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FOREWORD

Books about James Bond appear with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season, but I can’t think of any that have either the range or tenor of James Bond: The Secret History.

When one knows a lot about a subject, it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees, and, while this book offers an excellent overview of the history of the Bond phenomenon for casual fans, it also provides a lot of information and insights that cast the familiar in surprising new angles. Covering Ian Fleming’s books and short stories, the continuation authors, the comics, the video games and of course the film series, Sean Egan charts the passage of 007 from 1952, when Fleming first sat down to write a Bond story, to the present day, and does so in prose both fluid and studded with astute and often amusing opinions (even if I don’t agree with all of them). He has interviewed Fleming intimates, Bond scholars and movie cast and crew to give us an insider’s view of the development of the icon, debunking several myths along the way.

‘You forgot the first rule of mass media,’ Bond screams into the ears of media mogul Elliot Carver in the closing act of Tomorrow Never Dies. ‘Give the people what they want!’ Egan demonstrates in this very fast and highly enjoyable read that, through all the ups and downs, Bond producers Eon haven’t ever forgotten that rule – and show no sign of doing so any time soon.

Jeremy Duns

Author,

The Dark Chronicles Diamonds In The Rough: Investigations into the Worlds of Ian Fleming and James Bond Duns on Bond Rogue Royale: The Lost Bond Film by the ‘Shakespeare of Hollywood’ Mariehamn, October 2015