Espionage and secret services Books

694 products


  • Spies and Traitors

    Orion Publishing Co Spies and Traitors

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisKim Philby''s life and career has inspired an entire literary genre: the spy novel of betrayal. He was one of the leaders of the British counter-intelligence efforts, first against the Nazis, then against the Soviet Union. He was also the KGB''s most valuable double-agent, so highly regarded that today his image is on the postage stamps of the Russian Federation.Philby was the mentor of James Jesus Angleton, one of the central figures in the early years of the CIA who became the long-serving chief of the counter-intelligence staff of the Agency.James Angleton and Kim Philby were friends for six years, or so Angleton thought. They were then enemies for the rest of their lives. This is the story of their intertwined careers and a betrayal that would have dramatic and irrevocable effects on the Cold War and US-Soviet relations. Featuring vivid locations in London, Washington DC, Rome and Istanbul, SPIES AND TRAITORS anatomises one of the most important and flawed personTrade ReviewA fascinating story, well told, of how one idealistic master spy and double agent caused serious damage to the strategic interests of the West and how another, taught by the first and vehemently anti-Communist, tried to prevent such a betrayal from ever happening again -- Saul David * SUNDAY TELEGRAPH *Michael Holzman's new book demonstrates it's still possible to take an original approach to the story of Philby and his betrayal...a refreshing take...by taking a much more personal approach to the two [Holzman] is able to examine a familiar story from a different perspective * ALL ABOUT HISTORY *This dual biography of James Jesus Angleton and Kim Philby is a window onto the Cold War spycraft of the CIA, MI6 and the KGB * Wall Street Journal *A comprehensive chronicle of the relationship between British double agent Kim Philby and CIA counterintelligence chief James Angleton * Publishers Weekly *

    2 in stock

    £10.44

  • Leading Intelligence Analysis: Lessons from the

    SAGE Publications Inc Leading Intelligence Analysis: Lessons from the

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis"Bruce Pease has written a much needed book on a long ignored topic: how does one lead analysts? Most analysis is at some level a group activity, whether in government or the private sector. Much has been written about good versus bad analysis and how to train analysts, but Pease, himself a veteran senior CIA analyst and manager, focuses on what the leaders of these analysts need to know and should be thinking about. Leadership matters in analysis as in all other endeavors, and Pease offers invaluable guidance on how to lead effectively. This book is a must for anyone in a leadership role in an analytic enterprise." —Mark M. Lowenthal, PhD, Intelligence & Security Academy, LLC Written by an experienced professional who has led Navy Intelligence and CIA analysts in high-stakes situations, Leading Intelligence Analysis introduces the fundamental managerial skills and practical tools needed to lead analysis projects conducted by individuals and teams. Author Bruce Pease provides insights into key questions such as What kind of environment draws out a team’s best work? What brings out their creativity? When does pressure bring out their best insights? When does pressure sap their intellectual energy? and What kind of team builds new knowledge rather than engaging in group-think? This book draws on the author’s perspective from decades of leading intelligence analysts on critical issues, including war in the Middle East, terrorism after 9/11, and nuclear threats. Key Features Practical advice helps leaders of analytic units nurture insight with the understanding that it can be enabled but not manufactured. Discussion of a range of different types of analysis serves leaders conducting research in areas including data analysis, security analysis, geopolitical analysis, threat warning, counterterrorism, and business climate analysis. Practical advice on judging IT tools guides leaders to the correct data science approach for various situations. Trade Review"Bruce Pease has written a much needed book on a long ignored topic: how does one lead analysts? Most analysis is, at some level a group activity, whether in government or the private sector. Much has been written about good vs. bad analysis and how to train analysts, but Pease, himself a veteran senior CIA analyst and manger, focuses on what the managers and leaders of these analysts need to know and should be thinking about. Leadership matters in analysis as in all other endeavors and Pease offers invaluable guidance on how best to do this. This book is a must for anyone in a leadership role in an analytic enterprise." -- Mark M. Lowenthal, PhD."While Director of CIA, I sometimes described the analytic workforce there as resembling a tenured college faculty as I worked to preserve the excellence and independence of thought so essential to success (in either body) while harnessing those energies to a common, disciplined enterprise. Bruce Pease was my guide and counselor for that effort and now Bruce has captured his advice and wisdom in Leading Intelligence Analysis, a must read for any senior in or out of government who leads—or depends on—analysis." -- Michael V. Hayden"A very thoughtful book by a very thoughtful and respected professional. But this book goes way beyond thoughtful. It is exciting — the topics are hard to resist. And it is practical, putting powerful ideas into context. The lessons carry beyond intelligence analysis — they hit home for corporate leaders struggling to make forecasts despite ambiguity, complexity and deception." -- Gary Klein, Ph.D."Bruce Pease is one of the finest leaders and analysts to ever serve at the Central Intelligence Agency. Few had his ability to cut through complicated issues and provide senior leaders with wisdom. No matter what business you are in, Bruce brings clarity and balance to help get the most out of your forecasters, inundated with data in this digital age. The results will be game changing." -- George TenetTable of ContentsForeword Acknowledgments About the Author Chapter 1: Leading Analysis is Different from Doing Analysis The Leader of Analysis or the Uberanalyst Which Substantive Analyst Responsibilities Carry Over? No Lazy Thinking Setting Standards for the First Time Analyze Everything Chapter 2: Understanding Analysts Some Classic Traps Ten Things Analysts Hate Chapter 3: Shaping the Environment Nurturing Trust is Job 1 Taking the Pulse Seven Critical Balances Stress in the Environment Chapter 4: Choosing the Best Approach and Techniques Evolving Approaches: Three Paradigms Picking your paradigm Blending Approaches The Expanding Menu of Analytic Techniques Keep Your Eye Out for New Choices Chapter 5: Nurturing the New Idea: Creativity, Insight, and Innovation in Analysis Creative Analysis? Stifling Creativity and Innovation in Analysis And What of Insight? Promoting Creativity, Innovation, and Insight Chapter 6: Asking the Right Question Toxic Questioning The Right Question The Wrong Question Chapter 7: The Hardest Question: What Is Going to Happen? Prediction and Warning in Analysis Analyzing Predictability When History Pivots Humility, an Open Mind, and Practice Required Prediction is Always a Gamble Prediction is the Leader’s Responsibility What’s the Worst that Could Happen? Leading Warning What Is Reasonable in an Unreasonable World? Chapter 8: Ethics in Analysis What am I doing in this business? Leading a Dialogue on Values Climbing Down off the Analyst’s High Horse Driving Collection Resisting Politicization Are We Responsible for Consequences? Impact of Covert Action In Closing Chapter 9: Analysis as a Business The Business Part of the Business Ensuring Brand Loyalty (Getting Your Customers Hooked on Your Service) Prioritize Your Customers Tend Your Organization’s Reputation with the Front Office Align Your Enterprise Business Is Too Good—I’m Swamped! Change is Reality It Doesn’t Take an MBA Chapter 10: The Tools of Twenty-First-Century Analysis Judging Tools For Analysis First- and Second-Level IT Tools to Help All Analysts Third-level Tools: Big Data, Data Science, and Predictive Analytics Two Keys: Volume and Repetition The Dreaded—but Inevitable—Black Box The Analyst Is Not About to be Replaced Chapter 11: Analysis at the Speed of Information Get Your Mind Right and Theirs Build an Information Strategy Can we analyze faster? Nurture Your Inner Opportunist Afterword Bibliography Index

    1 in stock

    £57.75

  • Intelligence in An Insecure World

    John Wiley and Sons Ltd Intelligence in An Insecure World

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisSecurity intelligence continues to be of central importance to the contemporary world: individuals, organizations and states all seek timely and actionable intelligence in order to increase their sense of security. But what exactly is intelligence? Who seeks to develop it and to what ends? How can we ensure that intelligence is not abused? In this third edition of their classic text, Peter Gill and Mark Phythian set out a comprehensive framework for the study of intelligence, discussing how states organize the collection and analysis of information in order to produce intelligence, how it is acted upon, why it may fail and how the process should be governed in order to uphold democratic rights. Fully revised and updated throughout, the book covers recent developments, including the impact of the Snowden leaks on the role of intelligence agencies in Internet and social media surveillance and in defensive and offensive cyber operations, and the legal and political arrangements for democratic control. The role of intelligence as part of ‘hybrid’ warfare in the case of Russia and Ukraine is also explored, and the problems facing intelligence in the realm of counterterrorism is considered in the context of the recent wave of attacks in Western Europe. Intelligence in an Insecure World is an authoritative and accessible guide to a rapidly expanding area of inquiry – one that everyone has an interest in understanding.Trade Review"This excellent survey by two leaders in the field is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand intelligence, secrecy and surveillance, together with its linkage to issues of democratic rights and civil liberties."—Richard J. Aldrich, University of Warwick "Peter Gill and Mark Phythian capture an increasingly vibrant field in way that is both sophisticated and accessible. This third edition engages with the latest theoretical and policy debates on intelligence based on contemporary and diverse cases."—Damien Van Puyvelde, University of GlasgowTable of ContentsList of Figures, Tables and Boxes Preface Abbreviations 1. What is Intelligence? 2. How Do We Understand Intelligence? 3. Who does Intelligence? 4. How do they gather information? 5. How is information turned into intelligence? 6. What do they do with intelligence? 7 Why Does Intelligence Fail? 8 How democratic can intelligence be? 9 Intelligence for a more secure world? Notes Selected Further Reading

    1 in stock

    £23.74

  • Spies and Stars: MI5, Showbusiness and Me

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Spies and Stars: MI5, Showbusiness and Me

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis'Wickedly funny' Country Life 'Hilarious and candid' Observer _____________________________ London in the 1950s. Lottie is a reluctant typist at MI5 and the even more reluctant daughter of the organisation's most illustrious spy. Now she has had the bad luck to fall in love with Harry, a handsome if frustrated young actor, who has also been press-ganged into the family business, acting as one of her father's undercover agents in the Communist hotbed of British theatre. Together the two young lovers embark on a star-studded adventure through the glittering world of theatre - but, between missing files, disapproving parents, and their own burgeoning creative endeavours, life is about to become very complicated indeed...Trade ReviewThe great joy of Bingham’s prose is its youthful insouciance. She writes like a teenager, but an exceptionally observant one -- Lynn Barber * Spectator *Enormous fun ... Dazzling * Sunday Express *Wickedly funny * Country Life *Flamboyance is the keynote… I loved it * Daily Mail, Book of the Week *She has a keen eye … Bingham concentrates on amusing asides and scraps of dialogue, and the jokes carry the story blithely along … Its self-deprecatory portrait of a girl adrift is engaging, and it captures well the chance encounters that are often part of growing up -- Lindsay Duguid * Times Literary Supplement *Praise for MI5 and Me: 'Astonishing ... She still has all the exuberant delight of a teenager in telling stories to make herself and other people laugh. Long may she write -- Lynn Barber * Sunday Times *The sort of light, frothy book that makes your laugh out loud on public transport * Daily Mail, Books of the Summer 2018 *Hilarious and candid … Filled with period detail, Bingham’s memoir is entertaining and extraordinary -- Hannah Beckerman * Observer *A fun and breezy read * Observer, Best summer books 2018 *A Jilly Cooper heroine in a John le Carré world -- Libby Purves * Times Literary Supplement *A stone-cold comic classic … Joyfully silly * Tatler *Sparky and larky -- Lucy Hughes-Hallett * Guardian *Much fun it is … Brilliant, sly, charming and flighty * Spectator *One funny story follows another … You will be sure to find this book a most entertaining and enjoyable read * Country Life *

    2 in stock

    £9.49

  • GCHQ: The Secret Wireless War, 1900-1986

    Pen & Sword Books Ltd GCHQ: The Secret Wireless War, 1900-1986

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisSignal intelligence is the most secret, and most misunderstood, weapon in the modern espionage arsenal. As a reliable source of information, it is unequalled, which is why Government Communications Headquarters, almost universally known as GCHQ, is several times larger than the two smaller, but more familiar, organisations, MI5 and MI6. Because of its extreme sensitivity, and the ease with which its methods can be compromised, GCHQ's activities remain cloaked in secrecy. In GCHQ: The Secret Wireless War, the renowned expert Nigel West traces GCHQ's origins back to the early days of wireless and gives a detailed account of its development since that time. From the moment that Marconi succeeded in transmitting a radio signal across the Channel, Britain has been engaged in a secret wireless war, first against the Kaiser, then Hitler and the Soviet Union. Following painstaking research, Nigel West is able to describe all GCHQ's disciplines, including direction-finding, interception and traffic analysis, and code-breaking. Also explained is the work of several lesser known units such as the wartime Special Wireless Groups and the top-secret Radio Security Service. Laced with some truly remarkable anecdotes, this edition of this important book will intrigue historians, intelligence professionals and general readers alike.

