"Winthrop Bell is a name you should know, and thanks to Jason Bell and his deep dive research you now will."
— Peter Mansbridge
About the Book
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER, twenty weeks on the Toronto Star bestseller list, the thrilling true story of Agent A12, the earliest enemy of the Nazis, and the first spy to crack Hitler’s deadliest secret code: the framework of the Final Solution.
In public life, Dr. Winthrop Bell of Halifax was a Harvard philosophy professor and wealthy businessman. As a MI6 spy—known as secret agent A12—in Berlin in 1919, he evaded gunfire and shook off pursuers to break open the emerging Nazi conspiracy. His reports, the first warning of the Nazi plot for World War II, went directly to the man known as C, the mysterious founder of MI6, as well as to various prime ministers. But a powerful fascist politician quietly worked to suppress his alerts. Nevertheless, Dr. Bell's intelligence sabotaged the Nazis, in ways only now revealed in Cracking the Nazi Code.
As World War II approached, Bell became a spy once again. In 1939, he was the first to crack Hitler’s deadliest secret code: Germany’s plan for the Holocaust. At that time, the führer was a popular politician who said he wanted peace. Could anyone believe Bell’s shocking warning?
Fighting an epic intelligence war from Eastern Europe and Russia to France, Canada, and finally Washington, DC, agent A12 was a real-life 007, waging a single-handed struggle against madmen bent on destroying the Western world. Without Bell’s astounding courage, the Nazis just might have won the war.
Buy the Book
Indigo, Chapters and Coles‘s Staff Pick of the Month! Pick up your copy of the book at Indigo (in store and online): https://bit.ly/3thMsaj
About The Author
Jason Bell
JASON BELL, PhD, is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of New Brunswick. He has served as a Fulbright Professor in Germany (at Winthrop Bell’s alma mater, the University of Göttingen), and has taught at universities in Belgium, the United States and Canada. He was the first scholar granted exclusive access to Winthrop Bell’s classified espionage papers.
REVIEWS
—Kirkus (starred review)
“The story of a dynamic yet understated Renaissance man who was the first to decipher the plans for Hitler’s Final Solution…Jason Bell presents a remarkable book about a remarkable man heretofore unknown. Yet in this author’s capable hands, the name Winthrop Bell (1884-1965) should resound in the annals of history…Fascinating, well-paced text…Vivid, exciting descriptions…This book is a significant and timely achievement, and the author should be commended for bringing to colorful life the story of the courageous, intelligent, and infinitely interesting Winthrop Bell, a man whose name should always be registered in the first rank of heroic freedom-fighters and who, as the author points how, cracked not only the Nazi code but the peace code as well. A masterful profile of a significant historical figure.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
“A remarkable account of…A12 who uncovered the emerging Nazi conspiracy…The book vividly documents the spy’s efforts to alert the British of Nazi plans…A gripping account of the spy, who also was an academic at Harvard and McGill…An extraordinary story of one man’s efforts to stop the Nazi regime.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A gripping investigation of the secret role Canadian-born British spy and philosopher Winthrop Bell (no relation to the author) played in sounding the alarm about the Nazi threat—not once, but twice…Even readers well-versed on the war will be surprised by the history Bell has pieced together. It’s a significant new perspective on behind-the-scenes political machinations preceding WWII.”
—Booklist
“In detail-rich prose…[Jason] Bell tells the incredible story of ‘quite possibly history’s greatest spy,’ a man who…tried to warn the world of the rise of Germany in 1919 and again in 1939…Unputdownable.”
Rosemary Sullivan, Stalin’s Daughter
“Brilliantly researched, Cracking the Nazi Code upends our conventional, often inaccurate, understanding of the Nazis’ rise to power after WWI. It took the stunning intelligence work of Winthrop Bell, a Canadian spy working for MI6 in Germany, to decipher what was really going on. How did Hitler, an insignificant minion, manage to climb the ladder of power? How wide-ranging was his genocidal intent? As Bell pursues the truth, the twists and turns of his life are fascinating. We come away with a deep respect for intelligence work at its finest. A page-turner, one of those books not to be missed.”
Michael Bar-Zohar, Mossad
“An amazing book. . . . Winthrop Bell was a harbinger of fate, a prophet in his times. . . Spy story addicts, history buffs, researchers and readers blessed with even a quantum of curiosity should read this extraordinary ouvrage and reflect on its meaning for our past, but also for our future.”
