Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy: Ernest Hemingway's Secret Adventures, 1935–1961

This book grew out of an exhibit the author curated while working as a historian for the CIA Museum in McLean, VA. Drawing on his intelligence background, Reynolds uncovers a trove of documents that point to American novelist Ernest Hemingway's recruitment in 1940 by the NKVD, the precursor of the KGB. Although there is evidence for the recruitment, there is no proof Hemingway ever actually spied for the Soviets. Much of the story is filled out by supposition, signaled by phrases such as "perhaps," "may have," and "most likely." Hemingway's attraction to the Soviets is attributed mostly to an alliance against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. Reynolds ably researches Hemingway's World War II adventures, both in Cuba and Europe, including clandestine activities supporting America's war effort. The final chapters cover Hemingway's predicament as an American in Cuba in the years leading up to Castro's Revolution and the Bay of Pigs, his reaction to Senator McCarthy's Communist witch hunt, and his paranoid delusions concerning FBI surveillance. Includes a generous selection of photographs.