PublicAffairs,U.S. Paperback English
In True Face
A Woman's Life in the CIA, Unmasked
By Jonna Mendez
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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 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 even shut off the gas to their apartment. Yet Mendez had a talent for espionage, too, parlaying her interest in photography into an operational role overseas, an unlikely area for a woman in the CIA. Often underestimated, occasionally undermined, she lived undercover 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 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.
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 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 even shut off the gas to their apartment. Yet Mendez had a talent for espionage, too, parlaying her interest in photography into an operational role overseas, an unlikely area for a woman in the CIA. Often underestimated, occasionally undermined, she lived undercover 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 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.