The Secret Agent Genre

I was searching on google for something that would help us better understand the secret agent genre. After a little searching I found some good information on wikipedia. This site gives a great background about spy fiction. It explains that the genre began about the same time that intelligence agencies were formed. On this site you will find a great deal of information about the spy genre from when it started before WWI up to today with terrorism. The site also has many links to the prominent writers of the spy topic. This is a great site to learn about the secret agent genre.