Gordon Thomas – författare

'Literally impossible to put down’ New York Times Book ReviewGordon Thomas has a grasp of history… this is one of the few books to have captured the true nature of the Israeli Government and the thorough process of the Israeli power elite. Ari Ben-Menashe, Former Adviser on Intelligence to the Israeli Government Created in 1951 to ensure an embattled Israel’ s future, the Mossad has been responsible for the most audacious and thrilling feats of espionage, counterterrorism and assassination ever ventured. Gideon’ s Spies has been created from closed-door interviews with Mossad agents, informants and spymasters, and drawing from classified documentsand top-secret sources, revealing previously untold truths about the Israeli intelligence agency.Bang-up-to-date, this new paperback edition of this best-selling book includes startling new information on subjects ranging from Weapons of Mass Destruction, international terrorism, North Korea’ s bird-flu war games and ‘ ethnic bombs’ . The riveting text is supported by glossaries, appendices and shows a Mossad as it has historically been: brilliant, ruthless, flawed but ultimately fascinating.

Accused of being "silent" during the Holocaust, Pope Pius XII and the Vatican of World War II are now exonerated in Gordon Thomas' newest investigative work, "The Pope's Jews". Thomas' careful research into new, first-hand accounts reveal an underground network of priests, nuns and citizens that risked their lives daily to protect Roman Jews. Investigating assassination plots, conspiracies, and secret conversions, Thomas unveils faked documentation, quarantines, and more extraordinary actions taken by Catholics and the Vatican. "The Pope's Jews" finally answers the great moral question of the War: Why did Pope Pius XII refuse to condemn the genocide of Europe's Jews?

An enthralling work of popular history that vividly resurrects the web of everyday Germans who resisted Nazi ruleNazi Germany is remembered as a nation of willing fanatics. But beneath the surface, countless ordinary, everyday Germans actively resisted Hitler. Some passed industrial secrets to Allied spies. Some forged passports to help Jews escape the Reich. For others, resistance was as simple as writing a letter denouncing the rigidity of Nazi law. No matter how small the act, the danger was the same--any display of defiance was met with arrest, interrogation, torture, and even death.Defying Hitler follows the underground network of Germans who believed standing against the Fuhrer to be more important than their own survival. Their bravery is astonishing--a schoolgirl beheaded by the Gestapo for distributing anti-Nazi fliers; a German American teacher who smuggled military intel to Soviet agents, becoming the only American woman executed by the Nazis; a pacifist philosopher murdered for his role in a plot against Hitler; a young idealist who joined the SS to document their crimes, only to end up, to his horror, an accomplice to the Holocaust. This remarkable account illuminates their struggles, yielding an accessible narrative history with the pace and excitement of a thriller.

Shadow Warriors is a fascinating look at the women of the UK and US secret service branches during the Second World War. These were women of enormous cunning and strength of will, and many of the Shadow Warriors’ stories have remained untold until now. In a dramatically different tale of espionage and conspiracy in the Second World War, this book unveils the history of the courageous women who volunteered to work behind enemy lines in Nazi Occupied Europe.Sent by the United States’ OSS and Britain’s SOE into Occupied Europe, these brave women wove a web of resistance groups across the continent. So effective did the female agents become in their efforts that the Germans often placed a bounty of a million Francs on the heads of operatives disrupting their troops. Their extraordinary heroism, initiative and resourcefulness contributed to the Allied breakout of the Normandy beachheads and even infiltrated Nazi Germany at the height of the war, into the very heart of Hitler’s citadel – Berlin. Young and daring, the female agents accepted that they could be captured, tortured or killed, even as others were always readied to take their place.

Shadow Warriorsis a fascinating look at the women of the UK and US secret service branches during the Second World War. These were women of enormous cunning and strength of will, and many of the Shadow Warriors’ stories have remained untold until now. In a dramatically different tale of espionage and conspiracy in the Second World War, this book unveils the history of the courageous women who volunteered to work behind enemy lines in Nazi Occupied Europe.Sent by the United States’ OSS and Britain’s SOE into Occupied Europe, these brave women wove a web of resistance groups across the continent. So effective did the female agents become in their efforts that the Germans often placed a bounty of a million Francs on the heads of operatives disrupting their troops. Their extraordinary heroism, initiative and resourcefulness contributed to the Allied breakout of the Normandy beachheads and even infiltrated Nazi Germany at the height of the war, into the very heart of Hitler’s citadel – Berlin. Young and daring, the female agents accepted that they could be captured, tortured or killed, even as others were always readied to take their place.

How and why the cultural and religious capital of the Basque people was reduced to rubble by the Nazi Condor Legion air force. The first—and only—book to have interviewed all survivors of the blitzkrieg and those who launched it.

A riveting living history about Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929. Captures the era, the intoxicating expectancy, and the hope that ruled men’s hearts and minds before the bubble burst and the black despair of the decade that followed.

