Fans of AMC's TURN: Washington's Spies did not notice in 2014 when a Wall Street tycoon bought an old farmhouse in Brookhaven on Long Island and discovered a priceless manuscript hidden inside, but they should now. Discovery of the two-century-old "Diary of Agent 355," the "Mystery Lady" of George Washington's Culper Spy Ring made Revolutionary-era historians salivate. Ever since Morton Pennypacker first uncovered the Culper spies eight decades ago, historians have endeavored unsuccessfully to discover Agent 355's identity. As the diary's editor states: "Essentially the name of Agent 355 remains the last mystery of the American War of Independence." The crucial role of the Long Island spy ring in winning America's freedom has inspired books and even a popular TV series. True to history, all the era's characters get a new breath of life in this incredible diary: reluctant spy Abraham Woodhull, brainy Anna Strong, guerrilla fighter Caleb Brewster and officious spymaster Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge. On the British side, dashing Major John André, villainous Major John Graves Simcoe and battle-honed Robert Rogers turn up, unforgettably. It is a rare first-person account of a fearless woman's significant contributions to America's revolt against King George III. Her beauty and unique "talents" were first seen by Alexander Hamilton who put her in the spy game in 1775, and later by Woodhull who recruited her into the Culper Ring because he feared for his life. Packed with action and new insights on historical events, among other exciting tales, her diary reveals how she stopped the assassination of a Patriot governor, raided Connecticut's infamous Simsbury Mine prison; saved spy Woodhull from discovery and, according to the diary's editor, singlehandedly halted British defeat of the ill-equipped Continental Army early in the war. With a preface and afterword by the editor and lavishly underpinned with explanatory footnotes, "Diary of Agent 355" is a must read for history buffs. - Pilar Publishing of California.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Turn: Washington’s Spies, now an original series on AMC Based on remarkable new research, acclaimed historian Alexander Rose brings to life the true story of the spy ring that helped America win the Revolutionary War. For the first time, Rose takes us beyond the battlefront and deep into the shadowy underworld of double agents and triple crosses, covert operations and code breaking, and unmasks the courageous, flawed men who inhabited this wilderness of mirrors—including the spymaster at the heart of it all. In the summer of 1778, with the war poised to turn in his favor, General George Washington desperately needed to know where the British would strike next. To that end, he unleashed his secret weapon: an unlikely ring of spies in New York charged with discovering the enemy’s battle plans and military strategy. Washington’s small band included a young Quaker torn between political principle and family loyalty, a swashbuckling sailor addicted to the perils of espionage, a hard-drinking barkeep, a Yale-educated cavalryman and friend of the doomed Nathan Hale, and a peaceful, sickly farmer who begged Washington to let him retire but who always came through in the end. Personally guiding these imperfect everyday heroes was Washington himself. In an era when officers were gentlemen, and gentlemen didn’ t spy, he possessed an extraordinary talent for deception—and proved an adept spymaster. The men he mentored were dubbed the Culper Ring. The British secret service tried to hunt them down, but they escaped by the closest of shaves thanks to their ciphers, dead drops, and invisible ink. Rose’s thrilling narrative tells the unknown story of the Revolution–the murderous intelligence war, gunrunning and kidnapping, defectors and executioners—that has never appeared in the history books. But Washington’s Spies is also a spirited, touching account of friendship and trust, fear and betrayal, amid the dark and silent world of the spy.

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From an award-winning journalist comes this real-life cloak-and-dagger tale of Vera Atkins, one of Britain’s premiere secret agents during World War II. As the head of the French Section of the British Special Operations Executive, Vera Atkins recruited, trained, and mentored special operatives whose job was to organize and arm the resistance in Nazi-occupied France. After the war, Atkins courageously committed herself to a dangerous search for twelve of her most cherished women spies who had gone missing in action. Drawing on previously unavailable sources, Sarah Helm chronicles Atkins’s extraordinary life and her singular journey through the chaos of post-war Europe. Brimming with intrigue, heroics, honor, and the horrors of war, A Life in Secrets is the story of a grand, elusive woman and a tour de force of investigative journalism.

A biography of Gouverneur Morris (1752-1816) by his granddaughter, making extensive use of his letters and diary.

In 1778, two years after the British forced the Continental Army out of New York City, George Washington and his subordinates organized a secret spy network to gather intelligence in Manhattan and Long Island. Known today as the "Culper Spy Ring," Patriots like Abraham Woodhull and Robert Townsend risked their lives to report on British military operations in the region. Vital reports clandestinely traveled from New York City across the East River to Setauket and were rowed on whaleboats across the Long Island Sound to the Connecticut shore. Using ciphers, codes and invisible ink, the spy ring exposed British plans to attack French forces at Newport and a plot to counterfeit American currency. Author Bill Bleyer corrects the record, examines the impact of George Washington's Long Island spy ring and identifies Revolutionary War sites that remain today.