Bridgehampton - The popular and inspiring "Fridays At Five" series in support of the Hampton Library continued on July 31, but with a change in schedule. Due to a medical emergency sportswriter John Feinstein, who was scheduled to discuss his new book about the extraordinary 2008 golf season of Rocco Mediate and U.S. Open battle between the Long Island native and Tiger Woods, had to cancel his appearance. Fellow East End writer and a past Fridays At Five speaker Jennet Conant came to rescue.

Conant, a Sag Harbor summer resident with her husband Steve Kroft of "60 Minutes," participated in the "Fridays At Five" program several years ago discussing her 2002 best seller, "Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II." Not only a best selling author, Conant is a nationally respected journalist who has written profiles for Vanity Fair, Esquire, GQ, Newsweek and The New York Times. This season the subject of the discussion was her third book, also about events related to WWII, "The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington."

Author Jennet Conant discussing her book 'The Irregulars' at the Hampton Library's "Friday At Five" series.

Often at author events like these, the writer will simple give a brief overview of their book and then read from several chapters and, of course, there is nothing wrong with that method. Conant, however, had prepared an in-depth synopsis of her book that gave fascinating illumination into the characters, the circumstances, the historical events and perspectives, along with her own creative journey and research. Although she did occasionally quote from passages of this fascinating historical spy story, so fascinating and unlikely it could, in fact, pass for fiction; it is clear that the author's intention was to let the potential reader simply read. My advice to other authors is to follow Conant's lead, as numerous attendees commented on how much they appreciated her style of presentation.

In Conant's 'The Irregulars,' it is no hyperbole to say that fact reads better than fiction and here is the plot in a nutshell to prove it. In an isolationist America, led by the likes of Charles Lindbergh and the "America First Movement," Britain was hanging on by a thread in their battle against Adolph Hitler and the Nazis, as most of Western Europe had already come under the yoke of the Third Reich. Winston Churchill, with the tacit approval of FDR, had sent his spy master, Canadian millionaire William Stephenson (a/k/a "Intrepid"), to Washington to set up a network of spies and collaborators to discredit the U.S. isolationist movement, expose Nazi sympathizers and bolster American support for the British cause. This network of spies included in its ranks writers Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming and Noel Coward, along with future iconic ad-man David Ogilvy and actor Leslie Howard. Other collaborators, willing or manipulated, included Texas millionaire Charles Marsh, gossip columnist Walter Winchell, journalists Walter Lippmann and Drew Pearson, and many influential romantic conquests that included Standard Oil heiress Millicent Rogers and publishing icon and congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce, to name but a few.

Fellow Hamptonian Peter Smith chatting with the author about his boarding school friendship with Roald Dahl, who is the central figure of Conant's book.

It is a story of Allie spying on Allie, resulting in the manipulation of the American media, foreign and domestic policy and, in truth, our very history. Deftly researched and brilliantly written, Conant has shined a light on a series of events that seem to have been created from the imagination of Flemming himself, rather than from historical archives, memoirs, letters and correspondence, Dahl's in particular, that she used to weave this illuminating tale of wartime intrigue.

Conant expressed her own opinion regarding the impact of the events described in her book, "This is an espionage operation that profoundly changed America, it certainly changed us into a world power and it profoundly altered our foreign policy." Describing the British actions as "improper, if not downright illegal at the time" she went on to conclude, "Now we find ourselves again at a time when this country is at war. I think that it is very important that we all pay close attention to the role of foreign intelligence and the media and propagandists and super lobbyists from abroad who actively conspire to get us into and keep us at war."

After a very engaged Q&A with the audience, Conant chatted with the attendees that purchased her book and eagerly waited in line to have the author sign copies of 'The Irregulars' in the lobby of the Bridgehampton Community Center. On that line, in a pure Hamptons' "six degrees of separation" moment, was East Ender Peter Smith who had gone to boarding school with Dahl as a boy in England. Dahl was, according to Smith, "A good fellow. Over the years he would frequently show up at our 'Old Boys Reunion Dinners' after the school had sadly been closed and sold off for its real estate value."

Once again, the Hampton Library has succeeded in presenting an exceptional literary event for its very literate supporters. Still to come this summer as part of the Fridays At Five series: Steven Gaines, Julie Andrews and Alec Baldwin.