    2 in stock

    £21.25

  • A Hundred Years of Spying

    Pen & Sword Books Ltd A Hundred Years of Spying

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisEarly espionage organisations like Walsingham's Elizabethan spy network were private enterprises, tasked with keeping the Tudor Queen and her government safe. Formal use of spies and counter spies only really began in the years after 1909, when the official British secret service was founded. Britain became the first major proponent of secret information gathering and other nations quickly followed. The outbreak of war in 1914 saw a sudden and dramatic increase in the use of spies as the military quickly began to realise the value of covert intelligence. Spying 'came of age' during the war on the Western Front and that value only increased in the run up to the Second World War, when the threat of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany began to make themselves felt. The Cold War years, with the use of moles, defectors and double agents on both sides of the Iron Curtain saw the art of spying assume record proportions. The passing on of atom secrets, the truth about Russian missiles on Cuba, it was the age of the double agent, the activities of whom managed to keep away the looming threat of nuclear war. _A Hundred Years of Spying_ takes the reader through the murky world of espionage as it develops over the course of the twentieth century, where the lines of truth and reality blur, and where many real-life spies have always been accompanied, maybe even proceeded, by a plethora of spy literature. This book will look at the use of and development of spying as an accepted military practice. It will focus on individuals from Belgians like Gabrielle Petite to the infamous Mata Hari, from people like Reilly Ace of Spies to the British traitors such as Philby, Burgess and McClean. The activities of American atom spies like the Rosenbergs will also be covered as will Russian double agent Oleg Penkovsky and many others.

    1 in stock

    £17.00

  • SPY SWAP: The Humiliation of Putin's Intelligence

    Pen & Sword Books Ltd SPY SWAP: The Humiliation of Putin's Intelligence

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisOn Monday, 4 March 2019, Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia collapsed in the centre of Salisbury in Wiltshire. Both were suffering the effects of A-234, a third-generation Russian-manufactured military grade Novichok nerve agent. As three suspects, all GRU officers, were quickly identified, it was also established that the door handle to the Skripals' suburban home had been contaminated with the toxin. Whilst the Skripals had lived in the cathedral city for the past seven years, what Sergei's neighbours did not know was that he had once been a colonel in the Russian Federation's military intelligence service. Back in July 1996, he had been posted under diplomatic cover to Madrid where he was subsequently cultivated by Pablo Miller, an MI6 officer operating as a businessman under the alias Antonio Alvares de Idalgo. Sergei's recruitment by Miller was one of many successes achieved by Western agencies following the collapse of the Soviet Bloc. These counter-intelligence triumphs had their origins in a joint FBI/CIA project codenamed COURTSHIP which was based on the rather risky tactic of making an approach to almost any identified KGB or GRU officer, in almost any environment - a technique known as a 'cold pitch'. It soon yielded results; within five years COURTSHIP had netted about twenty assets. Codenamed FORTHWITH, Sergei was betrayed in December 2001\. Arrested in 2004, he was convicted of high treason in Russia, but was subsequently included in a prisoner swap in July 2010 and brought to the UK. The journey to the attempt on his life had begun. The Vienna spy swap was the culmination of a CIA plan to free a specific individual, Gennadi Vasilenko, who had been the Agency's key mole inside the KGB since March 1979\. To acquire the necessary leverage, the FBI swooped on a large network in the United States, bringing to an end a surveillance operation, codenamed GHOST STORIES, that lasted ten years. Anxious to avoid further embarrassment over the arrests, Vladimir Putin personally authorised an exchange, unaware of Vasilenko's true status. It was only after the transaction had been completed, and two further Russian spies were exfiltrated from Moscow, that the Kremlin learned of Vasilenko's value, and the scale of the deception. For the very first time, a Russian government had been persuaded to release four traitors and send them to the West. The humiliation was complete. As _Spy Swap_ reveals, Putin's retribution would manifest itself in a quiet Wiltshire market town.

    1 in stock

    £16.99

  • Day of the Assassins: A History of Political

    Pan Macmillan Day of the Assassins: A History of Political

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis‘Written with Burleigh’s characteristic brio, with pithy summaries of historical moments (he is brilliant on the Americans in Vietnam, for example) and full of surprising vignettes’ – The Times ’Book of the Week’In Day of the Assassins, acclaimed historian Michael Burleigh examines assassination as a special category of political violence and asks whether, like a contagious disease, it can be catching.Focusing chiefly on the last century and a half, Burleigh takes readers from Europe, Russia, Israel and the United States to the Congo, India, Iran, Laos, Rwanda, South Africa and Vietnam. And, as we travel, we revisit notable assassinations, among them Leon Trotsky, Hendrik Verwoerd, Juvénal Habyarimana, Indira Gandhi, Yitzhak Rabin and Jamal Khashoggi.Combining human drama, questions of political morality and the sheer randomness of events, Day of the Assassins is a riveting insight into the politics of violence.‘Brilliant and timely . . . Our world today is as dangerous and mixed-up as it has ever been. Luckily we have Michael Burleigh to help us make sense of it.’ – Mail on SundayTrade ReviewDay of the Assassins is written with Burleigh’s characteristic brio, with pithy summaries of historical moments (he is brilliant on the Americans in Vietnam, for example) and full of surprising vignettes, which he handles with a commendable sang-froid. -- David Aaronovitch 'Book of the Week' * The Times *A lively account of how political murders, from Julius Caesar onwards, have differed from most others. * Daily Telegraph Top History Books of the Year *Michael Burleigh’s Day of the Assassins reminds us that political murder is as old as mankind . . . The detail, as always in Burleigh’s books, is conveyed with great brio -- Jonathan Powell * New Statesman *One of the great pleasures of reading Burleigh, a man never afraid to speak his mind, is the matter-of-fact way in which he dissects and disposes of sacred cows . . . Burleigh’s analysis of Putin’s Russia, incidentally, is a brilliant and timely reminder of the danger of taking things at face value. Our world today is as dangerous and mixed-up as it has ever been. Luckily we have Michael Burleigh to help us make sense of it. -- Simon Griffith * Mail on Sunday *A thoughtful and eminently readable book. -- Nigel Jones * BBC History Magazine *Burleigh, a historian of Germany and a prolific newspaper commentator, is careful to recognise the whodunnits where mystery is as gripping as any historical methodology -- Peter Stothard * History Today *Relentlessly sanguinary . . . harshly excellent. -- Jonathan Meades * Literary Review *

    1 in stock

    £11.69

  • Spooked: The Secret Rise of Private Spies

    Hodder & Stoughton Spooked: The Secret Rise of Private Spies

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisA Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist's revelatory look inside the sinister world of private spies.A spy story like no other.Private spies are the invisible force that shapes our modern world: they influence our elections, effect government policies and shape the fortunes of companies. More deviously, they are also peering into our personal lives as never before.Spooked takes us on a journey into a secret billion-dollar industry in which information is currency and loyalties are for sale. An industry so tentacular it reaches from the Steele dossier written by a British ex-spy to Russian oligarchs in Mayfair mansions, from the devious tactics of Harvey Weinstein to the growing role of corporate spies in politics and the threat to future elections.Spooked reads like the best kind of spy story: a gripping tale packed with twists and turns, uncovering a secret side of our modern world.Trade ReviewMeier sets out to investigate the investigations industry . . . a revealing read -- Brendan Daly * Business Post *A gobsmacking book detailing the rise of wannabe James Bonds . . . an enjoyable romp through the stranger-than-fiction world of private intelligence agencies... Meier is a Pulitzer-winning former New York Times reporter, and he stirs an incredible amount of well-researched material into this book . . . a mad whirl of double-cross, Machiavellian machinations and, of course, money. -- Darragh McManus * Irish Independent *

    1 in stock

    £9.49

  • Chief of Station, Congo: Fighting the Cold War in

    PublicAffairs,U.S. Chief of Station, Congo: Fighting the Cold War in

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisLarry Devlin arrived as the new chief of station for the CIA in the Congo five days after the country had declared its independence, the army had mutinied, and governmental authority had collapsed. As he crossed the Congo River in an almost empty ferry boat, all he could see were lines of people trying to travel the other way,out of the Congo. Within his first two weeks he found himself on the wrong end of a revolver as militiamen played Russian-roulette, Congo style, with him. During his first year, the charismatic and reckless political leader, Patrice Lumumba, was murdered and Devlin was widely thought to have been entrusted with (he was) and to have carried out (he didn't) the assassination. Then he saved the life of Joseph Desire Mobutu, who carried out the military coup that presaged his own rise to political power. Devlin found himself at the heart of Africa, fighting for the future of perhaps the most strategically influential country on the continent, its borders shared with eight other nations. He met every significant political figure, from presidents to mercenaries, as he took the Cold War to one of the world's hottest zones. This is a classic political memoir from a master spy who lived in wildly dramatic times.Trade Review"If one man personified the cold war in Africa-that ruinous contest between the greatest powers in the world's weakest states-it was Larry Devlin. Smart, ambitious and hard as bullets, a second-world-war veteran who equated communists with Nazis, he was one of the CIA's first station chiefs in Congo, where he arrived just days after it was made independent by Belgium in 1960-at two weeks' notice... Mr Devlin's was an unsavoury career. But so was that of any successful cold-war spy. His adventures, which he tells quite well, included dodging cannibal mutineers and murderous Western mercenaries; surviving numerous mock executions; and driving around Kinshasa with a rigid corpse sticking out of his trunk." The Economist "The real story, this book makes clear, was more colourful than any novelist dare imagine...[W]hat revelations remain [after being vetted by the CIA] are still extraordinary enough to ensure his memoirs become a must-read for those interested in the shaping of independent Africa. Devlin's account of the first Mobutu coup, in which he personally assured the future dictator that the US would bankroll his takeover, is one such astonishing moment....The danger with Chief of Station, Congo, is that it will be read purely as a work of historical interest, a fascinating account of a now-obsolete period when Moscow and Washington treated Africa as their board for a game of superpower chess. In fact, this book is of pressing and immediate relevance." Michaela Wrong in the Financial Times "This is one book every African must read... highly recommended." New African "Revealing... For devotees of Frederick Forsyth, there is plenty in these pages about gun-running in the heart of darkness." The Spectator"

    2 in stock

    £13.29

  • Farewell: The Greatest Spy Story of the Twentieth

    Amazon Publishing Farewell: The Greatest Spy Story of the Twentieth

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis1981. Ronald Reagan and François Mitterrand are sworn in as presidents of the Unites States and France, respectively. The tension due to Mitterrand’s French Communist support, however, is immediately defused when he gives Reagan the Farewell Dossier, a file he would later call “one of the greatest spy cases of the twentieth century.” Vladimir Ippolitovitch Vetrov, a promising technical student, joins the KGB to work as a spy. Following a couple of murky incidents, however, Vetrov is removed from the field and placed at a desk as an analyst. Soon, burdened by a troubled marriage and frustrated at a flailing career, Vetrov turns to alcohol. Desperate and needing redemption, he offers his services to the DST. Thus Agent Farewell is born. He uses his post within the KGB to steal and photocopy files of the USSR’s plans for the West—all under Brezhnev’s nose. Probing further into Vetrov’s psychological profile than ever before, Kostin and Raynaud provide groundbreaking insight into the man whose life helped hasten the fall of the Communist Soviet Regime.Trade Review“The reader of this wonderful book from Sergei Kostin and Eric Raynaud is in for a treat: an introduction into what President Reagan described as the most significant spy story of the last century...[an] exciting voyage into the murky world of espionage and counterespionage.” —Richard V. Allen, United States National Security Advisor to President Ronald Reagan “Vetrov is 007’s opposite: a shambolic bear of a man, albeit with the requisite indestructible liver (and penchant for a basement quickie with the secretary).” —The Sunday Times