The true story of a horrifying natural disaster—and the corruption that made it worse—by the New York Times–bestselling authors of Voyage of the Damned. In late April 1902, Mount Pelée, a volcano on the Caribbean island Martinique, began to wake up. It emitted clouds of ash and smoke for two weeks until violently erupting on May 8. Over 30,000 residents of St. Pierre were killed; they burned to death under rivers of hot lava and suffocated under pounds of hot ash. Only three people managed to survive: a prisoner trapped in a dungeon-like jail cell, a man on the outskirts of town, and a young girl found floating unconscious in a boat days later.   So how did a town of thousands not heed the warnings of nature and local scientists, instead staying behind to perish in the onslaught of volcanic ash? Why did the newspapers publish articles assuring readers that the volcano was harmless? And why did the authorities refuse to allow the American Consul to contact Washington about the conditions? The answer lies in politics: With an election on the horizon, the political leaders of Martinique ignored the welfare of their people in order to consolidate the votes they needed to win.   A gripping and informative book on the disastrous effects of a natural disaster coupled with corruption, The Day the World Ended reveals the story of a city engulfed in flames and the political leaders that chose to kill their people rather than give up their political power.

A “gripping, can’t-put-it-down” chronicle, drawing on eyewitness reports and historical documents, by the New York Times–bestselling authors of Enola Gay (Los Angeles Herald Examiner). It happened at 5:13 a.m. on April 18, 1906, in San Francisco. To this day, it remains one of the worst natural disasters in American history—and this definitive book brings the full story to vivid life.   Using previously unpublished documents from insurance companies, the military, and the Red Cross, as well as the stories of those who were there, The San Francisco Earthquake exposes villains and heroes; shows how the political powers tried to conceal the amount of damage caused by the earthquake; reveals how efforts to contain the fire actually spread it instead; and tells how the military executed people without trial. It also features personal stories of people who experienced it firsthand, including the great Italian tenor Enrico Caruso, the banker Amadeo Giannini, the writer-adventurer Jack London, the temperamental star John Barrymore, and the thousands of less famous in their struggle for survival.   From the authors of The Day the Bubble Burst, The San Francisco Earthquake is an important look at how the city has handled catastrophe in the past—and how it may handle it in the future.

From theNew York Times–bestselling coauthors: A “fascinating . . . unrivaled” history of the B-29 and its fateful mission to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima (The New York Times Book Review).

 Painstakingly researched, the story behind the decision to send the Enola Gay to bomb Hiroshima is told through firsthand sources. From diplomatic moves behind the scenes to Japanese actions and the US Army Air Force’s call to action, no detail is left untold.   Touching on the early days of the Manhattan Project and the first inkling of an atomic bomb, investigative journalist Gordon Thomas and his writing partner Max Morgan-Witts, take WWII enthusiasts through the training of the crew of the Enola Gay and the challenges faced by pilot Paul Tibbets.   A page-turner that offers “minute-by-minute coverage of the critical periods” surrounding the mission, Enola Gay finally separates myth and reality from the planning of the flight to the moment over Hiroshima when the atomic age was born (Library Journal).  

The story of Paul VI, John Paul I, and John Paul II—and an assassination plot—by the New York Times–bestselling coauthors of The Day the World Ended. The Vatican has remained one of the last unexamined mysteries of the modern world. For centuries, pomp and pageantry have hidden from view the dramatic, sometimes sinister, realities that haunt the office of Supreme Pontiff and the men who make up his papacy. Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts now bring their tremendous investigative talent to this most secret of institutions, offering us an unrivaled portrait and day-to-day account of the lives, personalities, and relationships of the three most recent popes: an equally fine account of the hour-by-hour deliberations of the closely guarded conclaves at which two popes were elected in the fateful year of 1978; and a remarkable rendering of the concrete issues facing the institutional papacy—in foreign affairs, economic matters, and the human factor—the highly individual ambitions, loyalties, and hatreds that characterize the men and women who serve the Holy Father. The result is a book that is ahead of the world’s headlines, a book that makes headlines of its own. Not only have the authors brought the world of the Vatican into the open, their sleuthing has uncovered several major news stories. Pontiff includes a day-to-day account of the assassination attempt by Mehmet Ali Agca upon John Paul II: Agca’s history and family, his right-wing political connections, his activities and jailing in Turkey, his escape from jail aided by the KGB, his movements through terrorist training camps in Libya and Syria, and a complete investigation of the Bulgarian connection that led to the shooting in St. Peter’s Square. Here, also, is the story of John Paul II’s involvement with the creation of Solidarity in Poland, and his almost-daily secret contacts with Lech Walesa, as well as the unprecedented letter to Brezhev threatening his resignation from the papal throne. In addition, owing to the authors’ intricate web of connections at the Vatican (including many cardinals), the book contains previously unknown information about the man entrusted with the Church’s money, Paul Marcinkus, and his relationship with the shadowy Michele Sindona. Pontiff is a fascinating revelation of a world previously unknown to us, and an intimate view of a few men in Rome trying to lead an increasingly unwilling world to their own vision of salvation.

