The award-winning spy and author of the New York Times bestseller Argo recounts his service with the CIA during the Cold War.

On the fiftieth anniversary of the CIA, Antonio J. Mendez was named one of the fifty all-time stars of the spy trade, and he was granted exclusive permission to tell his fascinating story—all of it.

For the first time, the CIA has authorized a top-level operative to tell all in an unforgettable behind-the-scenes look at espionage in action. An undisputed genius who could create an entirely new identity for anybody, anywhere, anytime, Antonio J. Mendez combined the cunning tricks of a magician with the analytic insight of a psychologist to help hundreds of people escape potentially fatal situations. From “Wild West” adventures in East Asia to Cold War intrigue in Moscow and helping six Americans escape revolutionary Tehran in 1980, Mendez was on the scene. Here he gives us a privileged look at what really happens in the field and behind closed doors at the highest levels of international espionage, some of it shocking, frightening, and wildly inventive—all of it unforgettable.