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WORK TITLE: The Emperor and the Spy
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1951?
WEBSITE: http://theemperorandthespy.com/
CITY: San Diego
STATE: CA
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Male.
EDUCATION:Brooklyn College, B.S. (chemistry), 1973; Georgetown University, Doctor of Dentistry, 1978; Alliant International University, Degree in Education, 1989; Board Member of the San Diego World Affairs Council; Antiquarian Bookstores, owner.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Teacher, historian.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
The son of European immigrants who settled in New York City, Stan S. Katz is a teacher and enthusiast of history and world affairs and is a Board Member of the San Diego World Affairs Council. Through his ownership of the Antiquarian Bookstores, in 1999 Katz acquired the personal papers collected by Colonel Sidney Forrester Mashbir, an American spy during World War II, and used the historical documents as a basis for his 2018 debut novel, The Emperor and the Spy: The Secret Alliance to Prevent World War II.
The book is a fictional account of Mashbir (1891-1973), an American Intelligence Agent who pioneered the foundation of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Based on Mashbir’s collection of papers, Katz explores his life and career. Mashbir first worked as a spy during the Mexican-American Border War (1910–1919) hunting German terrorists. Then during the 1920s and 1930s he worked in Japan, becoming friends with Prince Tokugawa, one of Emperor Hirohito’s closest mentors. Fluent in Japanese language and culture, Mashbir consulted with Hirohito, encouraged peacekeeping efforts between the United States and Japan, and helped to get American citizens of Japanese descent out of American internment camps during the war. Katz mentions other notable figures in Mashbir’s orbit, such as General George Patton, General Douglas MacArthur, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Explaining how he believed that Mashbir had a profound impact on history, Katz told Pam Kragen in an interview online at San Diego Union-Tribune: “I believe, if Mashbir had not done such a good job of confronting the fascists in Japan, who is to say that the Nazis in Europe might have had a greater chance of defeating the Allies?” Katz said. “World War II had two main theaters of operation, which were interconnected. That was one of the reasons, among many, that inspired the novel,” Katz added. “I want to honor these men who tried to use diplomacy, arts and cultural exchange to delay war. They are heroes in my eyes.”
A writer in Publishers Weekly called the book a promising debut that nevertheless had editing problems and formatting inconsistencies. However, the book is “an enthusiastic take on the life of a little-known but influential personality in American history.” According to a writer in Kirkus Reviews, the book is a penetrating spy story full of celebrities and heroes, and “Katz also gives the story a tragic element, making plain Mashbir’s sacrifices as he loses family and lovers; at one point, he’s even suspected of being a double agent.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2016, review of The Emperor and the Spy: The Secret Alliance to Prevent World War II.
Publishers Weekly, January 1, 2018, review of The Emperor and the Spy, p. 36.
ONLINE
San Diego Union-Tribune Online, http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/ (May 18, 2016), Pam Kragen, author interview.
Author Bio
2014-05-07 10.54.41
I’m the first born American son of European immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island, after having survived World War II. My family settled in New York City and I enjoyed living in this melting pot of diverse cultures…I graduated from Brooklyn College with a Bachelors of Science Degree, with minors in Sociology and Greek Classical Literature. This was followed by a graduate degree from Georgetown University and a California Teaching Degree from Alliant International University.
I’ve long had a curiosity for world affairs and history. To better understand the inner workings of current events, for many years I’ve been a member, and am now a Board Member of the San Diego World Affairs Council. Through this fine educational organization, I’ve attended many fascinating presentations and met ambassadors, consul generals, and other political, economic, academic, and military representatives from around the globe.
My passion for reading has included Historical sagas by James Michener and James Clavell, who-done-it mysteries, war and espionage novels by John LeCarre, W.E.B. Griffin, and Ian Fleming, as well as assorted biographies and autobiographies of people who shaped our world.
This love of books went further, guiding me to become the proprietor of Antiquarian Bookstores. It was through these bookstores, that I acquired the personal papers of a Master Spy, Colonel Sidney Forrester Mashbir, back in 1999.