This Edgar Award Finalist by two New York Times–bestselling authors provides an “exciting” account of the devastating and mysterious cruise ship fire (The Washington Post). In the early morning hours of September 8, 1934, the luxury cruise liner Morro Castle, carrying 316 passengers and 230 officers and crew, caught fire a few hours out of the New York harbor on a return voyage from Havana. The fire spread with terrifying swiftness, transforming the ship into a blazing inferno. One hundred thirty-four people died that night—was it an accident?   Writers Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts prove that the disaster was no accident, but was planned, meticulously and deliberately, by an officer of the Morro Castle. His name: George White Rogers, chief radio officer. They also prove that Rogers was responsible for the death of the captain, who was poisoned several hours before the fire broke out.  Shipwreck is a spellbinding moment-by-moment account of the Morro Castle’s last voyage, and one of the most spectacular disasters to stir the Atlantic Ocean. Through interviews with survivors, rescuers, and investigators, the authors detail a desperate investigation and the search for a mass murderer. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the buildup of World War II, Shipwreck is a sweeping tale of personal heroism, tragedy, and murder.

The “extraordinary” true story of the St. Louis, a German ship that, in 1939, carried Jews away from Hamburg—and into an unimaginable ordeal (The New York Times). On May 13, 1939, the luxury liner St. Louis sailed from Hamburg, one of the last ships to leave Nazi Germany before World War II erupted. Aboard were 937 Jews—some had already been in concentration camps—who believed they had bought visas to enter Cuba. The voyage of the damned had begun. Before the St. Louis was halfway across the Atlantic, a power struggle ensued between the corrupt Cuban immigration minister who issued the visas and his superior, President Bru. The outcome: The refugees would not be allowed to land in Cuba. In America, the Brown Shirts were holding Nazi rallies in Madison Square Garden; anti-Semitic Father Coughlin had an audience of fifteen million. Back in Germany, plans were being laid to implement the final solution. And aboard the St. Louis, 937 refugees awaited the decision that would determine their fate. Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts have re-created history in this meticulous reconstruction of the voyage of the St. Louis. Every word of their account is true: the German High Command’s ulterior motive in granting permission for the “mission of mercy;” the confrontations between the refugees and the German crewmen; the suicide attempts among the passengers; and the attitudes of those who might have averted the catastrophe, but didn’t. In reviewing the work, the New York Times was unequivocal: “An extraordinary human document and a suspense story that is hard to put down. But it is more than that. It is a modern allegory, in which the SS St. Louis becomes a symbol of the SS Planet Earth. In this larger sense the book serves a greater purpose than mere drama.”

The story behind the struggle for democracy in China and the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, still the subject of widespread government censorship efforts. The first complete book on the Tiananmen Square tragedy reveals how diplomats from the United States, Britain, and Europe knew exact details of the impending massacre of the students in Tiananmen. In a vivid narrative window into secret meetings in the Oval Office, CIA headquarters, and the private compound of China’s leaders, more than one hundred interviewees contribute to an untold story.Chaos Under Heaven reveals America and the West’s betrayal of the children of China, who, for a brief moment in history, brought democracy to their homeland. In this stunning book, Gordon Thomas takes readers inside the tragic drama of those fifty-five days when the young people of China, crying out for freedom, rebelled against the old men of the Long March. At stake were America’s and the world’s roles in the future of China. Once castigated by Karl Marx as a “carefully preserved mummy in a hermetically sealed coffin,” China has become the superpower of the Pacific. As the students’ demand for democracy escalated, the Western nations realized that their carefully cultivated ambitions for China were at risk. Their goal was to preserve the status quo.

In this breakneck thriller, the New York Times–bestselling author introduces Mossad agent David Morton—a man as dangerous as the terrorists he hunts.   In the aftermath of the 1990-1991 Gulf War, a megalomaniac terrorist holds the world hostage, threatening to poison every major city with a deadly virus. He has the means—a form of anthrax capable of wiping out millions in minutes—and demonstrates its potency by adding a small vial of it to the drinking water in a small South African town, killing all of the inhabitants. With only seven days to meet his demands, the world’s leaders call on David Morton, a brilliant and ruthless Mossad agent. The result is a tense global chase, leading from China to Athens, London, Libya, South Africa, Tel Aviv, and New York, drawing good and evil closer and closer in a battle to the death.  Deadly Perfume penetrates the real world of intelligence-gathering to reveal its secret subculture, with its hidden loyalties and agendas. Gordon Thomas has imagined a world so terrifyingly real that it poses the question, Is it imagined at all?   “[A] horribly convincing thriller . . . Intelligence agent David Morton deals with the psychodynamics of terrorism, with modern technology at his fingertips and the ears of Western politicians at his command. I was left hoping that we have some real Mortons at our disposal.” —Daily Mail

Desire and Denial confronts the fundamentals of Christian history, capturing the powerful interplay between the limits of sexuality within the Roman Catholic Church’s priesthood and sisterhood and compassionate accounts of mystic forces that make many doubt their calling.