    1 in stock

    £8.54

  • Risk Taker, Spy Maker: Tales of a CIA Case

    Casemate Publishers Risk Taker, Spy Maker: Tales of a CIA Case

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisBarry Broman has led a remarkable life, and met some remarkable people along the way of his years at a Central Intelligence Agency case officer. Broman was a teenage photographer for the Associated Press in Southeast Asia, then a Marine Corps infantry officer in combat in Vietnam before spending a quarter century as a “head-hunter” with dozens of recruits for the Clandestine Service in operations around the world. Mr. Broman received a BA in Political Science in 1967 followed by an MA in Southeast Asian Studies a year later. Immediately following his service in the Marine Corps, he was recruited by the CIA and spent his first posting in Cambodia at war. He was present at the fall of Phnom Penh in 1975, escaping just before the Khmer Rouge took power. He subsequently served in other Asian postings, one in Europe, and one in the Western Hemisphere. During his career, Mr. Broman was twice a CIA chief of station, once a Deputy Chief of Station, and supervised an international para-military project in support of the Cambodian resistance to Vietnamese invaders. He was actively involved in several assignments in counter-narcotics operations in Southeast Asia including a major “bust” that yielded 551 kilograms of high-grade heroin from a major drug trafficker. His “favorite agent” against a variety of “hard targets” was a fellow whose only demand was that his assignments be “life threatening.” He survived them all. At times, the memoir reads like a travel book with tales of visits to little-known and rarely seen places like the Naga Hills on the India-Burma border, the world-famous but off limits jade and ruby mines of Burma, and the isolated Banda Islands of Indonesia, the home of nutmeg. The book is strengthened by many photos by the author. They include Marines in action in Vietnam, the ravages of war in Cambodia at war, and opium buyers forcing growers to sell in Burma.Trade Review...a fascinating account of the author’s adventurous career as a Marine Corps officer in Vietnam and later as a CIA case officer in war-torn Cambodia… * Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International *This is a marvellous memoir, at once insightful and entertaining-and poignant. […] A fascinating life, wonderfully told. * William Shawcross, Author *Table of ContentsI. Early Years II. Photographer III. Marine IV. Spy V. Latter Years

    1 in stock

    £21.25

  • The Rise and Fall of Intelligence: An

    Georgetown University Press The Rise and Fall of Intelligence: An

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis sweeping history of the development of professional, institutionalized intelligence examines the implications of the fall of the state monopoly on espionage today and beyond. During the Cold War, only the alliances clustered around the two superpowers maintained viable intelligence endeavors, whereas a century ago, many states could aspire to be competitive at these dark arts. Today, larger states have lost their monopoly on intelligence skills and capabilities as technological and sociopolitical changes have made it possible for private organizations and even individuals to unearth secrets and influence global events. Historian Michael Warner addresses the birth of professional intelligence in Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century and the subsequent rise of US intelligence during the Cold War. He brings this history up to the present day as intelligence agencies used the struggle against terrorism and the digital revolution to improve capabilities in the 2000s. Throughout, the book examines how states and other entities use intelligence to create, exploit, and protect secret advantages against others, and emphasizes how technological advancement and ideological competition drive intelligence, improving its techniques and creating a need for intelligence and counterintelligence activities to serve and protect policymakers and commanders. The world changes intelligence and intelligence changes the world. This sweeping history of espionage and intelligence will be a welcomed by practitioners, students, and scholars of security studies, international affairs, and intelligence, as well as general audiences interested in the evolution of espionage and technology.Trade ReviewExplores a series of international, domestic, or technological crises and how governments and intelligence professionals scrambled to meet these challenges, only to see these innovations shape future events in sometimes unanticipated and unwanted ways. -- James J. Wirtz Political Science Quarterly A spectacular contribution to the literature. In it he covers an enormous amount of complex and nuanced material in an extremely easy style, yet his substantial chapter notes and bibliography fully support the academically inclined reader. Were I ever again to teach the history of intelligence, Rise and Fall would unquestionably be my primary text. -- Captain Steven E. Maffeo, U.S. Naval Reserve (Retired) Proceedings Were I ever again to teach the history of intelligence, [this] would unquestionably be my primary text. Proceedings A good guide to the nature of both sides of intelligence systems -- Father James V. Schall, S.J. Catholic Pulse A fine assessment of intelligence processes through the years. Midwest Book ReviewTable of ContentsPreface Timeline Introduction 1. From Ancient to Modern2. A Revolutionary Age 3. As Good as It Gets4. Cold War: Technology 5. Cold War: Ideology6. The Liberal Triumph? 7. The Shadow War Conclusion: Intelligence All around Us Works Cited Index

    1 in stock

    £25.17

  • Spies on the Mekong: CIA Clandestine Operations

    Casemate Publishers Spies on the Mekong: CIA Clandestine Operations

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisDuring the Cold War, the Central Intelligence Agency's biggest and longest paramilitary operation was in the tiny kingdom of Laos. Hundreds of advisors and support personnel trained and led guerrilla formations across the mountainous Laotian countryside, as well as running smaller road-watch and agent teams that stretched from the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the Chinese frontier. Added to this number were hundreds of contract personnel providing covert aviation services.It was dangerous work. On the Memorial Wall at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, nine stars are dedicated to officers who perished in Laos. On top of this are more than one hundred from propriety airlines killed in aviation mishaps between 1961 and 1973. Combined, this grim casualty figure is orders of magnitude larger than any other CIA paramilitary operation.But for the Foreign Intelligence officers at Langley, Laos was more than a paramilitary battleground. Because of its geographic location as a buffer state, as well as its trifurcated political structure, Laos was a unique Cold War melting pot. All three of the Lao political factions, including the communist Pathet Lao, had representation in Vientiane. The Soviet Union had an extremely active embassy in the capital, while the People's Republic of China - though in the throes of the Cultural Revolution - had multiple diplomatic outposts across the kingdom. So, too, did both North and South Vietnam. All of this made Laos fertile ground for clandestine operations. This book comprehensively details the cloak-and-dagger side of the war in Laos for the first time, from agent recruitments to servicing dead-drops in Vientiane.Trade Review...offers a good spy tale and is a well-researched and credible history. It is a valuable addition to the intelligence literature. * International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 26/10/2022 *...sheds light brighter than any spy fiction on an important aspect of the Indochina experience. * John Prados, author of Vietnam: The History of an Unwinnable War, 1945-1975 25/06/2021 *People in the book—friends and foes—come through clearly in Conboy’s thoughtful vignettes about them. He presents backgrounds of many men and a few women in a manner that personalizes each—for good or for bad. Some of them practically walk off the page and greet the reader. * The VVA Veteran *...a masterful book on the secret exploits of the Central Intelligence Agency […] This is is a “must read” for anyone interested in the Indochina Wars and some operations that have never been recorded before. * Barry Broman, author of Risk Taker, Spy Maker 25/06/2021 *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Chapter One Growing Pains Chapter Two The Young Turks Chapter Three Hell is a City Chapter Four Apéritif Chapter Five The Teams Chapter Six The Flying Squad Chapter Seven The Holy Grail Chapter Eight Hard Target Chapter Nine Rock and a Hard Place Chapter Ten The Art of Seduction Chapter Eleven Suspicious Minds Chapter Twelve Writing on the Wall Chapter Thirteen Eye of the Hurricane Chapter Fourteen Surreptitious Entries Chapter Fifteen Dénouement Chapter Sixteen Cloak and Keris

    1 in stock

    £23.38

  • Pegasus Books A Spy in Plain Sight: The Inside Story of the FBI

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisA legal analyst for NPR, NBC, and CNN delves into the facts surrounding what has been called the “worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history”: the case of Robert Hanssen—a Russian spy who was embedded in the FBI for two decades. As a federal prosecutor and the daughter of an FBI agent, Wiehl has an inside perspective. She brings her experience and the ingrained lessons of her upraising to bear on her remarkable exploration of the case, interviewing numerous FBI and CIA agents both past and present as well as the individuals closest to Hanssen. She speaks with his brother-in-law, his oldest and best friend, and even his psychiatrist. In all her conversations, Wiehl is trying to figure out how he did it—and at what cost. But she also pursues questions urgently relevant to our national security today. Could there be another spy in the system? Could the presence of a spy be an even greater threat now than ever before, with the greater prominence cyber security has taken in recent years? Wiehl explores the mechanisms and politics of our national security apparatus and how they make us vulnerable to precisely this kind of threat. Wiehl grew up among the same people with whom Hanssen ingratiated himself, and she has spent her career trying to find the truth within fractious legal and political conflicts. A Spy in Plain Sight reflects on the deeply sown divisions and paranoias of our present day and provides an unparalleled view into the functioning of the FBI, and will stand alongside pillars of the genre like Killers of the Flower Moon, The Spy and the Traitor, and No Place to Hide. Trade Review"Perhaps the best of the many books on Robert Hanssen (b. 1944), the agent who, for more than 20 years, sold American secrets to Russia. The daughter of an FBI agent, Wiehl, a former federal prosecutor and legal analyst for a variety of networks, delivers a fine account that will make readers squirm but not put it down. The author does not take the easy route by assuming that the FBI was staffed by dimwits, and her unnerving final chapter concludes that, despite some reforms, other Hanssens are not only possible; they’re probably already at work. A superb account of a long-running intelligence disaster." * Kirkus (starred) *“A riveting story of one of America’s most notorious spies. Like the former federal prosecutor she was, Lis Wiehl has uncovered damning new evidence and chilling first-hand accounts of how Robert Hanssen was able to elude the FBI for twenty years. More alarming still, Wiehl shows how Hanssen’s story illustrates the very real and present danger within the FBI today. A must-read.” -- Valerie Plame, former covert CIA ops officerPraise for Lis Wiehl: “A powerful dual narrative of the unfolding investigation and the life story of Ted Kaczynski. The action progresses with drama and nail-biting intensity, the conclusion foregone yet nonetheless compelling. A true-crime masterpiece." * Booklist (starred) *“Hunting Charles Manson the best true crime book you will ever read. Lock your doors, keep the night lights on, and read this book.” -- Linda Fairstein, New York Times bestselling novelist“Lis Wiehl’s real-life page-turner is jam-packed with new, fascinating, thoroughly researched, and relevant-today details about the making of a monster, the evolution of his dangerous charisma, and how he was finally brought to justice." -- Kate White, New York Times bestselling novelist“You think you know everything about an infamous criminal case until brilliant writers and researchers like Lis Wiehl and Caitlin Rother come along to expose new layers and new insights. This is a must-read for true crime fans—and those who think they know everything about the Manson case." -- Gregg Olsen, #1 New York Times bestselling author“Lis Wiehl is a pro who does her homework and knows what she’s talking about. She’s a storyteller extraordinaire and this one, though non-fiction, reads like a thriller. She gives voice and life to a troubling aspect of our history, one that is definitely worth remembering.” -- Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author

    Out of stock

    £999.99

  • Operation Dragon: Inside the Kremlin's Secret War

    Encounter Books,USA Operation Dragon: Inside the Kremlin's Secret War

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisFormer Director of Central Intelligence R. James Woolsey and former Romanian acting spy chief Lt. General Ion Mihai Pacepa, who was granted political asylum in the U.S. in 1978, describe why Russia remains an extremely dangerous force in the world, and they finally and definitively put to rest the question of who killed President Kennedy on November 22, 1963.All evidence points to the fact that the assassination—carried out by Lee Harvey Oswald—was ordered by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, acting through what was essentially the Russian leader’s personal army, the KGB (now known as the FSB). This evidence, which is codified as most things in foreign intelligence are, has never before been jointly decoded by a top U.S. foreign intelligence leader and a former Soviet Bloc spy chief familiar with KGB patterns and codes.Meanwhile, dozens of conspiracy theorists have written books about the JFK assassination during the past fifty-six years. Most of these theories blame America and were largely triggered by the KGB disinformation campaign implemented in the intense effort to remove Russia’s own fingerprints that blamed in turn Lyndon Johnson, the CIA, secretive groups of American oilmen, Howard Hughes, Fidel Castro, and the Mafia.Russian propaganda sowed hatred and contempt for the U.S. quite effectively, and its operations have morphed into many forms, including the recruitment of global terror groups and the backing of enemy nation- states. Yet it was the JFK assassination, with its explosive aftermath of false conspiracy theories, that set the model for blaming America first.

