The Fifth Column by Andrew Gross

I have been reading far too many non-fiction books lately.  Books about World War II battles in Europe and the Pacific, books about baseball (which I gladly add to my collection, Yogi: A Life Behind the Mask by Jon Pessah, being my latest addition) and history.

So, as I read of a famous someone's reading habits - he read fiction every night - I decided to give it a try.

As luck would  have it, my local bookstore had The Fifth Column by Andrew Gross.  It's a tale of German saboteurs in New York City in the days leading up to America's entry into World War II centered on NYC's upper east side area of Yorkville.  

There were several NYC neighborhoods that were hotbeds of pro-Germany sympathy in the 1930s including Yorkville and one in Glendale, Queens.  In fact, my father who grew up in next-door Middle Village admitted to me that they were afraid of the strength of the German Bundists who lived down the street.

Newark, New Jersey also had a pro-Nazi community but the citizens there had them differently.  The Jews and Italians of Newark formed a group called the Minutemen who went after pro-Nazi marchers with baseball bats.  Kind of put the kibosh on future marches in Newark.

Now, as to book's title, The Fifth Column, per the Britannica website definition:

Fifth column, clandestine group or faction of subversive agents who attempt to undermine a nation’s solidarity by any means at their disposal. The term is conventionally credited to Emilio Mola Vidal, a Nationalist general during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). As four of his army columns moved on Madrid, the general referred to his militant supporters within the capital as his “fifth column,” intent on undermining the loyalist government from within.

A cardinal technique of the fifth column is the infiltration of sympathizers into the entire fabric of the nation under attack and, particularly, into positions of policy decision and national defense. From such key posts, fifth-column activists exploit the fears of a people by spreading rumours and misinformation, as well as by employing the more standard techniques of espionage and sabotage.

So, Trudi and Willie Bauer, the arch-villains of the story, are fifth columnists.

Now, I am not going to tell you more about the story, but I did notice some interesting goofs by the author and his editor(s).

I've written a small book, A Father's Story: My Fight for Justice Against Iranian Terrorism, and I have to say that the editorial process was hell.  Every fact was checked and double checked.  So, I was a bit surprised when I found a, to me, glaring factual error in The Fifth Column.

Our hero is going to make a call to someone at the US State Department in Washington, DC.  He dials the number beginning with area code "202."  Uh, there was no such thing as an area code before the 1960s. No, we had telephone exchanges, such as Davenport, Elmwood, Redwood, Twining, Butterfield (as in Butterfield 8.)  Area code 202 had not yet been invented at the time of the story!

On top of that, the editors missed another glaring boo-boo.  At one point our hero is told there will be a white Pontiac waiting for him outside the bad guy's hangout.  But  when we get to the hang out, it's a Buick!

Happy reading.

Well, that's what I have to say. 

Stephen M. Flatow