Secret agent David Morton—a James Bond for a new era—returns in this compelling thriller from the New York Times–bestselling author of Deadly Perfume.   Suspicious of the West and fearful of the Muslim fanatics in the East, a troika plans to ensure that the Republic of Russia emerges as a military superpower. In California, the pastor of the Church of True Belief uses his satellite to spread global hatred. But the threat of a powerful Chinese businessman is the most sinister of all . . .   At the same time in Rome, a dying pope vows to unite all the faiths and bring to the world a peace and stability it has never known. He turns to South Africa’s first black cardinal—entrusting him with a crucial, secret mission.   Using a mosaic of shard-like details, each meticulously exact, this extraordinary novel explores the dark, turbulent forces that intelligence agent David Morton must overcome if he is to destroy the cynical alliance around him. Already compared to Ian Fleming and John le Carré, in Godless Icon, Gordon Thomas confirms his reputation as a novelist of stature.  

A vivid portrait Mary Magdalene, one of the Bible’s most compelling women, from the New York Times–bestselling author of Pontiff. Both sinner and saint, passionate and devoted, the figure of Mary Magdalene has fired imaginations throughout the ages. As arguably the closest of Jesus’s followers, Mary Magdalene offered a unique perspective on the most enigmatic of men. Drawing on detailed research and informed speculation, this is a vivid and compelling account of Mary’s life and the Jesus she knew, by the bestselling author of Trial.

Intelligence agent David Morton must foil an illegal organ trafficking ring in this thrilling novel by the New York Times–bestselling author.   On a remote island in Central America, transplants are being performed for the elite of the crime world—with organs harvested from those killed by a sinister organization.   Following the trail of mutilated bodies across the globe, intelligence agent David Morton must discover who is the mastermind behind the carnage. His own gut reaction convinces him that none of the usual players—The Chinese Triads, Japan’s organized crime syndicate, the Russian criminal fraternity, the Mafia—are responsible.   There’s a powerful new player on the block . . .

The New York Times–bestselling author brings back intelligence agent David Morton who must stop the deployment of a diabolical new weapon.   After witnessing extensive air pollution in major US cities, a rogue Russian scientist knows there must be a way to exploit that weakness—and he’s come up with a bomb that does just that.   But as the American president unveils a new initiative to radically change global environmental policies, he has his own deadly weapon at his side: intelligence operative David Morton . . .   “Morton is smarter than Bond.” —Daily Mail  

From the New York Times–bestselling author: A vividly personal, historically accurate portrait of Jesus that “transcends all religious boundaries” (Toronto Star). Meet Jesus again for the very first time. This modern dramatization of the known facts presents a passionate portrait of Christ’s life and brings new light to such figures as Pontius Pilate, Mary Magdalene, and Mary and Martha of Bethany. In The Jesus Conspiracy, skilled journalist and novelist Gordon Thomas offers a thoughtful account of the life of Jesus in a gripping “you are there” fashion. By pairing current archaeological and anthropological discoveries, Thomas reveals a startling vision of Christ. This modern dramatization brings the social and cultural world of the first century to life for the contemporary reader and leads to some surprising conclusions. Whether you are a spiritual seeker or a seasoned Christian, this book will enable you to know more about the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.

Only operative David Morton can destroy a Russian-made weapon that can control the US president’s mind—from the New York Times–bestselling author.   David Morton and his new Hammer Force—an intelligence agency created by the United Nations after the carnage in Bosnia—have a formidable task. To avert a world crisis, they must win a deadly, invisible battle for control of the mind of the president of the United States. A weapon has been created by the former Soviet Union’s most brilliant scientist, Professor Igor Tamasara, that is designed to trigger responses in the president that will pit the United States and Japan against each other, leading to World War III. From that conflict, Tamasara’s new paymaster—China—will emerge as the superpower of the twenty-first century.   Set against the background of Washington, Beijing, and Hong Kong, this highly original and totally credible futuristic thriller builds to a climax of nail-biting suspense. Once more showing an astonishing command of the inner workings of international politics and the world of secret intelligence, Gordon Thomas has created a first-rate work of fiction featuring unforgettable characters.   “Morton is a character who could have been created by Forsyth, le Carré or Ludlum. You will read any of his adventures in one sitting.” —Le Monde