This is an updated list expanding the bibliography first published on October 8, 2024.
The fiction I write is informed and supported by the non-fiction I read. For fans of The Charlemagne Files who would like to delve into the real world of intelligence, I've put together a brief bibliography of some of the works that inform my understanding of the field. Many of these books deal with old information which has long been unclassified. The concepts and nature of intelligence work run throughout history, however, and apply to any organization in the business of finding and keeping secrets about the intentions of adversaries.
Because the members of Charlemagne consider themselves warriors against the slaughter of innocents, I include a few books dealing with that topic as well as the human costs borne by warriors. It is an eclectic list and in no particular order. I have read all but one, The Mueller Report.
Here is the updated list, some of which can be found free online. All can be checked out of a library—a practice I fully endorse.
By All Means Available, Memoirs of a life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy, by Michael G. Vickers, © 2023, Michael G. Vickers
Story of a Secret State, by Jan Karski, © 1944, Jan Karski
The Captive Mind, by Czeslaw Milosz, © 1951, 1953, Czeslaw Milosz
Memoirs of a British Agent, by R.H. Bruce Lockhart, © 1932, R.N. Bruce Lockhart
The Sword and the Shield, The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB, by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, © 1999, Christopher Andrew
The Assault on Intelligence, American National Security in an Age of Lies, by Michael V. Harden, © 2018, Michael V. Hayden
The Vory, Russia's Super Mafia, by Mark Galeotti, © 2018, Mark Galeotti
The Unit, My Life Fighting Terrorists as One of American's Most Secret Military Operatives, by Adam Gamal with Kelly Kennedy, © 2024, Adam Gamal
Spetsnaz, The Inside Story of the Soviet Special Forces, by Victor Suvorov, © 1987, Victor Suvorov
The Secret World, A History of Intelligence, by Christopher Andrew, © 2018, Christopher Andrew
The Origins of Totalitarianism, by Hannah Arendt, © 1951, Harcourt, Brace & Company, New York
The Road to Unfreedom, Russia, Europe, America, by Timothy Snyder, © 2018, Timothy Snyder, Tim Duggan Books, New York
Odysseus in America, Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming, by Jonathan Shay, M.D., Ph.D., © 2002, Jonathan Shay
Seven Pillars of Wisdom, a triumph, by T.E. Lawrence, © 1926, 1935, Doublday, Doran & Company, Inc.
The Mueller Report, The Washington Post, ©2019 WP Company LLC, Scribner, New York
Crime in Progress, Inside the Steele dossier and the Fusion GPS Investigation of Donald Trump, by Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, ©2019, Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, Random House, LLC, New York
The Threat, How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump, by Andrew G. McCabe ©2019, Andrew G. McCabe, St Martin's Press, New York
Assholes, A Theory, by Aaron James, © 2012, Aaron J. James, Anchor Books, New York
The Fort Bragg Cartel, Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces, by Seth Harp Random House, LLC, New York © 2025, Seth Harp, Viking, New York
Policing White Supremacy, The Enemy Within, by Mike German with Beth Zasloff © 2025, Mike German and Beth Zasloff, The New Press, New York
Spy Chiefs, Vol 2, Intelligence Leaders in Europe, The Middle East, and Asia, Paul Maddrell, Christopher Moran, Ioanna Iordanou, Mark Stout, Editors © 2018, Georgetown University Press,