OPINIONSrnChicken SouprnStarring: The Marx Bros.rnby J.O.Tatern’How can tyrants safely govern home I Unless abroad they purchase great alliance?”rn—William ShakespearernGideon’s Spies: The Secret History ofrnthe Mossadrnby Gordon ThomasrnNew York: St. Martin’s Press;rn354 pp., $25.95rnThere is something compelling inrnreading about spies and somethingrncompelling as well about spying, or wernwould not have so many spies to readrnabout, fictional or not. Our centur)’ hasrnbeen a century of spies: Stories of espionagernsince the late 19th century havernbeen told many times as entertainment,rnand as history as well. Scholarly booksrnemerging now, such as Venona: DecodingrnSoviet Espionage in America byrnHaynes and Klehr, and The Crown jewels:rnThe British Secrets at the Heart of thernKGB Archives h West and Tsarev (bothrnfrom Yale Universit)’ Press), have takenrnthe study of espionage to a new level.rnGordon Thomas’s new book on the secretrnhistor)’ of one of the most paradoxicallyrnfamous and secret espionage organizationsrnis not a scholarly book, but it isrnbased on research and interviews. Perhapsrnthe most striking implication of Mr.rnThomas’s work is that, like Soviet espionage,rnIsraeli espionage in America hasrnbeen aided and abetted by Americans.rn].0. Tate is a professor ofEnghsh atrnDowUng College on Long Island.rnThe complex senses of embarrassmentrnwith which Mr. Thomas’s book must bernread also include a struggle to distinguishrnbetween the story he has told and the wayrnhe has told it.rnMr. Thomas has a way of regressing torna vulgar pseudo-fictional ized metlrod tornrecount episodes and draniahze tales—arnhabit which might well be counterproductivernto his aims, if these could bernidentified. If nannering on aboutrnPrincess Diana and Monica Lewinsky isrna surefire way to sell tabloids, then GordonrnThomas has not neglected an opportunity.rnBut what, after all, is the point?rnThe Mossad was running Henri Paul, assistantrnchief of the Ritz in Paris, becausernthey wanted a handle on particularrnguests, such as Middle Eastern arms brokers.rnThe subsequent disaster had a lot torndo with Henri Paul’s driving and drinking,rnlittle or nothing to do with thernMossad, so why bring it up in the firstrnplace? Thomas’s specrdations aboutrnwhat Henri Paul “may have” thought isrndestructive of the author’s credibility,rnwhereas an aside about the destruction ofrnthe reputation and career of JonathanrnAitken (a minister in Britain’s last Conservadverngovernment), engineered by thernMossad through the Ritz, speaks directlyrnto themes that would have lent cohesionrnto the narrative.rnBut a larger problem with Thomas’srnbook is the question of point of view, ofrnperspective. Since his interviews withrnformer heads and operatives of thernMossad are tied to the history of Israelrnand, therefore, the Zionist cause, manyrnepisodes seem incongruously crafted, sornmuch so that I was baffled as to what thernauthor might actually have meant to conveyrn—until I began to realize that Mr.rnThomas has written not a “Secret History”rnbut a postmodern masterpiece ofrnblack humor. Everything falls into placernif we read Gideon’s Spies as a fiction byrnThomas Pynchon or a movie by the Goenrnbrothers. If as a history Thomas’s narrativernwaffles between celebration of pastrncoups and recitals of contemporaryrngaffes, as an absurdist neo-noir the spectaclernis nevertheless engrossing. ThernMossad was glorious, but the glory is departed,rnin large part due to the ineptitudernof former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahurnand even to the interference ofrn24/CHRONICLESrnrnrn