Ronald Drabkin: On New Historical Discoveries Leading to New Directions
Ronald Drabkin is the author of peer-reviewed articles on Japanese espionage. His obsession with espionage history started when he was as a child in Los Angeles, where he vaguely understood that his father had been working for the U.S. military in counterintelligence. Later he discovered that his grandfather had also been in “the business,” and it drove a voyage of discovery into previously classified documents on three continents. His career prior to writing was at early-stage startups in the U.S., where he was an early adopter of Google and Facebook advertising. He currently lives in Tokyo. Find him on Facebook.
Ronald Drabkin
Photo by Aiko Suzuki
In this post, Ronald discusses the process of writing his new nonfiction espionage book, Beverly Hills Spy, his hope for readers, and more!
Name: Ronald Drabkin
Literary agent: The Watermark Agency
Book title: Beverly Hills Spy: The Double-Agent War Hero and Spy Who Helped Japan Attack Pearl Harbor
Publisher: William Morrow
Release date: February 13, 2024
Genre/category: History/Espionage/True Crime
Elevator pitch: In the spirit of Ben Macintyre’s greatest spy nonfiction, the truly unbelievable and untold story of Frederick Rutland—a debonair British WWI hero, flying ace, fixture of Los Angeles society, and friend of Golden Age Hollywood stars—who flipped to become a spy for Japan in the lead-up to the attack on Pearl Harbor.
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What prompted you to write this book?
My obsession with espionage history started when I was a child in Los Angeles, where I vaguely understood that my father had been working for the U.S. military in counterintelligence. Later I discovered that my grandfather had also been in “the business,” and it drove a voyage of discovery into previously classified documents on three continents.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
Five years. It started with the idea of writing a book on my family history in espionage, but it has evolved into something completely different; in fact, my family barely appears in the book at all.
The evolution started when, looking into possible associates of my grandfather, a curious thing happened. I sent a request to the FBI to see if they had a file available on Frederick Rutland, the British pilot and war hero who had become a spy for the Japanese Navy. The FBI replied with a copy of the file. I noted his file had just been declassified, and I realized that I may have been the first person outside of the bureau to see it. Cracking the file open, the first thing I saw was a memo from FBI Director J Edgar Hoover. The memo instructed the FBI agents to not mention to anyone that Rutland had been a double agent, working for the U.S. Navy, because it would be very embarrassing to the FBI if that secret leaked.
As I dug into the FBI file, I realized that this was just a really good story, and that it needed to see the light of day. Further research in the U.S., U.K., and Japan filled out more and more of what had happened. The next evolution of the book turned into a biography of a glamorous, complicated man, who made some bad decisions and ended up stuck in a life of espionage that was getting more and more disastrous as the fatal moment of Pearl Harbor approached.
The final evolution of the book was thanks to my editors. They encouraged me to tell a bigger picture story of espionage, Hollywood, and the run-up to Pearl Harbor, primarily though Rutland’s eyes.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
The process for getting pictures for the cover and photo insert is very challenging for a writer of nonfiction that takes place in the 1930s-40s. It is the responsibility of the author, not the publisher, to obtain the permissions.
For the paid photo sites, the cost to get a license to use a single picture is often $200-$300, and you need maybe 20 for a photo insert. Surprisingly, getting rights from a nonprofit organization to use a photo can be even harder than getting one from a company. For example, many of the museums in Britain now charge roughly $100 license fee for each 5000 copies of your book you sell. Therefore, if your book ends up becoming a bestseller, they will come after you, sending you a bill which is the cost of a new car for each picture you use.
There were also family pictures that I wanted to use, but for a person with maybe 30 living descendants, even finding out who owns the copyright gets really challenging.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I kept having to update the book when I found new information! And a lot of the discoveries were fascinating, like the discoveries on Frederick Rutland and Amelia Earhart, or more details on what Rutland did with the Japanese Navy.
As just one example, information on Hollywood in the 1930s is all over the newspapers of the period. In 2021-2022, many of these old newspapers were only available on microfilm, in libraries that were mostly closed due to the pandemic. In 2023, the Hearst corporation put newspapers from the period online, and there I found dozens of articles with information on specific parties that spies and movie stars attended together.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope they will enjoy the tour of Hollywood stars, spies, and Pearl Harbor. And I hope they will think about two things:
Missed chances to prevent the Pearl Harbor attackHow a person who has done bad things may try to redeem themselves.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
I would ask them how they balance what they want to tell people with what the reader is looking for.
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