NEVER had I seen anything like the Mashbir collection: Those one-of-a-kind, primary source historical documents made me feel like an investigative reporter, as I researched the secrets hidden within.
**********************
The creation of The Emperor and the Spy, has been an exciting journey!
Hope you enjoy the novel!
Best regards,
Stan
About
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CONTACT INFO
@TheEmperorAndTheSpy
http://theemperorandthespy.com
MORE INFO
About
Two unsung heroes risked everything trying to prevent Japan from joining the fascist Axis Powers and entering WWII.
Biography
I am the first born American son of European immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island after World War II; our mother, Janina, was a resilient and courageous Auschwitz concentration camp survivor, and our father, Irving, was a soldier in the Russian Army who fought in the Battle of Stalingrad. Due to this background, I've had a strong curiosity for world affairs and
history.
My family first settled in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, a melting pot of diverse cultures.
I graduated from Brooklyn College with a Bachelors of Science Degree, with minors in
Sociology and Greek Classical Literature. This was followed by a graduate degree from Georgetown University, and a California Teaching Degree from International University.
So as to better understand the inner workings of current events, for seven years I’ve been a member of, and a past Board Member of, the San Diego World Affairs Council. Through this organization I’ve attended many fascinating presentations and met ambassadors, consul generals, and other political, economic, and military representatives from around the globe.
I’ve enjoyed reading the historical sagas by James Michener and James Cavell, war and espionage novels by John LeCarre, W.E.B. Griffin, and Ian Fleming, and assorted biographies and autobiographies of people who shaped our world…This love of books guided me to become the proprietor of two Antiquarian Bookstores, where I first acquired the personal, secret papers of Colonel Sidney Mashbir, back in 1999…During the sixteen years that I owned those bookstores, I came into the possession of many unique literary items, but never had I seen anything like the Mashbir collection; these one-of-a-kind historical documents made me feel like an investigative reporter, as I researched the secrets hidden within, turning me from a bookstore owner into an author.
**********************
The creation of The Emperor and the Spy, has been an exciting journey.
Come explore TheEmperorAndTheSpy.com
I hope you enjoy reading the novel.
categories
Author
Novelist brings spy out the shadows
Stan S. Katz, author of “The Emperor and The Spy: The Secret Alliance to Prevent World War II,” in his Oceanside office. A drawing of the book’s subject, Col. Sidney Mashbir, can be seen behind him on the desk.
Stan S. Katz, author of “The Emperor and The Spy: The Secret Alliance to Prevent World War II,” in his Oceanside office. A drawing of the book’s subject, Col. Sidney Mashbir, can be seen behind him on the desk. (Misael Virgen)
Pam KragenPam KragenContact Reporter
In 1999, a friend brought a box of World War II memorabilia into Stan Katz’s antiquarian bookstore in Vista and told him the documents, letters, photographs and books once belonged to a spy.
These were the private papers of U.S. Col. Sidney Forrester Mashbir, a decorated U.S. intelligence officer whose name and achievements were lost in the mists of time. A devoted history buff, Katz was instantly hooked and decided to sleuth out Mashbir’s story on his own, never realizing it would take 16 years to satisfy his curiosity.
Last August, the Oceanside resident self-published “The Emperor and the Spy: The Secret Alliance to Prevent World War II,” a historical novel based on Mashbir’s fascinating life and top-secret career. Few Americans today know about Mashbir because, as a spy, he avoided the spotlight. But in 1988 — 15 years after Mashbir’s death — the Army inducted him into its Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.
Mashbir ran a secret spying operation against Japan for Gen. Douglas MacArthur during World War II; he headed the Army’s domestic counter-espionage program during World War I; and he escorted the Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa to peace talks with Gen. John Pershing during the Border War in 1916. He was also the co-creator of an intelligence-gathering system that would become the framework for the CIA.
But Mashbir was also a frequent victim of changing political winds in Washington. He was repeatedly dropped from the intelligence corps, falsely accused of being a double agent in the 1930s, and passed over for promotion after WWII, despite pleas from MacArthur and Pershing.
