NBC News calls it, "A historical document of major significance." The focus is on Sir William Stephenson, Britain's urbane spy chief who inspired James Bond.

    Dedicated and patient, he has everyone's respect. It is a plot where amateurs are the villains and professionals are the heroes -- particularly a team of British and French agents whose job is to foil further Russian intervention. The story moves from Washington to New York to Menton on the French Riviera, where it concludes in a series of stunning revelations, dismaying setbacks and breathless discoveries.

    What emerges in this definitive biography is a panoramic view of the rise and fall of Nazism as reflected in the destiny of one man who hopes, for patriotic purposes, to harness evil, only to be destroyed by it.