"Aleister Crowley is best known today as a founding father of modern occultism. Crowley, who proclaimed himself the Great Beast 666, has been the subject of several biographies, some painting him as a misunderstood genius, others as a manipulative charlatan. None of them have looked seriously at his career as an agent of British Intelligence.

Using documents gleaned from American, British, French, and Italian archives, _Secret Agent 666_ reveals that Crowley's clandestine service linked him to the sinking of the Lusitania, a plot to overthrow the government of Spain, the thwarting of Irish and Indian nationalist conspiracies, the Communist International, and the 1941 flight of Rudolf Hess.

Author Richard Spence, a professor of History at the University of Idaho, argues that Crowley--in his own unconventional way--was a patriotic Englishman who endured years of public vilification in part to mask his role as a secret agent.

Dr. Spence has appeared on the History Channel and as a speaker at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. He has been interviewed on Radio Liberty and other media outlets and has been a consultant and interviewee for documentary films produced by the Russian Cultural Foundation. He is also the author of _Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly_ (Feral House 2002)."