An embittered Mashbir retired and wrote an autobiography in 1953, “I Was an American Spy.” It sold few copies and he disappeared from the public eye. He died at age 81 in 1973 at his Laguna Beach home and was buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in Point Loma.
U.S. Col. Sidney Mashbir, bottom right, with Japanese Prince Iyesato Tokugawa, front center, and other Japanese government officials in the early 1930s.
U.S. Col. Sidney Mashbir, bottom right, with Japanese Prince Iyesato Tokugawa, front center, and other Japanese government officials in the early 1930s. (Misael Virgen)
His third wife, Alice, moved to Carlsbad and sometime afterward his personal effects ended up in the hands of a hobbyist who exhibited the collection at the 1999 San Diego County Fair. That’s where Katz’s friend, a fellow bookstore owner, saw the items and gave him a call.
Katz, 64, grew up in New York, the son of Jewish refugees from Jaroslaw, Poland. His mother had survived two years in the Auschwitz concentration camp and his father fought for the Polish and Russian armies. Katz, a former dentist, moved to North County from Rochester, N.Y., in 1989 to make a fresh start after the death of his first wife. Here he remarried, had three children and taught high school science.
But teaching was hard with a young family, so he switched careers again, indulging his lifelong passion for books and history by running used bookstores in Encinitas and Vista. Even with a near-encyclopedic knowledge of U.S. history, he’d never heard of Mashbir when the box arrived in 1999 and he couldn’t find much about him in books or online.
Although he’d never written a book himself, Katz said the more he learned about Mashbir’s achievements as a statesman and peace-maker, the more he realized his story must be told. With the blessing of Mashbir’s then-surviving son, Donald, in 2001, Katz set to work on the book. It’s been a near-full-time pursuit ever since.
Arranged on a table in the upstairs hallway of Katz’s home in Leisure Village are items from the original box. There are WWII-era medals; photographs Mashbir shot at the Japanese surrender ceremony aboard the USS Missouri in 1945; hand-addressed invitations to Japanese embassy parties in the 1930s; and an autographed photograph from MacArthur to his “comrade in arms” signed to Mashbir with “admiration and cordial regards.”
That box was just the beginning for Katz, whose investigation into Mashbir took many years and filled many shelves in his home office. At first, Katz thought he’d write a screenplay and then a biography, but neither had the epic scope and sense of thrill and adventure he wanted, so he settled instead on historical fiction.
About 70 percent of “The Emperor and the Spy” is factual. The rest (mostly imagined conversations) is factually inspired, based on Katz’s research. The 500-page novel is supplemented with a 300-page illustrated timeline that book buyers can access online. Since its release on Amazon and other sales sites last summer, it has received rave reviews as a “page-turner.”
Medals awarded to Col. Sidney Mashbir, a United States intelligence officer who served in Japan during World War II and who is featured in Stan Katz’s novel “The Emperor and The Spy: The Secret Alliance to Prevent World War II.”
Medals awarded to Col. Sidney Mashbir, a United States intelligence officer who served in Japan during World War II and who is featured in Stan Katz’s novel “The Emperor and The Spy: The Secret Alliance to Prevent World War II.” (Misael Virgen)
Mashbir was 8 years old when his family moved from New York to the Arizona territory in 1899. He showed an early facility with languages. His father was a Russian immigrant, his grandfather was German and Mashbir picked up Spanish and Apache from neighborhood boys. As his father’s eyesight failed, the teenage Sidney became his full-time law clerk, translating legal documents from Russian.
At 13, Mashbir ran away to join the Arizona Army National Guard as a bugle boy. Over the next 10 years, he led a colorful life, working in copper mines, bronco-busting, surveying for the railroads, working as a mercenary in South America and riding horses in silent films about cowboys and Indians.
During the Border War, he worked for Pershing scouting Mexican towns, setting up communication lines, mapping roads and learning how to spy on the Japanese officers who were advising the Mexican troops (two Japanese soldiers nearly beat Mashbir to death in one encounter).
Pershing was impressed enough with the young man to appoint him as head of a program to weed out German spies on the East Coast from 1917 to 1919. Then in 1920, Mashbir was sent to Japan to study the language and culture as an Army Intelligence officer.
