In True Face
A Woman's Life in the CIA, Unmasked
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $20.99
Publisher Description
In this “extraordinarily brave and entertaining book” (Sonia Purnell, New York Times–bestselling author of A Woman of No Importance), the bestselling coauthor of Argo tells her riveting, courageous story of being a female spy at the height of the Cold War
Jonna Hiestand Mendez began her CIA career as a “contract wife” performing secretarial duties for the CIA as a convenience to her husband, a young officer stationed in Europe. She needed his permission to open a bank account or shut off the gas to their apartment. Yet Mendez had a talent for espionage, too, and she soon took on bigger and more significant roles at the Agency. She parlayed her interest in photography into an operational role overseas, an unlikely area for a woman in the CIA. Often underestimated, occasionally undermined, she lived under cover and served tours of duty all over the globe, rising first to become an international spy and ultimately to Chief of Disguise at CIA’s Office of Technical Service.
In True Face recounts not only the drama of Mendez’s high-stakes work—how this savvy operator parlayed her “everywoman” appeal into incredible subterfuge—but also the grit and good fortune it took for her to navigate a misogynistic world. This is the story of an incredible spy career and what it took to achieve it.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Part whirlwind international travelogue, part autobiography, and completely fascinating, this is the true story of how one woman rose through the ranks of the CIA. In True Face tells Jonna Mendez’s own account of how she went from being a daredevil kid in Wichita to becoming a spy—and eventually, one of the CIA’s most acclaimed experts in disguise. Mendez balances colourful descriptions of her international adventures facing off with terrorists and KGB agents with a sharp eye for the indignities and misogyny she faced from the CIA’s own old boy network as a pioneering woman in the espionage field in the ’60s. As she details her journeys from Germany to Thailand and the Middle East, Mendez is a deeply thoughtful narrator, adding heart-rending ruminations on the agony and ecstasy of leaving her comfy Midwest home in search of something bigger and more meaningful. Whether you like thrilling spy stories and high-flying tales of globe-trotting or you’re more interested in the personal stories of an inspirational woman, In True Face is endlessly engaging.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mendez (The Moscow Rules), the CIA's former Chief of Disguise, details her fascinating career in this gripping memoir. Mendez began working for the agency in the 1960s, after traveling across Europe in her early 20s and falling for fellow American John Goeser, whom she met while working at a German bank. After she accepted his marriage proposal, Goeser revealed to Mendez that he was with the CIA. Her ambition and knack for espionage—including her skills in developing clandestine film quickly and accurately—helped her move beyond her initial assignment as a "contract wife" tasked with helping Goeser maintain his cover. Her true métier turned out to be designing disguises, and her skills landed her hazardous assignments in risky locations including Russia and East Germany, where she matched wits with the KGB and the Stasi. (The realistic face masks she designed so impressed then-CIA director William Webster that he had her wear one to a meeting with President George H.W. Bush before peeling it off to reveal her true face.) Mendez's accounts of her high-pressure field work are enhanced by the more quotidian aspects of her service, including her struggles to take on as much responsibility, and make as much money, as her male counterparts. It adds up to an entertaining and enlightening glimpse inside the opaque world of spycraft. Agents: Grainne Fox and Christy Fletcher, UTA.
