Charles McCarry

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Christopher's Ghosts The Overlook Press, 2007
Christopher's Ghosts
The Overlook Press, 2007

Charles McCarry (born 1930 Massachusetts, USA) is an American writer primarily of spy fiction.

Contents

[edit] Life

McCarry served in the United States Army, where he was a correspondent for Stars and Stripes, has been a small-town newspaperman, and was a speechwriter in the Eisenhower administration. From 1958 to 1967 he worked for the CIA, under deep cover in Europe, Asia, and Africa. However, his cover was not as a writer or journalist.[1] He is married with four grown sons.[2] His family is from The Berkshires area of western Massachusetts, where he currently lives.[3]

He is an admirer of the work of W. Somerset Maugham, especially the Ashenden stories.[4] He was also an admirer of Richard Condon, author of The Manchurian Candidate, Prizzi's Honor and numerous other novels.[5]

McCarry was editor-at-large for National Geographic and has contributed pieces to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and other national publications.

[edit] Work

The Last Supper Arrow edition, 1984
The Last Supper
Arrow edition, 1984

His novels, which are highly regarded for their expertise and literary quality, are currently being reprinted by Overlook Press, starting with Tears of Autumn, republished in 2005. Charles N. Brown, the publisher of Locus, which primarily addresses the science-fiction publishing world, wrote in the July 2006 issue: "Two Charles McCarry hardcover reprints from Overlook... aren't really SF or fantasy, but they are two of the best spy thrillers ever written and form a secret or alternate history of the 20th century. The other volumes in the history of the Christopher family, all excellent, range from the 17th Century (Bride of the Wilderness) to the near future (The Better Angels, Shelley's Heart)."

The film Wrong is Right (1982) starring Sean Connery was loosely based on his novel, The Better Angels.

[edit] Books

[edit] Novels featuring Paul Christopher or his family

The Miernik Dossier Coronet edition, 1975
The Miernik Dossier
Coronet edition, 1975
  • The Miernik Dossier (1973; Hutchinson, 1974; Coronet Books, London, 1975, ISBN 0 340 19942 3)
  • The Tears of Autumn (1974)
  • The Secret Lovers (1977)
  • The Better Angels (1979) (Christopher family)
  • The Last Supper (Hutchinson Publ. Group, 1983; Arrow paperback edition, 1984; ISBN 0 09 934660 5)
  • The Bride of the Wilderness (1988) (historical novel concerning the Christopher family)
  • Second Sight (1991)
  • Shelley's Heart (1995) (Christopher family)
  • Old Boys (2004)
  • Christopher's Ghosts (2007)

[edit] Non-Christopher family novel

  • Lucky Bastard (1999)

[edit] Non-Fiction

  • Citizen Nader (1972)
  • Double Eagle: Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, Larry Newman (1979)
  • The Great Southwest (1980)
  • Isles of the Caribbean (National Geographic Society, Washington, DC, 1980, co-author)
  • Paths of Resistance: The Art and Craft of the Political Novel (1989, with Isabel Allende, Marge Piercy, Robert Stone and Gore Vidal)
  • Inner Circles: How America Changed the World: a Memoir (1992, by Alexander Haig with Charles McCarry)
  • From the Field: A Collection of Writings from National Geographic (1997, editor)

[edit] External links