Counterfeit Hero: Fritz Duquesne, Adventurer and Spy

By Art Ronnie

Duquesne's 20th century heroics were as counterfeit as the medals he wore, but his incredibly colorful life was filled with drama, danger, and high adventure. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1557507333
• ISBN13: 9781557507334
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Naval Inst Pr
• Length: 390 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.3" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Looks like a great book

I received this book in better than advertised condition and the rest of the book is not much different...exceeds all expectations.

Counterfeit Hero:Fritz Duquesne, Adventurer and Spy

The title of this book: *Counterfeit Hero Fritz Duquesne, Adventurer and Spy* describes the incredible life of Frederick (Fritz) Joubert Duquesne (pronounced Doo-Cain). Fritz as his friends called him, was a bon vivant , stockbroker, prisoner of war, womanizer, confidence man, reporter, novelist, African hunting adviser to Teddy Roosevelt, and publicist for Joseph P. Kennedy's movie company, and above all, spy or saboteur for the Germans in both world wars. This is an exciting book that was painstakingly researched by the author Art Ronnie. Ronnie presents the reader with a depiction of a complex man of many facets. The Boar war in South Africa was the contorting factor in Fritz Duquesne adventurous life and explains his Anglophobia. His Boar patriotism lead to his "forty-year career as a professional spy and a counterfeit hero-a man who would constantly reinvent himself to suit the needs of the moment." He was always living on the edge of destruction. Never holding a steady job for long and invariably needing money. He lived by wits alone to survive in the nebulous world of espionage.Fritz always, despite lack of money, liked to associate and recount Münchausen adventures with the socially elite in his travels around the world. Both friend and foe have attested to his skill as a raconteur. Yet, there was always some truth in what he recounted. That is the main problem with this book, trying to separate fact from fiction.Thankfully, the author, Art Ronnie, serves as a guide through a chaotic quagmire of lies and deceit that had been promulgated by Fritz and his friends. The author engages the reader with information and then carefully evaluates it and gives his opinion when there are not any corroborating facts. Conversely, when supporting facts refutes statements given by participants, the author is quick to give correct assessments to the narrative. The real Fritz Duquesne harbored a hatred of England that caused him to offer his services as spy and saboteur to Imperial Germany during the first world war. There is solid evidence that Fritz and a group of saboteurs were responsible for the destruction of the British merchant ship Tennyson. On 21 February 1916 an explosion and fire in the hold of that ship caused the death of three sailors and beached the ship. There is inferential evidence that he was the prime leader in other acts of German espionage and sabotage against England in South America from 1914 to 1916.British Intelligence, after the Tennyson sabotage, were always trying to capture or have Fritz extradited to England. In order to elude the British, he retured to the United States in May 1916 to join his wife in New York. The United States at this time was neutral, and Fritz believed he would have a better chance in American courts of excaping extradition if he was discovered. He was later arrested by New York police masquerading as an Australian Captain lecturing on the Great War. He was ev