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Clever Girl: Elizabeth Bentley, the Spy Who Ushered in the McCarthy Era Hardcover – August 5, 2003

by Lauren Kessler (Author)

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Communists vilified her as a raging neurotic. Leftists dismissed her as a confused idealist. Her family pitied her as an exploited lover. Some said she was a traitor, a stooge, a mercenary, and a grandstander. To others she was a true American heroine -- fearless, principled, bold, and resolute. Congressional committees loved her. The FBI hailed her as an avenging angel. The Catholics embraced her. But the fact is, more than a half century after she captured the headlines as the "Red Spy Queen," Elizabeth Bentley remains a mystery.

New England-born, conservatively raised, and Vassar-educated, Bentley was groomed for a quiet life, a small life, which she explored briefly in the 1920s as a teacher, instructing well-heeled young women on the beauty of Romance languages at an East Coast boarding school. But in her mid-twenties she rejected both past and future and set herself on an entirely new course. In the 1930s she embraced communism and fell in love with an undercover KGB agent who initiated her into the world of espionage. By the time America plunged into World War II, Elizabeth Bentley was directing the operations of the two largest spy rings in America. Eventually, she had eighty people in her secret apparatus, half of them employees of the federal government. Her sources were everywhere: in the departments of Treasury and Commerce, in New Deal agencies, in the top-secret OSS (the precursor to the CIA), on congressional committees, even in the Oval Office.

When she defected in 1945 and told her story -- first to the FBI and then at a series of public hearings and trials -- she was catapulted to tabloid fame as the "Red Spy Queen," ushering in, almost single-handedly, the McCarthy Era. She was the government's star witness, the FBI's most important informer, and the darling of the Catholic anticommunist movement. Her disclosures and accusations put a halt to Russian spying for years and helped to set the tone of American postwar political life.

But who was she? A smart, independent woman who made her choices freely, right and wrong, and had the strength of character to see them through? Or was she used and manipulated by others?

Clever Girl is the definitive biography of a conflicted American woman and her controversial legacy. Set against the backdrop of the political drama that defined mid-twentieth century America, it explores the spy case whose explosive domestic and foreign policy repercussions have been debated for decades but not fully revealed -- until now.

Print length

372 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harper
Publication date

August 5, 2003
Dimensions

6 x 1.06 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0060185198
ISBN-13

978-0060185190
See all details

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kessler (The Happy Bottom Riding Club: The Life and Times of Pancho Barnes) gamely attempts to create a true-life romantic spy-thriller from the life of Elizabeth Bentley, who in 1945 confessed to being a Soviet spy, implicated Julius Rosenberg and many others and set America off on its journey through McCarthyism. Unfortunately, Kessler's attempt to draw tension and romance from Bentley's life fails amid a clutter of cameos, unexplored details and a superficial rendering of early Communist history in the U.S. Bentley is certainly an intriguing subject. A descendant of Puritans and educated at Vassar, she joined the Communist Party while a graduate student at Columbia in the Depression. She soon became a covert agent and fell in love with her KGB contact, Jacob Golos. When Golos died in her apartment and Bentley's position with the Russians deteriorated, she reached out to the FBI. Kessler is a fine writer, but her subjects just don't cooperate. Bentley's "romance" with the homely, secretive Golos is hardly romantic, and much early American Communist history is still obscured beneath the shroud of secrecy under which it operated. Finally, Bentley appears to have left little behind to aid in reliably reconstituting her life. Despite Kessler's best efforts, the result falls short as spy thriller, as biography and as history. 8 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The KGB called her Clever Girl, an American spy who passed documents, gathered intelligence, and recruited Communist agents. The FBI might have dubbed Elizabeth Bentley "Pandora," because her grand jury and congressional testimony almost single-handedly blew the lid off a complex network of Soviet spies, thus unleashing the torrent of Communist paranoia that defined the 1940s and 1950s. Eventually abandoned and betrayed by her Party handlers, Bentley "came in from the cold" to start naming names, exposing scores of Communists working within the highest ranks of the federal government. Unlike her more notorious counterparts, Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss, Bentley remained an enigma. Was she a devious Mata Hari, knowingly and willingly sabotaging her country, or a gullible pawn, controlled by men she loved and admired? In this compelling and comprehensive biography, Kessler masterfully explores and exposes the myriad, competing facets of Bentley's tumultuous life. Whether she was lover or naif, patriot or spy, Bentley's various crises-of-conscience would ultimately bring down individuals and nearly topple a nation. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper; First Edition (August 5, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 372 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060185198
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060185190
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.48 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.06 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,157,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,260 in Educator Biographies
- #27,880 in World War II History (Books)
- #30,048 in Women's Biographies

