Mata Hari: The Controversial Life and Legacy of World War I's Most Famous Spy

*Includes pictures *Includes Mata Hari's quotes about her own life *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading “I am a woman who enjoys herself very much; sometimes I lose, sometimes I win.” – Mata Hari Margeretha Geertruida Zelle, better known to history by the exotic, glamorous name of Mata Hari, was a woman who profited greatly from the power of illusion during much of her brief life. Born to a hatter named Adam Zelle and his wife Antje van der Meulen, Mata Hari moved from a financially rewarding but miserable marriage to circus performances to exotic dancing and celebrity to the role of ostensible international spy in an arc that ended tragically in front of a French firing squad. To a certain degree, Mata Hari’s entire adult life represented a triumph of advertising. Just as advertising depicts products in such a way that they are associated with other desirable things that have little or nothing to do with the items themselves – romantic or sexual success, b