A guide by a spy?

Spies have long been a part of the international scene.   So have they in popular culture, ranging from the Hollywoodized version of Ian Fleming's James Bond (and the grittier Bond of the original novels) to more subdued spy fare by the likes of Len Deighton, Tom Clancy, and John le Carre.   Truth, however, is usually more engrossing than even The Hunt For Red October or The IPCRESS File.   Former CIA clandestine operative E.B. Held's book A Spy's Guide to Santa Fe and Albuquerque is chock full of such true stories.

At first glance both cities seem the last place in the Continental United States for spies.   Places like Washington, D.C., maybe, but in two of the biggest cities in the Land of Enchantment?   Such skepticism fails to take into account how New Mexico has been a prime center of nuclear weapons research since World War Two.    Spies most certainly would come to Santa Fe or Albuquerque in search of a Los Alamos-related intelligence bonanza.   And come they did.  

Held guides readers to places like Albuquerque's "Spy House."  A history-themed bed-and-breakfast establishment set up in what once was known as the Freeman boarding house.   It was here that, in Room 4 on June 3rd, 1945, a KGB operative named Harry Gould met with Los Alamos husband-and-wife spy couple David and Ruth Greenglass.   This event inadvertently set in motion a complicated chain of events that saw Greenglass' unmasked.   And with them David's sister, Ethel Rosenberg, and his brother-in-law Julius.  But the KGB did not show up in New Mexico just when Los Alamos opened.   An operative established a safe haven at a drug store in Santa Fe's Santa Fe Plaza in 1940 that played a role in the assassination of Leon Trotsky in Mexico City.   Today the place is a Haagen-Dazs ice cream parlor.

In addition to being a comprehensive guide to espionage-related historic sites, Held's book is an interesting read in itself.  Thoroughly footnoted and referenced and packed with clear-eyed explanations about how spy craft really works and the ethics involved.    If you are interested in spies, and bound for New Mexico, A Spy's Guide to Santa Fe and Albuquerque is a book you really ought to pack!   It also is just plain fascinating to read.

Image courtesy Amazon.com.