A true story of World War II that reveals how British and American military intelligence successfully smuggled escape aids into German P.O.W. camps hidden inside Monopoly game boards, and also the game’s surprising role in espionage.
Monopoly X is at its most compelling and convincing in its opening chapters ... Orbanes does a terrific job of supplying details ... Vivid ... There’s an against-the-odds heroism in his opening chapters ... Alas, Monopoly X proves to be one of those books that would have worked better as a magazine article. The rest of the stories are disjointed, poorly organized and, in some cases, have very little to do with the board game.
Orbanes is not always careful about providing dates ... Gripping ... The book’s most appealing hero is Airey Neave, an Oxford grad who pulled off a thrilling, Monopoly X-aided escape from Germany’s Colditz Castle ... Orbanes makes a good case for his verdict.
Mr. Orbanes isn’t a subtle enough writer to balance all the competing information: Some narratives feel underdeveloped, some characters disappear right as they become interesting and some of his judgments are questionable ... The author isn’t a professional historian; much of the book’s material is derived from his own conversations with people who knew the participants, and there are no footnotes to help the reader identify his source for any given piece of information ... But in a way that is also the point. Monopoly’s secret history was kept secret for a reason. ... A professional historian would never have been able to find this story; it had to be written by an insider, someone who has spent many hours around the table in the company of fellow specialists who love every nuance of the game. Mr. Orbanes is certainly that, and we have him to thank for recording some truly memorable acts that might otherwise never have come to light.
What did you think of Monopoly X: How Top-Secret World War II Operations Used the Game of Monopoly to Help Allied POWs Escape, Conceal Spies, and Send Secret Codes?