    1 in stock

    £18.04

  • H.W. Wilson Publishing Co. Defining Documents in American History: Espionage

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £219.00

  • To Catch a Spy: The Art of Counterintelligence

    Georgetown University Press To Catch a Spy: The Art of Counterintelligence

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisHow the US is losing the counterintelligence war and what the country should do to better protect our national security and trade secrets The United States is losing the counterintelligence war. Foreign intelligence services, particularly those of China, Russia, and Cuba, are recruiting spies in our midst and stealing our secrets and cutting-edge technologies. In To Catch a Spy: The Art of Counterintelligence, James M. Olson, former chief of CIA counterintelligence, offers a wake-up call for the American public and also a guide for how our country can do a better job of protecting its national security and trade secrets. Olson takes the reader into the arcane world of counterintelligence as he lived it during his thirty-year career in the CIA. After an overview of what the Chinese, Russian, and Cuban spy services are doing to the United States, Olson explains the nitty-gritty of the principles and methods of counterintelligence. Readers will learn about specific aspects of counterintelligence such as running double-agent operations and surveillance. The book also analyzes twelve real-world case studies to illustrate why people spy against their country, the tradecraft of counterintelligence, and where counterintelligence breaks down or succeeds. A “lessons learned” section follows each case study.Trade ReviewA five-cloak, five-dagger read for anyone interested in intelligence. * The Washington Times *A must-read for professionals in security and/or governmental affairs; it may also appeal to readers interested in foreign counterintelligence efforts and US tactics. * Library Journal *[A] highly entertaining and captivating body of work exploring what Olson believes to be the major counterintelligence challenges and threats facing the US today. * Intelligence & National Security *Impressively informed and informative, To Catch a Spy: The Art of Counterintelligence is an expertly written, organized and presented study that should be a part of every community, governmental, college, and university library National & International Security, Political Intelligence, and Espionage collection and supplemental curriculum studies lists. * Midwest Book Review *Olson is concise, clear, and helpful in his presentation. After concluding this book, you’ll know what a rich field of reading awaits you in the now understandable world of counterintelligence. * Decatur Daily *This inspiring volume is rooted in the author’s vast experience in intelligence and counterintelligence at the Central Intelligence Agency. * International Journal of Intelligence & Counterintelligence *Table of ContentsPreface to the Paperback Edition Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter One: China Chapter Two: Russia Chapter Three: Cuba Chapter Four: The Ten Commandments of Counterintelligence Chapter Five: Workplace Counterintelligence Chapter Six: Double-Agent Operations Chapter Seven: Managing Double-Agent Operations Chapter Eight: Counterintelligence Case Studies Clayton Lonetree Sharon Scranage Clyde Lee Conrad Earl Edwin Pitts Chi Mak Ana Montes Richard Miller Harold James Nicholson Glenn Michael Souther Jonathan Pollard Edward Lee Howard Larry Wu-Tai Chin Conclusion Appendix: The Counterintelligence Officer’s Bookshelf Index About the Author

    4 in stock

    £19.00

  • The Russian FSB

    Georgetown University Press The Russian FSB

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisAn introduction to Putin's formidable intelligence and security organizationSince its founding in 1995, the FSB, Russia's Federal Security Service, has regained the majority of the domestic security functions of the Soviet-era KGB. Under Vladimir Putin, who served as FSB director just before becoming president, the agency has grown to be one of the most powerful and favored organizations in Russia. The FSB not only conducts internal security but also has primacy in intelligence operations in former Soviet states. Their activities include anti-dissident operations at home and abroad, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, criminal investigations of crimes against the state, and guarding Russia's borders. In The Russian FSB, Kevin P. Riehle provides a brief history of the FSB's origins, placed within the context of Russian history, the government's power structure, and Russia's wider culture. He describes how the FSB's mindset and priorities show continuities from the tsarist regimes and the Soviet era. The book's chapters analyze origins, organizational structure, missions, leaders, international partners, and cultural representations such as the FSB in film and television. Based on both English and Russian sources, this book is a well-researched introduction to understanding the FSB and its central role in Putin's Russia. Concise Histories of Intelligence SeriesChristopher Moran, Mark Phythian, and Mark Stout, Series Editors

    1 in stock

    £54.00

  • Georgetown University Press Covert Action

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisA comparative international perspective challenges conventional narratives about unacknowledged interventionCovert action is generally understood as politically motivated and plausibly deniable interference by one state in the affairs of another state. It includes propaganda, political or economic subversion, paramilitary action, and assassinations. Covert action is the most consequential and controversial form of secret statecraft, and it has become a ubiquitous feature of international politics. However, it is often sensationalized or seen through a narrow, US-centric lens. Covert Action challenges this conventional narrative and redefines secret statecraft by offering a groundbreaking comparative international perspective that explores the practice of unacknowledged intervention across twenty countries and a range of eras. Bringing together leading scholars from around the world, this volume moves beyond the American, and wider, anglosphere perspectives to examine covert action practices across states, regime types, and time. This book will be important reading for historians, political scientists, and policymakers, and it provides a foundational study of the hidden mechanisms of international power. It takes a global perspective and thus transforms the understanding of how nations truly interact behind the scenes, revealing covert action as a complex form of international statecraft.

    2 in stock

    £34.20

  • Hitler’s South African Spies: Secret Agents and

    Jonathan Ball Publishers SA Hitler’s South African Spies: Secret Agents and

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe story of the intelligence war in South Africa during the Second World War is one of suspense, drama and dogged persistence. In 1939, when the Union of South Africa entered the war on Britain's side, the German government secretly contacted the political opposition, and the leadership of the anti-war movement, the Ossewabrandwag.The Nazis' aim was to spread sedition, undermine the Allied war effort, and - given the strategic importance of the Cape of Good Hope sea route - gain naval intelligence. Soon U-boat packs were sent to operate in South African waters, to deadly effect.With the Ossewabrandwag's help, a network of German spies was established to gather and relay back to the Reich important political and military intelligence. Agents would send coded messages to Axis diplomats in neighbouring Mozambique. Meanwhile, police detectives and MI5 hunted in vain for illegal wireless transmitters.Hitler's South African Spies presents an unrivalled account of German intelligence networks in wartime South Africa. It also details the hunt in post-war Europe for witnesses to help the government bring charges of high treason against key Ossewabrandwag members.

    1 in stock

    £10.44

  • The Invitation-Only Zone: The Extraordinary Story

    Atlantic Books The Invitation-Only Zone: The Extraordinary Story

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisDuring the 1970s and early 80s, dozens - perhaps hundreds - of Japanese civilians were kidnapped by North Korean commandos and forced to live in 'Invitation Only Zones', high-security detention-centres masked as exclusive areas, on the outskirts of Pyongyang.The objective? To brainwash the abductees with the regime's ideology, and train them to spy on the state's behalf. But the project faltered; when indoctrination failed, the captives were forced to teach North Korean operatives how to pass as Japanese, to help them infiltrate hostile neighbouring nations.For years, the Japanese and North Korean authorities brushed off these disappearances, but in 2002 Kim Jong Il admitted to kidnapping thirteen citizens, returning five of them - the remaining eight were declared dead. In The Invitation Only Zone, Boynton, an investigative journalist, speaks with the abductees, nationalists and diplomats, and crab fishermen, to try and untangle both the kidnappings and the intensely complicated relations between North Korea and Japan. The result is a fierce and fascinating exploration of North Korea's mysterious machinations, and the vexed politics of Northeast Asia.Trade ReviewThe book reads like a modern day episode of 'The Twilight Zone, except it's completely true. * Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down *Like Alice in Wonderland, the stories of the abductees reveal a society where logic has been turned upside down. Boynton's skillful reporting brings vividly to life a world that is enshrouded in mystery and paranoia. -- Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming TowerThe Invitation-Only Zone is a rare feat of investigative reporting. Robert Boynton's relentless pursuit of the chilling story of Japanese citizens abducted to the outskirts of Pyongyang, brings us well inside the heavily-policed realm of Kim Il-Song and his son, Kim Jong-Il. * Gay Talese *Engaging reading, surreal in some of the Orwellian detail. * Kirkus Review *The Invitation-Only Zone is a compelling examination of one of the most shocking chapters in North Korea's contemporary history. Impressively researched and documented, it is a book which must be read by anyone seeking insight into the behavior of the Pyongyang regime and why it is regarded with such fear and loathing by its neighbors, especially Japan. * Stephen Bosworth, ambassador to South Korea and Special Representative for North Korean Policy *A fascinating and compelling account of the bizarre events that changed the course of recent Japanese history. Robert Boynton has probed beneath the media sensationalism that has so far surrounded the abductions, and revealed an extraordinary story with roots lying deep in the troubled history of Korea and Japan. * Prof. Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Exodus to North Korea: Shadows from Japan's Cold War *With poignant and lucid prose, Robert Boynton dignifies the lives of the victims of North Korea's state-sponsored abductions of Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 80s. Confronting complications and contradictions on all sides, it reveals a web of powerful forces and gives much needed dimensionality to a story fit for Hollywood. * Prof. Alexis Dudden, Japan's Colonization of Korea *In assessing the fallout, both political and personal, Boynton is at his most acute. * The Independent *

    1 in stock

    £9.49

  • From Red Terror to Terrorist State: Russia's

    Gibson Square Books Ltd From Red Terror to Terrorist State: Russia's

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe history of modern Russia traditionally has Communism at its centre: Lenin defines its rise, Gorbachev its fall, and Putin its aftermath. In this radical new history, Yuri Felshtinsky and Vladimir Popov, however, introduce a new historical axis: the Cheka-the Bolsheviks' nebulous revolutionary intelligence service. Wrapped around the Party in a fight to the death from 1918 under its first head Felix Dzerzhinsky, only Stalin was able to resist its stranglehold at the cost of enormous bloodshed. Luring Russia into submission over less than a century, its murder-plots and unrivalled scheming culminated in the capture of the Kremlin in 2000. Drawing on Popov's secret documents of over two decades as a senior officer in one of the KGB's key covert sections, and on Felshtinsky's encyclopedic knowledge of Russian state archives open in the 1990s, little-known sources, and access to leading oligarchs, a new Russian history emerges. The story they tell is often unexpected while introducing a new cast of characters still of great influence-potentially surpassing Lenin's role-on our world today. In addition, the authors introduce a host of hitherto unknown characters who should be considered as pivotal, not least Felix Dzerzhinsky the ruthless first head of the Cheka. Obscure in comparison to Lenin or Stalin, he should however be considered as important an architect of modern Russia as Lenin. From Red Terror to Terrorist State is the first comprehensive history of the Cheka, its vice-like hold over Russia, global reach and ambitions. A monumental record by two exceptional Russian-intelligence experts, it presents an unrivaled wealth of unknown, authoritative, and detailed facts. Narrated from inside the intelligence services, it fundamentally transforms our understanding of how Russia works and how the Kremlin should be viewed.Trade Review'[O]ne of the leading experts on Russian assassinations.' Bill Browder; 'A scholarly and scrupulous analysis as well as a dark crime story which portrays a bloodthirsty monster so slippery that it has so far defied description.'; Viktor Suvorov, ex-GRU colonel and historian; '[A] detailed, compelling history of the deep-seated thirst for carnage endemic in Russia's intelligence services. A magisterial work by two of its foremost experts.' Oleg Kalugin, ex-KGB major-general; 'Destined to become the standard work.' Yuri Shvets, ex-KGB resident in Washington DCTable of ContentsList of Abbreviations 6 What's in a Name? Cheka to FSB 8 From Red Terror to Terrorist State 13 Part One: The Cheka and the Soviet Union 1 Formation of the Soviet Government 23 2 Felix Dzerzhinsky's Conspiracy 28 3 The First Attempt to Assassinate Vladimir Lenin 34 4 Lenin's Resurgence 45 5 Dzerzhinsky's Elimination of Lenin 50 6 Lenin's Premature Death-Joseph Stalin 62 7 Control over the Lubyanka 75 8 The Doctor's Plot and the Jewish Question 87 9 Stalin's Premature Death-Lavrenty Beria 96 10 Yevgeny Pitovranov, the Phoenix Rises 106 11 The KGB and Soviet Intellectuals 122 12 Russian Nationalism, the New Hymn 140 13 Pitovranov's Special Operation in Afghanistan 152 14 Angola, the KGB's Foreign Cash Cow 165 15 The Death of Andropov 178 16 The Doomsday Scenario 185 Part Two: The Cheka's Russian World 1 State Committee on the State of Emergency (August, 1991) 204 2 Yeltsin's Impeachment (September, 1993) 213 3 Presidential Elections (March, 1996) 228 4 The Lubyanka Seizes the Kremlin (April, 2000) 253 5 The Russian-Orthodox Church of Spies 280 6 The Russkiy Mir 291 7 Russia's Fifth International 301 8 Icebreaker Donald Trump 310 9 War on US Territory 326 Conclusion 357 Notes 359 Index 379

