Author Nicholas Reynolds Discusses 'Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy' at The Seattle Public Library May 2
release date: April 25, 2017
Oxford-trained historian Nicholas Reynolds and local historian Feliks Banel will discuss Hemingway's involvement in twentieth-century spy craft and the links between his work as an operative and an author from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 2 at the Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave., Level 1, Microsoft Auditorium, 206-386-4636 .
Library events are free and open to the public. Registration is not required. Parking is available in the Central Library garage for $6 after 5 p.m.
While Reynolds was the historian at the esteemed CIA Museum, he began to uncover clues suggesting Nobel Prize-winning novelist Ernest Hemingway's involvement in mid-20th-century spy craft was far more complex, sustained and fraught with risks than has been previously understood. "Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy" reveals these discoveries for the first time, bringing to light the hidden side of Hemingway's life: his troubling recruitment by Soviet spies to work with the NKVD-the forerunner to the KGB-followed in short order by a complex set of secret relationships with American agencies, including the FBI, the Department of State, the Office of Naval Intelligence and the precursor to the CIA, the Office of Strategic Services.
Reynolds has worked in the fields of modern military history and intelligence off and on for 40 years, with some unusual detours. Freshly minted PhD from Oxford University in hand, he joined the United States Marine Corps in the 1970s, serving as an infantry officer and then as a historian. As a colonel in the reserves, he eventually became officer in charge of field history, deploying historians around the world to capture history as it was being made. When not on duty with the USMC, he served as a CIA officer at home and abroad, immersing himself in the very human business of espionage. Most recently, he was the historian for the CIA Museum, responsible for developing its strategic plan and helping to turn remarkable artifacts into compelling stories. He currently teaches as an adjunct professor for Johns Hopkins University and, with his wife, Becky, cares for rescue pugs.
Banel's work in communications reflects his lifelong interest in the people, media, arts, history, culture, climate and regional mythology of the Pacific Northwest, as well as a deep belief in the power of mass culture to create and strengthen communities and to help forge local identity. He's an Emmy-nominated producer of features and programs for Seattle Channel and KCTS 9, and host of the media history series "This NOT Just In" for KUOW. Banel also works for KIRO Radio, where he produces and reports features, serves as a news analyst, hosts news programs and writes and directs live radio dramas. Banel was deputy director of Seattle's Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) from 1999 to 2006, and is project director of a MOHAI initiative to document the history of the cable TV industry in the Pacific Northwest. He's also curator and creative director of The Northwest Hall of Radio History, a museum and archive being developed at The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University.