Customer Reviews:
78

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Lauren Kessler

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Lauren Kessler (www.laurenkessler.com) is an award-winning author, (semi) fearless immersion reporter and narrative nonfiction writer who combines lively storytelling with deep research to explore everything from the hidden world of a maximum security prison (A Grip of Time: When prison is your life) to the seemingly romantic but oh-go-gritty world of ballet (Raising the Barre: Big Dreams, False Starts and My Midlife Quest to Dance The Nutcracker) to the surprisingly vibrant world of those with Alzheimer’s (Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimer’s). She has dived into the wild, wild west of the anti-aging movement (Counterclockwise: My Year of Hypnosis, Hormones, Dark Chocolate and Other Adventures in the World of Antiaging) and weathered the stormy seas of the mother-daughter relationship (My Teenage Werewolf).

Her books have been Washington Post and Los Angeles Times bestsellers, Wall Street Journal “best” selections, Pacific Northwest Book Award winners, and Oregon Book Award winners. She is a national speaker and workshop leader who has twice been a guest on the late/great David Letterman Show.

Her journalism has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Los Angeles Times Magazine, O magazine, Ladies Home Journal, Prevention, Woman’s Day, Utne Reader, The Nation, newsweek.com, and salon.com.

She is a Pacific Northwesterner (by choice not birth), a blogger, a back-country hiker, a long distance bike rider and -- as her long-suffering family knows well -- a quadruple Aries.

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78 global ratings

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Amazon Customer

It wasn't all McCarthy witch hunting

Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2016

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Born in 1951 I only became aware of the communist menace in the late 60s as it related to the McCarthy hearings and witch hunts. So I was fascinated to read this well documented book telling the story of American Communism and Soviet espionage in the midst of WWII. People in high places actively sharing government secrets with our war time ally. A real eye opener and history worth knowing, though I think all history is worth knowing.

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2022

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The story of Elizabeth Bentley was very interesting. How a proper young woman becomes a spy, then confesses to what she had done was astonishing. Then testifying before grand juries and various Senate committees, that took a great deal of personal courage.

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consumser CA

She was a clever girl, but terribly lonely!

Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2016

Verified Purchase

It is a story told in the classic sense. Act I is about the drive and the good times. Act II is about the downfall and Act III delves into the post life regret. There is nothing new there, but what I find fascinating is the character study of Elizabeth Bently. The author glosses over the espionage and goes into nauseating detail about the court trials and committee hearings. I wish she had done the opposite which originally drove me to read the book. To anyone looking to read this book, I warn you that it doesn't describe the clock and dagger details, but merely the act of espionage and the consequences.

2 people found this helpful

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Brad Patten

LONG BEFORE JOE MCCARTHY.

Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2016

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" Clever Girl " provides a unique insight into a historic paranoid era post World War II . The Communist spy threat was real long before Joe McCarthy was the pseudo voice of the PINK SCARE throughout the US. The book provides an understanding of why so many people dabbled with Communism during and after the Great Depression. A good read of a little known era of American history

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Constance

The truth of it all was hidden for 50 yrs because we did not want the Russians to know we had broken their codes but the truth i

Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2016

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This is a fascinating look into our past and how the communists were able to infiltrate just about every branch of the government. The truth of it all was hidden for 50 yrs because we did not want the Russians to know we had broken their codes but the truth is Joe McCarthy was right he was just the worst possible messenger.

3 people found this helpful

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cde

Repetitive but very informative.

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2016

Verified Purchase

I found it to be repetitive. But, I was amazed to find the history of communism in the US. Her involvement and what led to the McCarthy era.

Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2016

Verified Purchase

A well researched interesting book, something I didn't know anything about , enjoyable ,however I felt it was drawn out a little .

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Catlady

U never know who turn up being a spy!!

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2016

Verified Purchase

This was a really interesting book. It was amazing how she managed to work for the communist without getting caught. And she turned on them and she managed to stay alive!
If like spy U'll enjoy this book.

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