    1 in stock

    £22.50

  • Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem and Russia’s

    Guardian Faber Publishing Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem and Russia’s

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis**Pre-order INVASION: RUSSIA'S BLOODY WAR AND UKRAINE'S FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL now**FROM THE AWARD-WINNING JOURNALIST and #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF COLLUSION A gripping investigative account of how Russia's spies helped elect Donald Trump, backed Brexit, murdered enemies and threatened the very basis of western democracy.NEW AND UPDATED EDITION'Luke Harding is one of the best reporters in the world . . . [they are] an oustanding writer, stuck in the beating heart of political and criminal power, sinking their teeth in and never letting go.'ROBERT SAVIANO'Shadow State raises fresh questions about the way the UK government has handled claims of Kremlin interference in Britain's democratic processes.' FINANCIAL TIMES'If you doubt that hostile foreign powers were happy to assist Britain into decline, I recommend Shadow State . . . dazzling and meticulous.'OBSERVER'Excellent.' THE SCOTSMAN'Reads like a thriller.' IRISH TIMES'Detailed and compelling.' GUARDIAN***No terrorist group has deployed a nerve agent in a civilian area or used a radioactive mini-bomb in London. The Kremlin has done both.Shadow State is a riveting and alarming investigation into the methods Russia has used to wage an increasingly bold war in the UK and beyond. In this updated edition, featuring a new afterword, award-winning journalist and bestselling author Luke Harding uncovers fake news, cyber intrusions, dirty money and ruthless spies in disguise, showing how Vladimir Putin helped elect Donald Trump, backed Brexit, and now threatens the very basis of Western democracy itself.'A superb piece of work . . . essential reading for anyone who cares for his country.'JOHN LE CARRÉ, on Collusion

    2 in stock

    £10.44

  • Mafia State: How One Reporter Became an Enemy of

    Guardian Faber Publishing Mafia State: How One Reporter Became an Enemy of

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisAward-winning journalist and bestselling author Luke Harding's haunting, brilliant account of the insidious methods used against him by a resurgent Kremlin which led to him becoming the first western reporter to be deported from Russia since the days of the Cold War. FEATURING A NEW PREFACE FROM THE AUTHOR'A courageous and explosive exposé.'ORLANDO FIGES'Luke Harding is one of the best reporters in the world.'ROBERT SAVIANO'An essential read.'NEW STATESMANIn 2007, Luke Harding arrived in Moscow to take up a new job as a correspondent for the British newspaper the Guardian. Within months, mysterious agents from Russia's Federal Security Service - the successor to the KGB - had broken into his flat. He found himself tailed by men in cheap leather jackets, bugged, and even summoned to Lefortovo, the KGB's notorious prison.The break-in was the beginning of an extraordinary psychological war against the journalist and his family. Vladimir Putin's spies used tactics developed by the KGB and perfected in the 1970s by the Stasi, East Germany's sinister secret police. This clandestine campaign burst into the open in 2011 when the Kremlin expelled Harding from Moscow.Luke Harding's Mafia State gives a unique, personal and compelling portrait of today's Russia, two decades after the end of communism, that reads like a spy thriller.

    1 in stock

    £9.99

  • A Spy Named Orphan: The Enigma of Donald Maclean

    Vintage Publishing A Spy Named Orphan: The Enigma of Donald Maclean

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisDonald Maclean was a star diplomat, an establishment insider and a keeper of some of the West’s greatest secrets. He was also a Russian spy…Codenamed ‘Orphan’ by his Russian recruiter, Maclean was Britain’s most gifted traitor. But as he leaked huge amounts of top-secret intelligence, an international code-breaking operation was rapidly closing in on him. Moments before he was unmasked, Maclean escaped to Moscow.Drawing on a wealth of previously classified material, A Spy Named Orphan now tells this story for the first time in full, revealing the character and devastating impact of perhaps the most dangerous Soviet agent of the twentieth century.‘Superb’ William Boyd‘Fascinating… An exceptional story of espionage and betrayal, thrillingly told’ Philippe Sands‘A cracking story… Impressively researched’ Sunday Times‘Philipps makes the story and the slow uncovering of [Maclean’s] treachery a gripping narrative’ Alan BennettTrade ReviewBrilliantly fluent...fascinating...[Philipps] writes so cleanly, and at such a clip, handling the big scenes with aplomb...This biography first grips and then lingers long in the mind. It is a page-turner of the most empathetic kind. -- Rachel Cooke * Guardian *Superb…full of contemporary relevance… Philipps relates the complex narrative of Maclean’s treason…with tremendous aplomb, limpidity and acuity -- WILLIAM BOYD * New Statesman *With A Spy Named Orphan, the last piece of this bizarre jigsaw falls into place. The outline story is familiar, but the amount of new detail here — on Maclean's personal, professional, and secret lives – exceeds all expectations. Roland Philipps has managed to make the new material come alive by relating it intimately to its historical context, of which he has a deep and sympathetic understanding. -- Sebastian Faulks, author of BIRDSONGThe definitive account of the life of a “gifted” traitor… Impressive… By drawing on a wealth of previously classified material, Philipps weaves a gripping tale of misplaced loyalty, intrigue and betrayal that is unlikely to be bettered -- Dominic Midgley * Daily Express *Fascinating and page-turning. An exceptional story of espionage and betrayal, thrillingly told. I devoured it. -- Philippe Sands, winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for EAST WEST STREET

    1 in stock

    £11.69

  • M: Maxwell Knight, MI5's Greatest Spymaster

    Cornerstone M: Maxwell Knight, MI5's Greatest Spymaster

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis*** The Sunday Times bestseller ***'Vividly imagined and prodigiously researched' Helen Davies, Sunday Times, Books of the Year 'Such a rewarding read' John Preston, Daily Mail, Books of the Year'This odd, secretive man is brought to life', Robbie Millen, The Times, Books of the YearMaxwell Knight was a paradox. A jazz obsessive and nature enthusiast (he is the author of the definitive work on how to look after a gorilla), he is seen today as one of MI5's greatest spymasters, a man who did more than any other to break up British fascism during the Second World War – in spite of having once belonged to the British Fascisti himself. He was known to his agents and colleagues simply as M, and was rumoured to be part of the inspiration for the character M in the James Bond series.Knight became a legendary spymaster despite an almost total lack of qualifications. What set him apart from his peers was a mercurial ability to transform almost anyone into a fearless secret agent. He was the first in MI5 to grasp the potential of training female agents.M is about more than just one man however. In its pages, Hemming reveals for the first time in print the names and stories of seven men and women recruited by Knight, on behalf of MI5, and then asked to infiltrate the most dangerous political organizations in Britain at that time. Until now, their identities have been kept secret outside MI5. Drawn from every walk of life, they led double lives—often at great personal cost—in order to protect the country they loved. With the publication of this book, it will be possible at last to celebrate the lives of these courageous, selfless individuals.Drawing on declassified documents, private family archives and interviews with retired MI5 officers as well as the families of MI5 agents, M reveals not just the shadowy world of espionage but a brilliant, enigmatic man at its centre.Trade ReviewFascinating biography ... Hemming has done a superb job -- Ben Macintyre * The Times, 'Book of the Week' *Excellent biography… The author has done a terrific job of unscrambling Knight’s muddled life * The Sunday Times *Jaw-droppingly revelatory biography. ***** * Mail on Sunday *‘Compelling new biography… Hemming has done a wonderful espionage job of his own, scouring obscure files to bring long-hidden agents and their exploits to light. It is also a gripping portrait of an era, now long gone, when the establishment could accommodate such extravagant oddness. * Daily Telegraph *Henry Hemming has found a peach of a subject... Full of new material, fresh interpretations and uncompromising integrity... He has managed the great feat of producing a rattling good read that is also a major piece of revisionist history -- Richard Davenport-Hines * Wall Street Journal *Hemming has written a very readable, thoughtful and comprehensive account -- Alan Judd * Literary Review *I raced through Henry Hemming's book, constantly having to remind myself that it wasn't a work of fiction. It really has everything you'd want from a great espionage story: incredible agents risking their lives; the highest possible stakes, with the safety of the world hanging in the balance; and at its heart a complicated, mercurial spy master in Maxwell Knight spinning an ever more intricate web. -- Matt Charman, Oscar-nominated screenwriter of 'Bridge of Spies'A major new biography * Mail on Sunday *Engaging and suspenseful * Financial Times *Lively contribution to a maverick literature * The Observer *Crammed with cracking stories and founded on sound research, Henry Hemming’s biography of Maxwell Knight – ‘M’ – stands comparison with the bestselling books of Ben Macintyre. -- Adam Sisman (Author of John Le Carré)Absolute proof that assiduous digging in the archives can produce scoops. This is intelligence research at its best, especially in the identification of hitherto anonymous agents. Definitely a great contribution to the literature. -- Nigel West (Author of MI5)A fascinating portrait of a complex man. Espionage writing at its best. -- Charles Cumming (Author of A Divided Spy)A cracking read, which both informs and entertains in equal measure. -- Robin Handbury-Tenison * Country Life *Henry Hemming's excellent new life of Maxwell Knight [...] the most convincing, balanced and intricate biography of this extraordinary figure. -- Alex Bughart * The Spectator *‘A terrific life of the brilliant and eccentric spymaster’ * The Sunday Times *A jaw-droppingly revelatory biography * EVENT magazine, Mail on Sunday *The odd chap is brought to life * The Times *This is a terrific book, well researched and superbly written * The Guardian *a fascinating biography * Keith Simpson MP’s Summer Reading List *

    1 in stock

    £9.99

  • The History of the Stasi: East Germany's Secret

    Berghahn Books The History of the Stasi: East Germany's Secret

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis A well-balanced and detailed look at the East German Ministry for State Security, the secret police force more commonly known as the Stasi. “This is an excellent book, full of careful, balanced judgements and a wealth of concisely-communicated knowledge. It is also well written. Indeed, it is the best book yet published on the MfS.”—German History The Stasi stood for Stalinist oppression and all-encompassing surveillance. The “shield and sword of the party,” it secured the rule of the Communist Party for more than forty years, and by the 1980s it had become the largest secret-police apparatus in the world, per capita. Jens Gieseke tells the story of the Stasi, a feared secret-police force and a highly professional intelligence service. He inquires into the mechanisms of dictatorship and the day-to-day effects of surveillance and suspicion. Masterful and thorough at once, he takes the reader through this dark chapter of German postwar history, supplying key information on perpetrators, informers, and victims. In an assessment of post-communist memory politics, he critically discusses the consequences of opening the files and the outcomes of the Stasi debate in reunified Germany. A major guide for research on communist secret-police forces, this book is considered the standard reference work on the Stasi.Trade Review “Gieseke treats… many issues with careful and lucid analysis, confining himself to the known facts. He rejects the hyperbolic in favor of more mundane explanations. The truth is bad enough… Essential.” • Choice “The book is an exceptional achievement in every respect: it offers a calm, detached, factual and well balanced socio-historical analysis of the MfS (Ministry for Security) that covers all aspects.” • Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung “[This book] provides an excellent introduction to the chronology, structure, and activities of the MfS.” • Kritika. Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History “This is an excellent book, full of careful, balanced judgements and a wealth of concisely-communicated knowledge. It is also well written. Indeed, it is the best book yet published on the MfS…More than any other written on the MfS, his is a work of real scholarship which attempts a comprehensive history of the Ministry and its operations and assesses their development and significance.” • German History “Gieseke’s opus magnum belongs to one of the greatest scholarly achievements [in this field].” • Militägeschichtliche Zeitschrift “Not only does Gieseke's book deserve the widest possible audience in Germany, but an English translation would fill a glaring need elsewhere in the world.” • H-German “Gieseke has with this book produced an outstanding study of the phenomenon of state security of the GDR with all its important aspects. It is highly recommended to specialists as well as a wider readership.” • H-Soz-u-KultTable of Contents Preface Preface to the 2011 edition Introduction: Ten Years and Ten Days Chapter 1. Antifascism – Stalinism – Cold Civil War: Origins and Influences, 1945 to 1956 Chapter 2. The Safest GDR in the World – The Driving Forces of Stasi Growth Chapter 3. The Unofficial Collaborator – A New Type of Informer Chapter 4. Blanket Surveillance? State Security in East German Society Chapter 5. Resistance – Opposition – Persecution Chapter 6. Wolf and Co. – MfS Operations Abroad Chapter 7. Final Crisis and Collapse, 1989-90 Chapter 8. Legacy – Aufarbeitung – Culture of Memory: The Second Life of the Stasi Notes Select Bibliography

    1 in stock

    £20.36

  • The Spy in Moscow Station: A Counterspy’s Hunt

    Icon Books The Spy in Moscow Station: A Counterspy’s Hunt

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis'All the power and intrigue of a cinematic thriller ... immersive, dramatic, and historically edifying' KirkusMoscow in the late 1970s: one by one, CIA assets are disappearing. The perils of American arrogance, mixed with bureaucratic infighting, had left the country unspeakably vulnerable to ultra-sophisticated Russian electronic surveillance.. The Spy in Moscow Station tells of a time when-much like today-Russian spycraft was proving itself far ahead of the best technology the U.S. had to offer.This is the true story of unorthodox, underdog intelligence officers who fought an uphill battle against their government to prove that the KGB had pulled off the most devastating and breathtakingly thorough penetration of U.S. national security in history.Incorporating declassified internal CIA memos and diplomatic cables, this suspenseful narrative reads like a thriller-but real lives were at stake, and every twist is true as the US and USSR attempt to wrongfoot each other in eavesdropping technology and tradecraft. The book also carries a chilling warning for the present: like the State and CIA officers who were certain their "sweeps" could detect any threat in Moscow, we don't know what we don't know.

