Here is an interesting page-turner concerning a leading Maya scholar who became a spook. Based on materials from the Public Records Office, U.S. Navy Archives, and various Federal Records centers, the authors assert that Sylvanus Morley was “the finest U.S. spy of World War I” (p. xiii).
The book’s thesis emphasizes the U.S. response to a German plan to establish two submarine bases somewhere along the Mesoamerican coast. Morley’s task was to establish whether any bases existed. Harris and Sadler provide a good sketch of Morley, who approached the Office of Naval Intelligence in March 1917 to become one of their agents. Despite his interest in the pre-Hispanic indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica, Morley was an imperialist who believed that the United States had the right to intervene in Central America in case nationalization of industries or domestic conflicts threatened U.S. interests. A determined patriot, Morley explored the rivers, bays, bayous,...
