The untold story of the academics who became OSS spies,invented modern spycraftand helped turn the tide of the war At the start of WWIIthe U.S. found itself in desperate need of an intelligence agency. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS)a precursor to today’s CIAwas quickly formed–andin an effort to fill its ranks with expertsthe OSS turned to academia for recruits. Suddenlyliterature professorslibrariansand historians were training to perform undercover operations and investigative work–and these surprising spies would go on to profoundly shape both the course of the war and our cultural institutions with their efforts. In Book and DaggerElyse Graham draws on personal historieslettersand declassified OSS files to tell the story of a small but connected group of humanities scholars turned spies. Among them are Joseph Curtissa literature professor who hunted down German spies and turned them into double agents; Sherman Kenta smart-mouthed history professor who rose to become the head of analysis for all of Europe and Africa; and Adele Kibrean archivist who was sent to Stockholm to secretly acquire documents for the OSS. These unforgettable characters would ultimately help lay the foundations of modern intelligence and transform American higher education when they returned after the war. Thrillingly paced and rigorously researchedBook and Dagger is an inspiring and gripping true story about a group of academics who helped beat the Nazis–a tale that reveals the indelible power of the humanities to change the world.