    3 in stock

    £11.69

  • Under Every Leaf: How Britain Played the Greater

    Biteback Publishing Under Every Leaf: How Britain Played the Greater

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisDelving into an encyclopaedic array of little-known primary sources, William Beaver uncovers a vigorous intelligence function at the heart of Victoria's Empire. A cadre of exceptionally able and dedicated officers, they formed the War Office Intelligence Division, which gave Britain's foreign policy its backbone in the heyday of imperial acquisition. Under Every Leaf is the first major study to examine the seminal role of intelligence gathering and analysis in `England's era'. So well did Great Britain play her hand, it seemed to all the world that, as the Farsi expression goes, `Anywhere a leaf moves, underneath you will find an Englishman.' The historian William Beaver is also a soldier, corporate communicator, arts editor and Anglican priest.Trade Review“Lively, witty and meticulously well-researched.” The Catholic Herald

    1 in stock

    £9.49

  • Sex, Spies and Scandal: The John Vassall Affair

    Biteback Publishing Sex, Spies and Scandal: The John Vassall Affair

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn September 1962, John Vassall, a clerk at the Admiralty in London, was unmasked as a Soviet spy. After being photographed in compromising positions while working at the British embassy in Moscow, Vassall was blackmailed into handing British defence secrets over to his Soviet handlers for seven years. While there have been several successful books and film adaptations about the Profumo, Jeremy Thorpe and Duchess of Argyll affairs, the story of John Vassall, who was responsible for a more serious intelligence breach, is ripe for retelling. It has everything: a honey trap, industrial-scale espionage, journalists jailed for not revealing their sources and the first modern tabloid witch-hunt, which resulted in a ministerial resignation and almost brought down Harold Macmillan’s government. With access to newly released MI5 files and interviews with people who knew Vassall from the 1950s until his death in 1996, this book sheds new light on a neglected spy scandal. Despite having been drugged and sexually assaulted by the KGB in Moscow, as a gay man John Vassall was shown no mercy by the British press or the courts. Sentenced to eighteen years in jail, he served ten years, despite telling MI5 everything. Once released, he found that many of his old friends and lovers had been persecuted or dismissed from the civil service in Britain, America and Australia. Unlike the Cambridge Five, who courted attention, after leaving prison Vassall changed his name to avoid the media and lived quietly in London. Including atmospheric detail about Dolphin Square – a hotbed of political intrigue but also a safe haven for members of the LGBT community – in the 1950s and ’60s, this is an explosive tale of sexual violence, betrayal, conspiracy, snobbery, homophobia and hypocrisy that blows apart some of the British establishment’s darkest secrets.

    1 in stock

    £17.00

  • Spying and the Crown: The Secret Relationship

    Atlantic Books Spying and the Crown: The Secret Relationship

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisA Daily Mail Book of the Year and a The Times and Sunday Times Best Book of 2021'Monumental.. Authoritative and highly readable.' Ben Macintyre, The Times'A fascinating history of royal espionage.' Sunday Times'Excellent... Compelling' GuardianFor the first time, Spying and the Crown uncovers the remarkable relationship between the Royal Family and the intelligence community, from the reign of Queen Victoria to the death of Princess Diana. In an enthralling narrative, Richard J. Aldrich and Rory Cormac show how the British secret services grew out of persistent attempts to assassinate Victoria and then operated on a private and informal basis, drawing on close personal relationships between senior spies, the aristocracy, and the monarchy. Based on original research and new evidence, Spying and the Crown presents the British monarchy in an entirely new light and reveals how far their majesties still call the shots in a hidden world.Previously published as The Secret Royals.Trade ReviewThis monumental book is really a history of the British secret services, focusing on the fascinating moments when this intersects with royal history... Authoritative and highly readable... As every page of this book attests, the royals have always been involved in secretly directing the affairs not just of this country but of many others. -- Ben Macintyre * The Times, 'Book of the Week' *Bizarre and disturbing episodes are revealed in this excellent history of the royal family's relationship with espionage... Richard Aldrich and Rory Cormac's fascinating history argues that modern intelligence evolved out of efforts to prevent Queen Victoria being assassinated... Through unbelievably thorough research - all of it fully referenced for grateful future scholars - they have compiled something comprehensive and compelling. * Guardian *A fascinating history of royal espionage... The book, which stretches back to Elizabeth I and her spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham, has something of interest on pretty much every page. -- Rowland White * Sunday Times *Gripping * Daily Mail, 'Books of the Year' *Authoritative and gripping. * Observer *Their mastery of a subject that is extensive both chronologically and in its geographical scope is assured and impressive... An intriguing alternative narrative of British royal history. -- Matthew Dennison * Sunday Telegraph *Aldrich and Cormac have written an important book. Packed with new material and fresh insights, it offers an original way of looking at royal history. It's also a very good read. -- Jane Ridley * Literary Review *[A] thorough and informed survey of how matters of high state have really worked - and work. -- Alan Judd * Spectator *Intricate, ingenious and determined... Intelligent, fair-minded and a pleasure to read. * Times Literary Supplement *A valuable and unmissable read. -- Alexander Larman * The Chap *Outstanding research that shines a light into the very darkest corners of the British establishment. Filled with royal revelations - our monarchs are viewed through an entirely new lens - as keepers of the secrets and even as spy chiefs. Were Victoria and Elizabeth II more like 007's mysterious "M"? This is the royals as we have never seen them before and each story is supported with startling new evidence. -- Kate Vigurs, author of Mission France, on The Secret RoyalsTable of Contents1: Elizabeth I and Modern Espionage 2: Popish Plots and Public Paranoia 3: Queen Victoria: Assassins and Revolutionaries 4: Queen Victoria's Secrets: War and the Rise of Germany 5: Queen Victoria's Great Game: Empire and Intrigue 6: Queen Victoria's Security: Fenians and Anarchists 7: Edward VII and the Modernization of Intelligence 8: King George V and the Great War 9: King George V and the Bolsheviks 10: Abdication: Spying on Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson 11: Outbreak of the Second World War 12: War in the Americas 13: Th e End of the Second World War 14: Raiding Missions: Fighting for the Secret Files 15: Princess Elizabeth: Codename 2519 16: Queen Elizabeth II: Coronation and Cold War 17: Nuclear Secrets 18: Queen Elizabeth's Empire: Intrigue and the Middle East 19: Discreet Diplomacy: Th e Royals in Africa 20: Discreet Diplomacy: Th e Global Queen 21: Terrorists and Lunatics, 1969-1977 22: Terrorists and Lunatics, 1979-1984 23: Going Public 24: Bugs and Bugging 25: The Diana Conspiracy

    1 in stock

    £11.69

  • Eavesdropping on the Emperor: Interrogators and

    C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd Eavesdropping on the Emperor: Interrogators and

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisWhen Japanese signals were decoded at Bletchley Park, who translated them into English? When Japanese soldiers were taken as prisoners of war, who interrogated them? When Japanese maps and plans were captured on the battlefield, who deciphered them for Britain? When Great Britain found itself at war with Japan in December 1941, there was a linguistic battle to be fought--but Britain was hopelessly unprepared. Eavesdropping on the Emperor traces the men and women with a talent for languages who were put on crash courses in Japanese, and unfolds the history of their war. Some were sent with their new skills to India; others to Mauritius, where there was a secret radio intercept station; or to Australia, where they worked with Australian and American codebreakers. Translating the despatches of the Japanese ambassador in Berlin after his conversations with Hitler; retrieving filthy but valuable documents from the battlefield in Burma; monitoring Japanese airwaves to warn of air-raids--Britain depended on these forgotten 'war heroes'. The accuracy of their translations was a matter of life or death, and they rose to the challenge. Based on declassified archives and interviews with the few survivors, this fascinating, globe-trotting book tells their stories.Trade Review'Fascinating. Peter Kornicki has produced a brilliantly researched account of British intelligence operations in the Far East during the Second World War, featuring a host of intriguing characters from codebreakers at Bletchley Park to interrogators operating across South-East Asia.' -- Michael Smith, author of 'The Emperor’s Codes: Bletchley Park’s Role in the Breaking of Japan’s Secret Ciphers''A detailed and enjoyable account of how Britain overcame provincial attitudes and limited vision in order to train specialists in Japanese at a time of total war. Never again should we underestimate the importance of languages in a complex, dangerous and interconnected world.' -- Aaron William Moore, Handa Chair of Japanese-Chinese Relations, University of Edinburgh, and author of 'Bombing the City: Civilian Accounts of the Air War in Britain and Japan, 1939-1945''A fascinating story of the men and women who provided military intelligence in Britain's war with Japan. The most comprehensive "connecting-the-dots" presentation of the backgrounds, recruitment and wartime activities of these linguists. Original, ambitious and engaging in style--a great read.' -- Kayoko Takeda, Professor of Translation and Interpreting Studies, College of Intercultural Communication, Rikkyo University

    1 in stock

    £23.75

  • The History Press Ltd Before Bletchley Park: The Codebreakers of the First World War

    1 in stock

    a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

    1 in stock

    £14.99

  • Faith, Unity, Discipline: The

    C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd Faith, Unity, Discipline: The

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisEstablished in the wake of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-8 by the Australian army officer Major-General Walter Cawthorne, then Deputy Chief of Staff in the Pakistan Army, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for years remained an under-developed and obscure agency. In 1979, the organisation's growing importance was felt during the Soviet war in Afghanistan , as it worked hand in glove with the CIA to support the mujahideen resistance, but its activities received little coverage in news media.Since that time, the ISI has projected its influence across the region - in 1988 its involvement in Indian Kashmir came under increasing scrutiny, and by 1995 its mentoring of what became the Afghan Taliban was well attested. But it was the organisation's alleged links with Al Qaeda and the discovery of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, at the heart of Pakistan's military zone, that really threw it under the spotlight. These controversies and many more have dogged the ISI, including its role in Pakistan's testing of a nuclear weapon in 1998 and its links with A.Q. Khan.Offering fresh insights into the ISI as a domestic and international actor based on intimate knowledge of its inner workings and key individuals, this startlingly original book uncovers the hitherto shady world of Pakistan's secret service.Trade Review'In Faith, Unity, Discipline, Hein Kiessling explores its shadowy history ... Notable episodes from the ISI's past have been covered recently elsewhere ... however, the ISI is seen out of focus or relegated to the sidelines. Mr. Kiessling, whose style, befitting his subject, is lean and restrained, fills this void nicely.' -- The Wall Street Journal'Former ISI chiefs who spend their time on the seminar circuit defending their agency's action have a new cause for worry thanks to a new book, Faith, Unity, Discipline, by German historian Hein G. Kiessling, which takes an incisive look into the organisation's functioning.' -- The Wire'Sheds new light and insight into the trajectory of Pakistani politics from Ayub Khan to Nawaz Sharif (in his third stint). As such, it is required and compelling read for all students of South Asia, beyond security.' -- The Indian Express'Provides a comprehensive account of how the tentacles of the ISI extend from the Pakistan military to virtually every aspect of national life in Pakistan. Kiessling also dwells on the various pursuits of the ISI, ranging from interfering in domestic politics, manipulating the media and mortally threatening individuals who come in its way, while even eliminating those found to be "inconvenient".' -- G. Parthasarathy, Outlook India'An excellent account of the ISI's development and history which is especially helpful on its early years. This book will be an important addition to both Pakistan studies and to intelligence studies.' -- Bruce Riedel, Brookings Institution Intelligence Project, and author of Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America, and the Future of the Global Jihad'By definition, studying intelligence agencies is particularly challenging. This book meets that challenge by relying on open and confidential sources. It is, to date, the most comprehensive analysis of the ISI. Tracing its history since its inception, it shows how foreigners helped Pakistan to build the ISI, how the agency faced fiascos during the wars against India, and how it became a major actor in domestic politics under Bhutto. It will never cease to be one, but it played a more dramatic role during the anti-Soviet Jihad, while collaborating with the CIA. The relative autonomy of the ISI vis-à-vis the Pakistani army and its relations with Islamists are some of the key questions addressed by the author of this remarkable book.' -- Christophe Jaffrelot, author of The Pakistan Paradox: Instability and Resistance

