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In True Face : A Woman's Life in the Cia, Unmasked - Jonna Mendez

In True Face

A Woman's Life in the Cia, Unmasked

By: Jonna Mendez

Hardcover | 5 March 2024 | Edition Number 1

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The bestselling co-author of The Moscow Rules and Argo tells her riveting, courageous story of being a female spy at the CIA and battling against the agency's ingrained culture of sexism, all while undertaking dangerous missions for America's safety during the height of the Cold War.

Jonna Hiestand Mendez began her CIA career as a "contract wife," a second-class citizen who was hired as a convenience to her husband, a young officer stationed in Switzerland. She needed his permission to open a bank account or shut off the gas to her apartment, and she performed menial duties for the CIA.

Despite battling sexism at all levels of the agency, Mendez's talent for espionage was clear, and she soon took on bigger and more significant roles. She lived under cover and served tours of duty all over the globe, as well as at CIA Headquarters. She confronted dangerous situations that called on her spy training: coming face to face with a rogue Jihadi who had brought down an American plane, and helping steal a top-secret encryption machine from a Soviet embassy, among other high stakes situations. She became an international spy and ultimately Chief of Disguise at CIA's Office of Technical Service--a kind of female American version of James Bond's famous "Q."

In this breakthrough memoir, Mendez recounts not only the drama of her international spy career but the grit and good fortune it took for her to navigate the CIA's misogynistic world. She was undermined, harassed, and threatened, and saw colleagues experience worse. While maintaining a patriotic mission and working to advance her own career, she was a firsthand witness to the cost of this gendered culture, both to the women who worked there, and to the interests of the agency and the nation it serves.

In True Face is both clear-eyed and dramatic: the story of an incredible spy career, and what it took to achieve it.

Industry Reviews
"In True Face: A Woman's Life in the CIA, Unmasked ranks as one of the great CIA autobiographies of all time. It is a must read for anyone interested in the CIA's unique mission and what it was like for a woman rising through the ranks to a position of great importance. Jonna Mendez's story of her career is inspiring. It is also filled with vignettes of espionage, as well as the humor and the challenges of daily life serving in the world's best intelligence service, that make it a page turner. Thanks to Jonna for sharing her career with all of us!"--Michael Morell, former CIA deputy director
"Engaging and enlightening... This consistently absorbing book is a wonderful memoir that offers more than simply a compelling life story."
--BookPage
"I loved the book. Part adventure story, part real-life espionage novel, and part life journey, the book comes alive with Jonna's rich vignettes of a life and work overseas for the CIA. Most importantly, Jonna battled terrible institutional misogyny to rise from a contract spouse to Chief of Disguise at CIA, where she was a critical component of the CIA's espionage activities against our nation's toughest adversaries. Jonna's experiences will no doubt inspire the next generation of female CIA officers."
--Marc Polymeropoulos, former CIA operations officer, MSNBC national security analyst and author of Clarity in Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the CIA
"An extraordinarily brave and entertaining book. Jonna Mendez shows us that one of the CIA's biggest secrets was its treatment of women and the consequences not only for its officers, but the nation it was supposed to serve."--Sonia Purnell, New York Times-bestselling author of A Woman of No Importance
"Few outside the intelligence community understand the pressures and deceptions involved in spying. Even fewer know what it means to navigate this world while also fighting against discrimination. But all that secrecy can take a toll. In this book, Jonna Mendez takes a risk that she never could in her spying days--to tell the full and unvarnished truth."--Valerie Plame, bestselling author of Fair Game and Burned
"In this refreshingly personal account, Jonna Mendez uses stories from her amazing 25 year CIA career to shed light on everything from clandestine photographic operations to decades of sexism at the Agency to mind-blowing disguise technology. A must-read for anyone interested in intelligence."--David Priess, former CIA officer and author of The President's Book of Secrets
"Who can imagine James Bond without secret weapons, tricky cars and disguises? Meet Jonna, the CIA's version of Q and the first woman to master the many skills of deception and spy craft. With more than a decade of undercover operations, I had met only a few of the Agency's rare, but storied technical officers -- the ones responsible for many of the most sensitive, elaborate activities. In True Face had me glued to the pages until I finished in one sitting! This is a rare glimpse at the Spy-vs-Spy that won the Cold War and wages still. A must-read and inspiration to women who fear not."--Mary Beth Long, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
"Fans of true espionage will enjoy Mendez's stories of a formative era in intelligence history."--Kirkus
"Mendez details her fascinating career in this gripping memoir... an entertaining and enlightening glimpse inside the opaque world of spycraft."--Publishers Weekly

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