a history few Americans know and some barely even suspect . . . Mr. Sulick’s equally painstaking abilities as a historian have allowed him to produce a book that is unfailingly succinct but richly illustrated and well documented. He also brings his practical experience as an intelligence operator to a thought provoking concluding chapter. — Kenneth Allard ― New York Journal of Books

Reading Michael Sulick on the subject [of espionage] is akin to taking a tour of London with the queen of England as your personal guide. The author comes with blue-ribbon credentials: he served in the CIA as an operations officer for 28 years, in positions including chief of counterintelligence and director of the National Clandestine Service. — Joseph C. Goulden ― The Washington Times

If you wanted to dip your toes into the wide world of spying, this is a good place to start. ― San Francisco Book Review

Sure to become a seminal contribution to the scholarship of intelligence. ― Raleigh Metro Magazine

Sulick, the former chief of the CIA’s counterintelligence branch, has written a remarkable account of those who betrayed their country and those who sought to apprehend them…A vital addition to academic libraries as well as for readers interested in the early Cold War. ― Choice

A fascinating read that is certain to captivate and entertain. ― Naples Florida Weekly

A study of history of spying and spy catching could be wonkish or overly political. This book is neither, thanks to Sulick’s considerable storytelling skills and his background. . . . Anyone reading this fast-paced history of American spying won’t need to rely on other volumes. This book stands convincingly on its own. ― Fordham Magazine