    1 in stock

    £16.14

  • The Man in the Bunker: The bestselling spy

    Zaffre The Man in the Bunker: The bestselling spy

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisWHAT IF HITLER HAD SURVIVED?In the gripping new spy thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Hitler's Secret, a Cambridge spy must find the truth behind Hitler's death. But exactly who is the man in the bunker?'MASTER OF THE WARTIME SPY THRILLER' - FINANCIAL TIMES________________Germany, late summer 1945 - The war is over but the country is in ruins. Millions of refugees and holocaust survivors strive to rebuild their lives in displaced persons camps. Millions of German soldiers and SS men are held captive in primitive conditions in open-air detention centres. Everywhere, civilians are desperate for food and shelter. No one admits to having voted Nazi, yet many are unrepentant.Adolf Hitler is said to have killed himself in his Berlin bunker. But no body was found - and many people believe he is alive. Newspapers are full of stories reporting sightings and theories. Even Stalin, whose own troops captured the bunker, has told President Truman he believes the former Führer is not dead. Day by day, American and British intelligence officers subject senior members of the Nazi regime to gruelling interrogation in their quest for their truth.Enter Tom Wilde - the Cambridge professor and spy sent in to find out the truth...Dramatic, intelligent, and brilliantly compelling, THE MAN IN THE BUNKER is Rory's best WWII thriller yet - perfect for readers of Robert Harris, C J Sansom and Joseph Kanon.

    2 in stock

    £13.49

  • Red List: MI5 and British Intellectuals in the

    Verso Books Red List: MI5 and British Intellectuals in the

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn the popular imagination MI5, or the Security Service, is known chiefly as the branch of the British state responsible for chasing down those who endanger national security-from Nazi fifth columnists to Soviet spies and today's domestic extremists. Yet, working from official documents released to the National Archives,distinguished historian Caute discovers that suspicion also fell on those who merely exercised their civil liberties, posing no threat to national security. In reality, this 'other history' of the Security Service, was dictated not only by the consistent anti-Communist and Imperial aims of the British state but also by the political prejudices of MI5's personnel. The guiding notions were 'Defence of the Realm' and 'subversion.' Caute here exposes the massive state operation to track the activities and affiliations of a range of journalists, academics, scientists, filmmakers, writers actors and musicians, who the Security Service classified as a threat to national security. Guilt by association was paramount. Letters were opened, phones were intercepted, private homes were bugged and citizens were placed under physical surveillance by Special Branch agents. Among the targets of surveillance are found such prominent figures as Arthur Ransome, Paul Robeson, J.B. Priestley, Kingsley Amis, George Orwell, Doris Lessing, Christopher Isherwood, Stephen Spender, Dorothy Hodgkin, Jacob Bronowski, John Berger, Benjamin Britten, Christopher Hill, Eric Hobsbawm, Kingsley Martin, Michael Redgrave, Joan Littlewood, Joseph Losey, Michael Foot and Harriet Harman. More than 200 victims are listed here but further MI5 files will be released to the National Archives.Trade ReviewRed List reintroduces us to lost generations of artists and writers, many of whom opposed imperial wars and British colonialism in India but disappeared into the annals of history - perhaps due to MI5 influence... [Caute] exemplifies how capitalist superpowers can control their own history and the legacy of radical art. -- Billy Anania * Hyperallergic *An exceptional and seminal work of impeccable scholarship and exhaustive research. * The Midwest Book Review *[Red List] provides a wealth of information about left-wing British intellectuals and artists in the postwar era. -- Richard J. Evans * The Nation *Caute has pieced together an extensive history of MI5 surveillance across the twentieth century...Red List demonstrates that the function of the security state is to foreclose political possibilities before they pose any direct threat to the established order, often ruining countless lives in the process. * Jacobin *Red List is a lucidly written account of MI5's surveillance of [Caute's] country's intelligentsia. * Shepherd Express *Table of ContentsNote on Sources ix List of Abbreviations x Introduction 1 PART I 9 1. MI5 and the First World War 11 2. MI5 and the Communist Party of Great Britain 30 PART II 45 3. Dangerous Voices, Disloyal Pens 47 4. Theatre and Players 98 5. Film Censorship 118 6. Discordant Musicians 125 PART III 133 7. History as Heresy 135 8. Veteran Academics 178 9. Black Liberation and the Africanists 186 PART IV 219 10. Science and Treachery 221 PART V 255 11. Not to Be Trusted 257 12. Illegitimate Lawyers 271 13. Publish and Be Damned 284 14. The BBC Toes the Line 300 15. Art and Design 312 PART VI 339 16. MI5 and the Labour Left 341 Conclusion. MI5 and 'Subversion' 356

    1 in stock

    £18.00

  • Michael Collins: The Man Who Won The War

    The Mercier Press Ltd Michael Collins: The Man Who Won The War

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn this completely revised and updated book, T. Ryle Dwyer, offers a fresh perspective on Collins' activities. With new information about his role in organising the IRB in London in his youth right through to his death in 1922, Dwyer's analysis supports the case for Collins as the chief architect of the Irish victory over the British Empire. Michael Collins co-ordinated the sweeping Sinn Féin election victory of 1918 and put structure on the organisation of the IRA. He was the prototype of the urban terrorist and the architect of the war against the Black and Tans. While many have questioned whether Collins ever fired a shot at an enemy of Ireland, he did order the deaths of people standing in his way, and he even advocated kidnapping a US President.

    1 in stock

    £12.59

  • Misdefending the Realm: How MI5's incompetence

    Legend Press Ltd Misdefending the Realm: How MI5's incompetence

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £17.00

  • The Accidental Spy

    Mirror Books The Accidental Spy

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe astonishing, gripping and long-awaited inside story of an ordinary man who became an extraordinary spy.After years of living in semi-isolation, David Rupert speaks for the first time about how a trucker from New York ended up being recruited to the FBI and MI5 at one of the most crucial moments in British political history.Including shock revelations about Rupert's discoveries working within the Real IRA - such as sending plastic explosives and detonators, hidden inside toys, to a primary school in Donegal. Author Sean O'Driscoll tells the incredible story of David, 'The Big Yank', a 6ft7 American tourist who found himself at the centre of a chilling campaign of terror that targeted civilians, the forces and Prime Minister Tony Blair.Countless lives have been saved by David Rupert's decision to risk his neck working for years within one of the most brutal and ruthless terrorist organisations in the world - an organisation whose language of violence left women and children amongst the dead in the Omagh atrocity.An unprecedented bombing campaign was planned to destroy any hopes of a peace agreement. In a trial that rested entirely on the evidence of the 'Big Yank', those plans for ongoing bloodshed and an end to the Good Friday Agreement were brought to a halt.

    1 in stock

    £8.54

  • Helion & Company Up Against the Wall: The KGB and Latvia

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £22.50

  • The Israeli Intelligence Community: An Insider's

    Gefen Publishing House The Israeli Intelligence Community: An Insider's

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £26.34

  • Stasi

    Basic Books Stasi

    Book SynopsisIn this gripping narrative, John Koehler details the widespread activities of East Germany''s Ministry for State Security, or Stasi. The Stasi, which infiltrated every walk of East German life, suppressed political opposition, and caused the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of citizens, proved to be one of the most powerful secret police and espionage services in the world. Koehler methodically reviews the Stasi''s activities within East Germany and overseas, including its programs for internal repression, international espionage, terrorism and terrorist training, art theft, and special operations in Latin America and Africa.Koehler was both Berlin bureau chief of the Associated Press during the height of the Cold War and a U.S. Army Intelligence officer. His insider''s account is based on primary sources, such as U.S. intelligence files, Stasi documents made available only to the author, and extensive interviews with victims of political oppression, former Stasi officers, and West German government officials. Drawing from these sources, Koehler recounts tales that rival the most outlandish Hollywood spy thriller and, at the same time, offers the definitive contribution to our understanding of this still largely unwritten aspect of the history of the Cold War and modern Germany.Table of Contents* Revenge Versus the Rule of Law * Erich Mielke: Moscows Leader for the Red Gestapo * KGB and Stasi: Two Shields, Two Swords * The Sword of Repression * The Invisible Invasion: Espionage Assault on West Germany * The Stasi Against the United States and NATO * The Stasis Spy Catchers * Stasi Operations in the Third World * The Stasi and Terrorism: The La Belle Bombing * Playground for International Terrorists * Safe Haven for the Red Army Faction * Shattered Shield, Broken Sword

    £17.09

  • The Shadow Man

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Shadow Man

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisJames Klugmann appears as a shadowy figure in the legendary history of the Cambridge spies. As both mentor and friend to Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess and others, Klugmann was the man who manipulated promising recruits deemed ripe for conversion to the communist cause. This perception of him was reinforced following the release of his MI5 file and the disclosure of Soviet intelligence files in Moscow, which revealed he played a key part in the recruitment of John Cairncross, the ''fifth man'', and had a pivotal war-time role in the Special Operations Executive, helping shift Churchill and the allies to support Tito and the communist partisans in Yugoslavia. In this book, Geoff Andrews reveals Klugmann''s story in full for the first time, uncovering the motivations, conflicts and illusions of those drawn into the world of communism - and the sacrifices they made on its behalf.Trade ReviewA fascinating study of the intellectual and moral ossification that can result from an addiction to dogma. Geoff Andrews has done his research…well-written and thought-provoking account. -- Alan Judd, Literary ReviewGeoff Andrews has done a fine job in piecing together the story. This fascinating biography illuminates the world of the mid-twentieth century Communist intellectuals: the idealism that motivated them, and the choices that they had to make. -- Tom Buchanan, Professor of Modern British and European History, University of OxfordIn his illuminating, sympathetic, but far from sycophantic, biography of Klugmann, a leading member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, Geoff Andrews paints a picture of a troubled intellectual who sacrificed his integrity through rigid devotion to the party. -- Richard Norton-Taylor, The GuardianTable of ContentsPrologue 1. Hampstead: Bourgeois Beginnings 2. Outsider at Gresham’s 3. A Cambridge Communist 4. Organising the Movement 5. Mentor and Talent Spotter 6. The Making of a Communist Intellectual 7. Working for the Comintern 8. The Professional Revolutionary 9. The Spy Circle 10. The Reluctant Spy 11. A Communist Goes to War 12. Comrade or Conspirator? 13. Great Expectations 14. Cold War Intellectual 15. Trials and Tribulations 16. The Party Functionary: 1956 and After 17. Lost Generation 18. Late Spring 19. Hopes and Fears 20. A Good Jesuit

    5 in stock

    £12.34

  • Agent Molière: The Life of John Cairncross, the

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Agent Molière: The Life of John Cairncross, the

