Honey Trapped: Sex, Betrayal and Weaponized Love

By Henry R. Schlesinger

While the so-called ‘honey trap’ is a Hollywood cliché, it is also an enduring piece of tradecraft in the real-life world of spy versus spy. Employed by virtually every intelligence service in times of war and peace, the work of femme fatales and Romeo spies have shaped policy and history through seduction, betrayal and scandal. Perhaps the most well known though least understood element of espionage, the use of honey traps can be found throughout history in religious texts, lurid headlines and pop culture mythology.

Honey Trapped is the first book to fully examine the oldest and consistently effective piece of tradecraft, from the ancient world to cyber seductions. Honey Trapped tells the stories of those spies, both famous and obscure, who used sex and leveraged love to acquire sensitive information. From Greek mythology to recent investigations, the potent mix of sex and espionage is sure to enthral and entertain.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Oct 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9780750999069

Henry R. Schlesinger

Henry R. Schlesinger has been writing about espionage for nearly two decades. He is the co-author of Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA’s Spytechs from Communism to Al-Qaeda (Dutton, May 2008). His work has appeared in Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian, MIT’s Technology Review, The Intelligencer, and many trade publications. He has lectured on technology as well as espionage in a variety of venues, including NASA and the New York Public Library.