Mashbir’s secret mission, known as the M-Plan, was to develop a secret network of business owners in Japan who could be turned into spies in wartime. But when an earthquake in 1923 devastated the Japanese islands, the M-Plan was scratched. Mashbir stayed on to work with the Japan’s Prince Iyesato Tokugawa on disaster relief and rebuilding.
Tokugawa, a top government minister who would become the young Emperor Hirohito’s mentor, was devoted to arts, culture and peaceful exchange. He and Mashbir became close friends and worked together tirelessly through the 1920s and 1930s to keep Japan on the path of peace.
But when Tokugawa died in 1940, Hirohito bowed to extremist sentiments in his country and aligned Japan with the Axis powers.
Mashbir’s close relations with the Japanese during the 1930s raised suspicions at home, but when the U.S. entered the war, MacArthur appointed him head of ATIS, the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section, a secret 4,600-member agency that translated millions of documents and interrogated Japanese POWs.
Mashbir became a liaison and negotiator to the Japanese after the atomic bomb blasts and he organized the Japanese surrender ceremony (he was famously photographed by Life magazine refusing to shake a Japanese government official’s hand at the event).
And in the aftermath of war, he served as translator and liaison for 11 secret meetings between MacArthur and Hirohito regarding the U.S. occupation of Japan.
Katz said he believes Mashbir, as well as Tokugawa, had a profound impact on history that most historians have missed.
“I believe, if Mashbir had not done such a good job of confronting the fascists in Japan, who is to say that the Nazis in Europe might have had a greater chance of defeating the Allies?” Katz said. “World War II had two main theaters of operation, which were interconnected. That was one of the reasons, among many that inspired the novel.”
Katz, who is now at work on a historic novel about Prince Tokugawa, said it’s high time both men get the recognition they deserve.
“I hope these books honor the art of diplomacy,” Katz said. “I want to honor these men who tried to use diplomacy, arts and cultural exchange to delay war. They are heroes in my eyes.”
Stan S. Katz
Author and Publisher at Horizon Productions
Greater San Diego Area
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Alliant International University
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Author and Publisher
Horizon Productions
February 2003 – Present (15 years 5 months)United States
The historical novel, authored by Stan is entitled ''The Emperor and the Spy''. This biographical work sheds light upon the American Colonel Sidney Mashbir and his Japanese allies, who during the 1920s and 1930s heroically placed their lives on the line in an attempt to prevent war between their nations.
Among his assorted careers, Stan was an antiquarian book dealer who had seen many unique collections. However, NOTHING was ever as remarkable as Mashbir’s most personal keepsakes, letters, photographs, official documents, and library, which he came into possession of. It will change the way historians and the general public look at WWI and WWII.
Sidney Mashbir (12 September 1891 – 13 June 1973) joined the Arizona Guard at the age of thirteen as a bugle boy, during the time of cowboys and Indians, and the U.S. Cavalry…His long career continued into the Atomic Age! ... Some of Mashbir's earlier clandestine missions included both chasing, and assisting in the negotiations with the legendary bandit/revolutionary, Pancho Villa. His efforts helped stabilize the U.S. / Mexican border…And in the years leading up to, and during, World War I, Mashbir headed the Army's Eastern Division of homeland security, uncovering and eliminating extensive enemy spy networks in the America.
Colonel Mashbir went beyond heroic military patriotism, he expanded his role to be that of a diplomat in the pursuit of peace. Regrettably, he would find himself torn between his close friendship with many of Japan’s more enlightened leaders and the major role he would have to take in defeating that nation.
During WWII, he commanded a top-secret, military intelligence organization, ATIS, that analyzed millions of documents retrieved from the battlefield and interrogated most of the thousands of Japanese prisoners of war. The information obtained dramatically shaped the battle strategy of the Pacific theater of war, significantly shortening the conflict.