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe Cambridge Spies continue to fascinate - but one of them, John Cairncross, has always been more of an enigma than the others. He worked alone and was driven by his hostility to Fascism rather than to the promotion of Communism. During his war-time work at Bletchley Park, he passed documents to the Soviets which went on to influence the Battle of Kursk. Now, Geoff Andrews has access to the Cairncross papers and secrets, and has spoken to friends, relatives and former colleagues. A complex individual emerges – a scholar as well as a spy – whose motivations have often been misunderstood. After his resignation from the Civil Service, Cairncross moved to Italy and here he rebuilt his life as a foreign correspondent, editor and university professor. This gave him new circles and friendships – which included the writer Graham Greene – while he always lived with the fear that his earlier espionage would come to light. The full account of Cairncross's spying, his confession and his dramatic public exposure as the ‘fifth man’ will be told here for the first time, while also unveiling the story of his post-espionage life.Trade ReviewExtremely well-researched ... Both fascinating and exciting in equal measure. * The Wee Review *Compelling… Geoff Andrews’s research is extensive and exemplary. * Morning Star *[Cairncross] lived in a sort of self-imposed exile on the Continent, eking out an existence as a jobbing writer and translator. When he was finally unmasked as the Fifth Man, nobody really seemed to care. [Andrews] has set out to remedy this. * Mail on Sunday *Andrews rightly emphasizes the range of Cairncross's literary talents. He would have made a successful, though highly argumentative, full-time academic, and was a formidable linguist. * Times Literary Supplement *In Agent Moliere, respected historian Geoff Andrews provides a well-researched and absorbing account of Cairncross’s life from his passing on of secret documents to the Russians during World War II to his later life as a university professor in Italy and his eventual unveiling as the ‘fifth man’. A must for all armchair spies. -- Jeff Popple * Canberra Weekly *Geoff Andrews, an Open University politics lecturer, throws new light on this mystery [of how John Cairncross found himself in the pay of Moscow's spy masters]. * The New European *Geoff Andrews brilliantly captures the essence of the unlikely “fifth man” in the notorious Cambridge spy ring, exploding the myths surrounding John Cairncross. His meticulous research paints a picture of an exceptional scholar from a humble background uncomfortable in the corridors of the Whitehall establishment. As Andrews astutely comments, Cairncross was “incapable of subscribing to any kind of orthodoxy”. Agent Molière is a refreshing and most welcome biography which blows away the cobwebs left by traditional spy writers. * Richard Norton-Taylor, author of The State of Secrecy *A thorough and thoughtful exploration of the complex life and personality of John Cairncross. This is the book we have been waiting for that rounds off the epic story of the Cambridge Spies. * Roland Philipps, Author of A Spy Named Orphan: The Enigma of Donald Maclean *Table of ContentsPrologue: 'The Chase' Chapter 1: A Scottish Education Chapter 2: From Glasgow to Germany Chapter 3: A Political Awakening Chapter 4: Cambridge Chapter 5: The Foreign Office Chapter 6: Agent Moliere Chapter 7: Appeasement Chapter 8: A Political Career Begins Chapter 9: Bletchley Park Chapter 10: Enter Graham Greene Chapter 11: Cold War and Resignation Chapter 12: An Italian Escape Chapter 13: Professor Cairncross Chapter 14: Confession and Exile (Again) Chapter 15: Hot Autumn Chapter 16: The ‘Fifth Man’ Chapter 17: The Human Factor Epilogue: 'fact and Fiction in the Life of John Cairncross'

    1 in stock

    £29.75

  • The American Surveillance State

    Pluto Press The American Surveillance State

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe first complete history of the American surveillance state, from J. Edgar Hoover to ObamaTrade Review'Few writers have done more than David Price to drag the secret history of America out of the shadows and into the clarifying light of public scrutiny. In a nation obsessed with secrets, the biggest and darkest secret of all is the one Price exposes here: the deviously surreptitious - and often illegal - lengths our own government has gone to surveil and disrupt the daily lives of its own citizens' -- Jeffrey St. Clair, editor at 'CounterPunch''Wielding a finely-honed anthropological perspective and armed only with the Freedom of Information Act, David Price has spent decades of meticulous research in uncovering the sordid and often absurd history of American political surveillance. Rather than Orwell's fictional tales of Big Brother, his book makes extensive use of the files compiled by the FBI and its legions of informers to show how the realities of governmental monitoring and harassment impacted on the lives of law-abiding women and men whose words and deeds were deemed to threaten dominant power structures in American society' -- Michael Seltzer, Professor Emeritus at Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway'Relentlessly dissects the history of the American surveillance state, from the Palmer Raids to the Snowden Files and beyond. Price’s razor-sharp analysis exposes the malignant tissue connecting America’s spy agencies to the forces of capital' -- Roberto J. González, Professor and Chair of the Anthropology Department at San José State UniversityTable of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Abbreviations and Codenames Introduction Part I: The Long View: Historical Perspectives of American Surveillance 1. J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI’s Institutionalization of Surveillance 2. Memory's Half-life: Notes on a Social History of Wiretapping in America. 3. The New Surveillance Normal: Government and Corporate Surveillance in the Age of Global Capitalism. Part II: Lanting Those with a Communist Taint 4. The Dangers of Promoting Peace During Times of [Cold] War: Gene Weltfish, the FBI, & the 1949 Waldorf Astoria’s Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace 5. Tribal Communism Under Fire: Archie Phinney and the FBI 6. The FBI’s History of Undermining Legal Defenses: From Jury Panel Investigations to Defense Lawyer Surveillance Programs 7. Agents of Apartheid: Ruth First and the FBI’s Historical Role of Enforcing Inequality Part III: Monitoring Pioneers and Public Intellectuals 8. How the FBI Spied on Edward Said 9. Seymour Melman: the FBI’s Persecution of the Demilitarization Movement 10. Traces of FBI Efforts to Deport a Radical Voice: On Alexander Cockburn’s FBI File 11. Medium Cool: Decades of FBI Surveillance of Haskell Wexler 12. Blind Whistling Phreaks and the FBI’s Historical Reliance on Phone Company Criminality 13. The FBI and Candy Man: Monitoring Fred Haley, A Voice of Reason During Times of Madness 14. David W. Conde, Lost CIA Critic and Cold War Seer Part IV: Policing Global Inequality 15. E. A. Hooton and the Biosocial Facts of American Capitalism 16. Walt Whitman Rostow and FBI Attacks on Liberal Anti-Communism 17. André Gunder Frank, the FBI, and the Bureaucratic Exile of a Critical Mind. 18. Angel Palerm and the FBI: Monitoring a Voice of Independence at the Organization of American States 19. The FBI’s Pursuit of Saul Landau: Portrait of the Radical as a Young Man Conclusion

    1 in stock

    £14.24

  • Ghosts of Honolulu

    HarperCollins Focus Ghosts of Honolulu

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA fast-paced debut...Espionage buffs will savor this vibrant account. — Publishers WeeklyA U.S. naval counterintelligence officer working to safeguard Pearl Harbor; a Japanese spy ordered to Hawaii to gather information on the American fleet. On December 7, 1941, their hidden stories are exposed by a morning of bloodshed that would change the world forever. Scrutinizing long-buried historical documents, NCIS star Mark Harmon and co-author Leon Carroll, a former NCIS Special Agent, have brought forth a true-life NCIS story of deception, discovery, and danger. Hawaii, 1941. War clouds with Japan are gathering and the islands of Hawaii have become battlegrounds of spies, intelligence agents, and military officials - with the island''s residents caught between them. Toiling in the shadows are Douglas Wada, the only Japanese American agent in naval intelligence, aTrade Review'A fast-paced debut...Espionage buffs will savor this vibrant account.' * Publishers Weekly *

    3 in stock

    £17.00

  • The Hacker and the State

    Harvard University Press The Hacker and the State

    Book SynopsisThe threat of cyberwar can feel very Hollywood: nuclear codes hacked, power plants melting down, cities burning. In reality, state-sponsored hacking is covert, insidious, and constant. It is also much harder to prevent. Ben Buchanan reveals the cyberwar that’s already here, reshaping the global contest for geopolitical advantage.Trade ReviewThe Hacker and the State is one of the finest books on information security published so far in this century—easily accessible, tightly argued, superbly well-sourced, intimidatingly perceptive. -- Thomas Rid, author of Active MeasuresThis is a great book and the best examination I have read of how increasingly dramatic developments in cyberspace are defining the ‘new normal’ of geopolitics in the digital age. No book I've read does a better job of describing what has transpired in recent years as state and non-state actors have developed ever more diabolically powerful and clever cyber capabilities. Ben Buchanan makes it clear that the future lies not just in Asia, but also in cyberspace, and he captures the dynamics of all of this truly brilliantly. -- General David Petraeus, former Director of the CIA and Commander of Coalition Forces in Iraq and AfghanistanA helpful reminder…of the sheer diligence and seriousness of purpose exhibited by the Russians in their mission…Information warfare is designed to bamboozle, but its digital variant can be especially baffling to the nonspecialist. -- Jonathan Freedland * New York Review of Books *A substantial and measured history of cyberattacks in recent decades…Despite the growing ubiquity of cyberattacks, Buchanan also highlights their limits as a means of coercion or as a way of sending a message. -- Lawrence D. Freedman * Foreign Affairs *Demonstrates how this field has evolved from espionage operations and a field dominated by the United States to cyber-attacks that have broader implications for economies and societies…An excellent primer for understanding how cyber operations have become an indelible part of global relations and ably demonstrates how hacking has ‘earned its place in the playbook of statecraft.’ -- Angus Parker * Geographical *With an academic’s eye, Buchanan compares and contrasts the emerging tactics [of digital competition] with the traditional ways of military conflict, nuclear competition, and espionage to make some sense of the new age. The book dissects how governments use cyberattacks to fundamentally ‘change the state of play.’ -- Patrick Howell O'Neill * MIT Technology Review *Probes deep into cyber security, the truths and myths about cyber security, and how society, corporations, and individuals pay particularly close attention to it in today’s everchanging world…Allows the reader to understand the real geopolitical competition of the digital age as it applies to business and government agencies. -- Kevin Cassidy * Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books *If you believe that cyber attacks are now critical to understand today’s International Relations, stop doing everything you are doing and start reading Ben Buchanan’s new book…Makes clear how we need to pay attention to the distinctiveness of cyber attacks and the strategic logics behind them…An incredibly informed examination of the cyber attacks that have taken place in recent decades. -- Antonio Calcara * E-International Relations *Buchanan is well-placed to detail the history and evolution of this new and oft-misunderstood form of warfare…This book argues that states must learn to read the signaling implied by a cyber-attack, in the same way that they would a military exercise along their border. -- Lewis Tallon * Encyclopedia Geopolitica *Provides a reliable summary and deep analysis of a novel force bound to shape world affairs. -- Walter Clemens * New York Journal of Books *This is a must-read book. Factual and perceptive, it reveals important truths about cyberthreats and the role they play in international relations. -- Vint Cerf, Internet pioneerThis is a gripping book about today’s cyber threat landscape. Through riveting stories of move and counter-move among global adversaries, Buchanan explains why we are in a constant state of cyber conflict—where the stakes couldn’t be higher. From China’s attacks on our companies to Russia’s attacks on our elections, The Hacker and the State is indispensable reading for anyone who cares about our security, our prosperity, and our democracy. -- Lisa Monaco, former White House Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor and Deputy National Security AdvisorMore than any other book, The Hacker and the State shows how and why governments hack one another. Having lived and worked in this shadowy world for many years, I came to appreciate its fascinating nuances, fierce competition, and strategic significance. If you read this book, you will, too. Buchanan shares digital spy stories and distills geopolitical insights that you just won’t find anywhere else. Remarkably, he has made his detailed insight accessible to a non-technical audience without any loss of fidelity in the underlying narrative. -- Former senior intelligence officer, UK governmentThe Hacker and the State fundamentally changes the way we think about cyber operations from ‘war’ to something of significant import that is not war—what Buchanan refers to as ‘real geopolitical competition.’ He writes in a highly accessible manner, with in-depth stories that will engage the non-specialist. -- Richard Harknett, former Scholar-in-Residence at United States Cyber CommandA great read, packed with insider information and great stories. But the book also makes an important argument about how cyberattacks are transforming the geopolitical playing field, changing our defense priorities and forcing us to rewrite our national security policies. -- Bruce Schneier, author of Click Here to Kill Everybody: Security and Survival in a Hyper-connected WorldHighly intelligent, important, and timely. Buchanan’s chronology of cases, from early espionage to devastating operations like NotPetya, makes for a great read. -- Joseph Nye, author of Do Morals Matter?

    £17.05

© 2026 Book Curl

    • American Express
    • Apple Pay
    • Diners Club
    • Discover
    • Google Pay
    • Maestro
    • Mastercard
    • PayPal
    • Shop Pay
    • Union Pay
    • Visa

    Login

    Forgot your password?

    Don't have an account yet?
    Create account