Gregory A. Freeman, The Forgotten 500
“If you think you know everything about World War II, you need this book. Jason Bell’s account of how a philosophy professor alerted world leaders to the true threat of the rising Nazi movement is a first-rate spy story. Cracking the Nazi Code takes you along on one man’s dangerous quest to discover the truth and convince world leaders of perils to come”
Tim Cook, Vimy: The Battle and the Legend
Written with uncommon verve, wonderful detail, and deep insight gained from previously inaccessible archival records, Cracking the Nazi Code reveals the key spy work of Winthrop Bell. His secret fieldwork revealed insurrection, revolution, and the rise of the vile ideology that would underpin the Nazi party. Bell’s dangerous missions saved countless lives, supported battered democratic regimes, and provided British spymasters and Canadian political leaders with crucial information to avert disaster. Cracking the Nazi Code reminds us of the fragility of nations after war and how easily they can slide into chaos as demagogues prey upon the vulnerable, helpless, and hopeless.
Ken Cuthbertson, Blood on the Coal: The True Story of the Great Springhill Mine Disaster
Move over William Stephenson. It turns out “the Man Called Intrepid” wasn’t Canada’s only WWII master spy. In this fascinating first-ever biography of Winthrop Bell, historian Jason Bell introduces readers to the shadowy one-time Harvard-philosophy-professor-turned-secret-agent who became one of Nazi Germany’s biggest enemies.
Peter Mansbridge
I love books that promise “untold stories”. This one does and it delivers. Who knew that a Canadian was the first to warn the world what the Nazis were up to, and to do it years before anyone else was even talking about Nazis? Winthrop Bell is a name you should know, and thanks to Jason Bell and his deep dive research you now will.
—Literary Review of Canada
“Jason Bell spent fifteen years conducting interviews, rummaging through archives, and examining formerly classified papers to recreate the life of a man named Winthrop Bell (no relation to the author), known in the shadowy world of British spydom as A12 There’s sufficient derring‑do in this volume to qualify it as a spy story—enough history to serve as a serviceable introduction to interwar Europe, enough scholarship to satisfy the faculty lounge.”
Toronto Star
“. . . a stunning new book . . . if you cannot see the similarities between today and the 1920s, you’re not paying attention. Bell’s book makes the point powerfully.”
Policy Magazine
—The Peterborough Examiner
“A path-breaking look at the inner workings of British intelligence between the two world wars… [Jason Bell] argues convincingly that ‘a good spy can prevent a war so quietly that hardly anyone realizes it.“
Daily Express (U.K.)
“Inside story of real-life spy who discovered Holocaust…”
CBC
Dr. Winthrop Bell, also known as MI6 Agent A12, was integral to winning the fight against the Nazis. The professor and businessman from Halifax courageously gathered information that proved invaluable in warning the allies of Hitler’s secret plan of putting in place the Holocaust. Jason Bell, based on recently declassified documents, details the exploits of Agent A12 in the book Cracking the Nazi Code.
Quill and Quire
Using recently declassified documents, this first biography of Halifax’s Dr. Winthrop Bell reveals the Harvard philosophy professor and businessman to have been a remarkable MI6 spy. Bell not only provided the first warning of Nazi ideology in 1919, then the Nazi’s plans for war, but was also the first to crack Hitler’s code for the Holocaust.
Winnipeg Free Press
“… Worth every word.”
The Hill Times
100 Best Books of the Year
IN THE MEDIA
EVENTS
UPCOMING
-Apr. 2 2024- Assumption University -Worcester, Massachusetts
PAST EVENTS
–Sept. 26 2023– Mount Allison University
–Sept. 27 2023– Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society -Halifax, NS
-Sept. 28 2023– South Shore Genealogical Society –Lunenburg, NS
-Sept. 30 2023– Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia -Dartmouth, NS
-Oct. 2 2023– University of Toronto, Munk School -Toronto, ON
-Oct. 3 2023– Your Morning CTV – 7:45am ET
-Oct. 3 2023– The Morning Show – Global 9:50am ET
-Oct. 5 2023– Mount Allison University – Sackville, NB.
-Oct. 6 2023– Chester Playhouse – Chester, NS
-Oct. 6 2023– Dalhousie University, -Halifax, NS
-Oct. 12 2023– University of Calgary -Calgary, AB
-Oct. 17 2023– Simon Fraser University -Vancouver, BC
-Oct. 20 2023– Perfect Books -Ottawa, ON
-Oct. 25 2023– Queen’s University Belfast
-Oct. 26 2023– Centre for Intelligence Studies, King’s College London
-Oct. 30 2023– Nuffield College, University of Oxford
-Nov. 2 2023– Waterstones Milton Keynes, upstairs, history dept
-Nov. 7 2023– (PRIVATE EVENT) Royal United Services Institute, Whitehall
-Nov. 8 2023– Emmanuel College, Cambridge University
-Nov. 15 2023– Royal Holloway University of London
-Dec. 5 2023- The Maritime Museum of The Atlantic – Halifax, NS
-Jan. 9 2024- Massey College – Toronto, ON
-Jan. 10 2024- Simon Fraser University – Vancouver, BC