To learn more visit: TheEmperorAndTheSpy.com
Education
Alliant International University
Alliant International University
Degree in Education
1988 – 1989
Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Doctor of Dentistry
1975 – 1978
Brooklyn College
Bachelors of Science in Chemistry
1969 – 1973
College eduction included minors in Sociology and Greek Classical Literature
Skills
New Business DevelopmentMicrosoft ExcelResearchBusiness StrategyMarketing StrategyContract NegotiationCorporate IdentityChange ManagementFilmJournalismWeb DevelopmentSocial Media MarketingSocial MediaFacebookFine ArtSee 30+
The Emperor and the Spy
Publishers Weekly. 265.1 (Jan. 1, 2018): p36.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Emperor and the Spy
Stan S. Katz. Horizon Productions, $19.95 trade paper (540p) ISBN 978-0-9903349-6-5
Katz's promising debut, a fictional account of real-life American spy Sidney Mashbir, is hobbled by an overwhelming number of editing errors and patches of weak prose. After helping the U.S. settle the conflict with Pancho Villa in 1916, Mashbir takes assignments that send him to New York, to Japan in the interwar years (where he befriends high-level officials, including Emperor Hirohito), and to Australia during WWII to help the war efforts in Southeast Asia. Mashbir is portrayed here as a talented mediator for peace who moves in impressive circles; Charles Lindbergh, generals Pershing and MacArthur, Charlie Chaplin, and F.D.R. all appear. The characterizations of these historical figures are wonderfully conceptualized, though their dialogue can come across as awkward ("Shucks, it's gotten me into a heap of trouble in the past"). Editing problems also proliferate, ranging from typos and formatting inconsistencies to a regrettable overuse of italics and ellipses. Readers who can overlook those flaws will be rewarded with an enthusiastic take on the life of a little-known but influential personality in American history. (BookLife)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Emperor and the Spy." Publishers Weekly, 1 Jan. 2018, p. 36. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A522124957/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=138edbac. Accessed 4 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A522124957
Kirkus Reviews
THE EMPEROR AND THE SPY. By: Katz, S. Stan, Kirkus Reviews, 19487428, 9/1/2016, Vol. 84, Issue 17
INDIE
THE EMPEROR AND THE SPY The Secret Alliance to Prevent World War II
Katz, Stan S. Horizon Productions (526 pp.) $19.33 paper |
$4-95 e-book Aug. 10,2015 978-0-9903349-4-1
In this debut historical novel, Katz pulls back the curtain on real-life American master spy Sidney Forrester Mashbir 2iid his close relationship with Tapan's royal family before, during, and after World War II.
Mashbir first mdtes his mark as a spy during the Mexican-American Border War, hunting German terrorists with a clandestine style of diplomacy, organization, and informationgather: ng that would go on to shape the foundation of the CIA. As a true patriot with a deep understanding of foreign cultures end languages, he's sent to Japan to set up a spy ring, keeping an eye on the country's growing military power and colonial overtures. He falls in love with the country while exploring its language, customs, and numerous m artial arts, eventually becoming ε self-styled American samurai. He cultivates a relationship with tne wise Prince Tokugawa, one of Emperor Hirohito's closest mentors, and this unprecedented access would allow Mashbir to befriend the emperor as both sought peace in an era of inevitable war. During WWII, he shows compassion and respect for Japan, bringing numerous second-generation Japanese. Americans, called nisei, out of internment camps to work as translators and helping negotiate the country's surrender. Katz crafted this look at Mashbir's life and career from a series cf documents, letter ;, and other resources that once belonged to the spy himself -- sources that he samples but regrettably coesn't share in full. The author packs the story with historical events that took place outside of WWII, from a German act c f sabotage in New Jersey to the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and even a near-assassination of filmmaker Charlie Chaplin in Japan. He effectivsly populates the novel with other historical icons to show just how influential the spy was, such as Gen. George Patton, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Charles Lindbergh, and even Hedy Lamarr, with whom Mashbir must turn down a one-night stand in a true test of his mettle. Katz also gives the story a tragic element, making plain Mashbir's sacrifices as he loses family and lovers; at one point, he's even suspected of being a double agent.
A penetrating spy story full of celebrities and unsung heroes.