Life Undercover: Coming of Age In the CIA

Although there obviously isn’t a reliable way to understand the validity of individual facts in the book, the narrative is certainly heart-wrenching and very hard to put down. This is a memoir chronicling Fox’s early life, her recruitment to CIA clandestine service from Oxford, and her subsequent, incredibly dangerous work undercover and overseas to prevent the spread of loose nuclear material in the Middle East and elsewhere. The most visceral part of the book was the author’s experience of giving birth in the field, then conducting work with her newborn baby in toe. It was one of many examples the book shows that adds haunting complexity to the intelligence world.