In the summer of 1940, as British pilots fought desperately for the skies of southern England, the battle was joined on a very different front, thousands of miles from the coast of Kent. It was fought through the political salons of Washington DC, the boardrooms and the smoky nightclubs of New York. The protagonists had no uniform save that of a well-tailored suit; their weapons were native cunning, a plausible manner, and, from time to time, a concealed revolver. This was the secret battle for America, ordered by Winston Churchill himself, and the fate of the free world hung upon...