Lucifer Rising

Lucifer Rising unravels for the first time the myths surrounding the most surreal yet, ultimately, seriously-intended secret operations of the Second World War when Britain stood alone against the Nazis. Featuring an eccentric cast of characters, including the creator of James Bond, the self-proclaimed 'wickedest man in the world', a cross-dressing astrologer and the Deputy Führer, bestselling author Nicholas Booth weaves together an incredible narrative about spying, sabotage, weird inventions, black propaganda and even the attempted harnessing of the occult as the British secret service sought desperately to gain the upper hand over the Nazis by whatever means possible. Using hitherto secret files - many only recently released - Lucifer Rising shows how nothing was considered too outrageous in the desperate fight against the Nazi regime, including the attempted manipulation of the occult and astrology with often unintentionally hilarious results.

Auteur

Nicholas Booth is a former journalist and bestselling author of Zigzag (Piatkus, 2007) and the forthcoming The Thieves of Threadneedle Street (The History Press, 2015).

Résumé
Summer 1940. In the desperate fight against Nazi Germany, nothing is considered too outlandish, so the British secret services turn to figures from the occult world to help turn the tide of war. What begins as a mission to understand Hitler's supposed astrological advice soon becomes more bizarre, with often hilarious, unintended consequences. It is a story of misinformation, false predictions and some of the most surreal secret operations of the Second World War. Incredibly, it is all true. Featuring an eccentric cast of characters, including the creator of James Bond, a cross-dressing astrologer, a spymaster who walked around in public with his pet bear and the self-proclaimed 'wickedest man in the world', best-selling author Nicholas Booth weaves together an amazing narrative of spying, sabotage and black propaganda. Using hitherto secret files many only released in the last few years Lucifer Rising unravels for the first time the myths surrounding these operations, culminating with perhaps the most curious of all: the arrival by parachute of Rudolf Hess in Scotland in May 1941.