a former head of the CIA’s Office of Technical Service (OTS) and an internationally acclaimed espionage historian join forces to tell the story of the covert devices critical to America’s intelligence operations for more than half a century. SPYCRAFT recounts never before revealed details of the early false starts and frustrations OTS overcame to achieve eventual technological breakthroughs and operational successes unequaled in the shadowy world of espionage. SPYCRAFT traces the development and deployment of spy gear from secret writing and bugging devices to subminiature cameras and covert internet communications. Often incorporating technology that would not appear in consumer goods for two or more decades later, the remarkable devices of OTS were instrumental in winning the Cold War and fighting terrorism from South America to Moscow and in the jungles of Vietnam to the mountains of Afghanistan.

The Secret History of Star Wars traces all the way back to 1973 to examine how the first 14-page treatment that began the series came to be and was slowly built, draft by draft, year by year and movie by movie. Covering a period of over four decades, you will discover how George Lucas got his ideas for the original film, how Darth Vader was made into Luke Skywalker’s father in 1978 and forever altered the arc of the story, what happened to the infamous third trilogy in the series and how the prequel stories came to be. The book also reveals the style and method of Lucas himself and how his personal life affected and shaped the story, for better and worse.