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The Devastators (Hamilton Novel)
''The Devastators'' is the ninth novel in the Matt Helm spy series by Donald Hamilton. It was first published in 1965. Plot summary Matt Helm, code name "Eric", travels to London, England and eventually to Scotland in order to stop a mad scientist who plans to unleash a new Black Plague The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ... upon the world. External linksSynopsis and summary 1965 American novels Matt Helm novels {{1960s-spy-novel-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald Hamilton
Donald Bengtsson Hamilton (March 24, 1916 – November 20, 2006) was an American writer of novels, short stories, and non-fiction about the outdoors. His novels consist mostly of paperback originals, principally spy fiction, but also crime fiction and westerns, such as ''The Big Country''. He is best known for his long-running Matt Helm series (1960-1993), which chronicles the adventures of an undercover counter-agent/assassin working for a secret American government agency. The noted critic Anthony Boucher wrote: "Donald Hamilton has brought to the spy novel the authentic hard realism of Dashiell Hammett; and his stories are as compelling, and probably as close to the sordid truth of espionage, as any now being told." Life Hamilton was born on March 24, 1916, in Uppsala, Sweden, to Dr. Bengt Leopold Knutsson Hamilton and Elise Franzisca Hamilton (née Neovius). On September 27, 1924, he boarded the S/S ''Stockholm'' with his mother and three sisters at the Port of Gothenbur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matt Helm
Matt Helm is a fictional character created by American author Donald Hamilton (1916-2006). Helm is a U.S. government counter-agent, a man whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents—not a spy or secret agent in the ordinary sense of the term as used in most spy thrillers. Helm appeared in 27 adventure/suspense novels by Hamilton, first published in 1960, and the character was later adapted into film, television and other media. The character and the series Published between 1960 and 1993, the 27 books in the series portrayed Helm, who acquired the code name "Eric" during his secret wartime assignments, as jaded, ruthless, pragmatic, and competent. The series was noted for its between-books continuity, which was somewhat rare for the genre. In the later books, Helm's origins as a man of action in World War II disappeared and he became an apparently ageless character, a common fate of long-running fictional heroes. The first book in the series, '' Death of a Citi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spy Novel
Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligence agencies. It was given new impetus by the development of fascism and communism in the lead-up to World War II, continued to develop during the Cold War, and received a fresh impetus from the emergence of rogue states, international criminal organizations, global terrorist networks, maritime piracy and technological sabotage and espionage as potent threats to Western societies. As a genre, spy fiction is thematically related to the novel of adventure ('' The Prisoner of Zenda'', 1894, '' The Scarlet Pimpernel'', 1905), the thriller (such as the works of Edgar Wallace) and the politico-military thriller (''The Schirmer Inheritance'', 1953, '' The Quiet American'', 1955). History Commentator William Bendler noted that "Chapter 2 of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fawcett Publications
Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford Hamilton "Captain Billy" Fawcett (1885–1940). It kicked off with the publication of the bawdy humor magazine ''Captain Billy's Whiz Bang'' and expanded into a magazine empire with the first issue of ''Mechanix Illustrated'' in the 1920s, followed by numerous titles including '' True Confessions'', ''Family Circle'', ''Woman's Day'', and ''True''. Fawcett Comics, which began operating in 1939, led to the introduction of Captain Marvel. The company became a publisher of paperbacks in 1950 with the opening of Gold Medal Books. In 1953, the company abandoned its roster of superhero comic characters in the wake of declining sales and a lawsuit for infringement by the Captain Marvel character on the copyright of the Action Comics character Superman, and ended its publication of comic books. It was purchased by CBS Publications in 1977 and subsequently underwent dismantling ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ravagers (novel)
''The Ravagers'' is a novel by Donald Hamilton that was first published in 1964. It was the eighth novel in his long-running series of adventures featuring secret agent Matt Helm. Plot summary Matt Helm is sent to Canada where his assignment is to stop a scheme to bring a Soviet submarine within striking distance of the United States. Film adaptation plans In the 1960s, a series of popular motion pictures based upon the Matt Helm series were produced starring Dean Martin. These films only loosely adapted their source material, choosing to adopt a comedic tone, rather than the serious tone of Hamilton's books. At the end of the fourth film, 1969's '' The Wrecking Crew'', it is announced that Matt Helm's next cinematic adventure would be ''The Ravagers'' (presumably based upon this novel). Martin, however, declined to return to the role for a fifth time and the film was never made. Sharon Tate, his co-star in the fourth film, was to have co-starred in ''The Ravagers'' (the first of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Betrayers
''The Betrayers'' is the tenth novel in the Matt Helm spy series by Donald Hamilton, which originated with ''Death of a Citizen'' in 1960. This novel was first published in 1966. It was reissued in 2014 by Titan Books. Up to this point, Hamilton had maintained a publishing schedule of at least one Helm novel annually, sometimes more than one. Readers would have to wait until 1968 until the release of the next Matt Helm novel, '' The Menacers''. Plot summary During a holiday in Hawaii, Helm finds himself facing an old enemy who plans to accelerate the Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ... into a worldwide conflict. References External linksSynopsis and summary 1966 American novels Matt Helm novels Novels set in Hawaii Novels set during the Vietnam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Plague
The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causing the deaths of people, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351. Bubonic plague is caused by the bacterium ''Yersinia pestis'' spread by fleas, but it can also take a secondary form where it is spread by person-to-person contact via aerosols causing septicaemic or pneumonic plagues. The Black Death was the beginning of the second plague pandemic. The plague created religious, social and economic upheavals, with profound effects on the course of European history. The origin of the Black Death is disputed. The pandemic originated either in Central Asia or East Asia before spreading to Crimea with the Golden Horde army of Jani Beg as he was besieging the Genoese trading port of Kaffa in Crimea (1347). From Crimea, it was most likely carri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1965 American Novels
Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term as President of the United States. ** Indonesian President Sukarno announces the withdrawal of the Indonesian government from the United Nations. * January 30 – The state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill takes place in London with the largest assembly of dignitaries in the world until the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II. * February 4 – Trofim Lysenko is removed from his post as director of the Institute of Genetics at the Academy of Sciences in the Soviet Union. Lysenkoist theories are now treated as pseudoscience. * February 12 ** The African and Malagasy Common Organization ('; OCAM) is formed as successor to the Afro-Malagasy Union for Economic Cooperation ('; UAMCE), formerly the African and Malagasy Union ('; UAM). * Febr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
