The Meinertzhagen Mystery: The Life and Legend of a Colossal Fraud by
Brian Garfield ISBN: 1597970417
Published by Potomac Books on January 1st 2007
Genres: Biography & Autobiography,
Historical,
Military,
Science & Technology,
History,
Middle East,
General,
Nature,
Birdwatching Guides Pages: 386
Len's Summary: Lt. Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen (1878-1967) got his start as a politically- and socially-connected British Army intelligence officer chasing Paul von Lettow Vorbeck around the East Africa bush. Later, invalided out of Africa, he was assigned to MI7 in Cairo, and claimed authorship of the legendary “haversack ruse” of 1917. A committed Zionist, Meinertzhagen was a flamboyant player in the Middle East in the inter-war years, a noted ornithologist, founder of the post-war Anglo German Fellowship, and intimate of Winston Churchill, T. H. Lawrence and Chaim Weizmann. He also perpetrated scientific fraud, was a tireless self-promoter and may have even murdered his wife. Fittingly, this lively tale is authored by a past president of the Mystery Writers of America.