Search results for ""author ben macintyre""

THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLERTHE BOOK BEHIND THE HIT BBC SERIES SAS: ROGUE HEROES, STARRING CONNOR SWINDELLS, JACK O'CONNELL, ALFIE ALLEN AND DOMINIC WESTFrom the secret SAS archives and bestselling author Ben Macintyre: The first ever authorized history of the SAS.'A master at setting the pulse racing' Daily Mail________________In the summer of 1941, at the height of the war in the Western Desert, a bored and eccentric young officer, David Stirling, has a vision for a new kind of war: attacking the enemy where they least expect it - from behind their own lines.Despite the intense opposition of many in British High Command, Winston Churchill personally gives Stirling permission to recruit the toughest, brightest and most ruthless soldiers he can find. And so begins the most celebrated and mysterious military organisation in the world: the SAS.With unprecedented access to the SAS secret files, unseen footage and exclusive interviews with its founder members, SAS: Rogue Heroes tells the remarkable story behind an extraordinary fighting force, and the immense cost of making it a reality.________________'Thorough and highly entertaining. It would be nigh on impossible to praise it too highly' Daily Express'Impeccably researched, superbly told - by far the best book on the SAS in World War II' Antony Beevor'Told with deceptive brilliance . . . one the finest books of its kind' Evening StandardSunday Times bestseller, April 2017

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THE NO.1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER An exciting Cold War story about a KGB double agent, by one of Britain's greatest historians and the ultimate gift for anyone who loves a good spy thriller!'The best true spy story I have ever read' John le Carré________________On a warm July evening in 1985, a middle-aged man stood on the pavement of a busy avenue in the heart of Moscow, holding a plastic carrier bag. In his grey suit and tie, he looked like any other Soviet citizen. The bag alone was mildly conspicuous, printed with the red logo of Safeway, the British supermarket.The man was a spy. A senior KGB officer, for more than a decade he had supplied his British spymasters with a stream of priceless secrets from deep within the Soviet intelligence machine. No spy had done more to damage the KGB. The Safeway bag was a signal: to activate his escape plan to be smuggled out of Soviet Russia. So began one of the boldest and most extraordinary episodes in the history of spying.Ben Macintyre reveals a tale of espionage, betrayal and raw courage that changed the course of the Cold War forever . . .________________'The world's most important spy since the Second World War. Mercilessly gripping' Sunday Times'Extraordinary. His best book yet' John Preston, Evening Standard'A remarkable story of one man's courage' The Times, Book of the WeekBen Macintyre, Sunday Times bestseller, August 2023

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THE SUNDAY TIMES No. 1 BESTSELLERWITH AN AFTERWORD BY JOHN LE CARRÉ''Riveting, astounding . . . An unputdownable postwar thriller'' Observer''Irresistibly readable'' Sunday Times''Worthy of John le Carré at his best'' Guardian''Hugely engrossing . . . Both authoritative and enthralling'' William Boyd________________Kim Philby was the most notorious British defector and Soviet mole in history. Agent, double agent, traitor and enigma, he betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians in the early years of the Cold War. In the aftermath of the Second World War, Philby, Nicholas Elliott and James Jesus Angleton were rising stars in the intelligence world and shared every secret. Elliott and Angleton thought they knew Philby better than anyone - and then discovered they had not known him at all.This is a story of loyalty, trust and treachery, of male friendships forged, and then systematically

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD''Engrossing as any thriller'' Daily Telegraph''Superb. Meticulously researched, splendidly told, immensely entertaining'' John le Carré''This is the most amazing book, full of fascinating and hair-raising true life adventures . . . It would be impossible to recommend it too highly'' Mail on Sunday_______One December night in 1942, a Nazi parachutist landed in a Cambridgeshire field. His mission: to sabotage the British war effort.His name was Eddie Chapman, but he would shortly become MI5''s Agent Zigzag. Dashing and suave, courageous and unpredictable, Chapman was by turns a traitor, a hero, a villain and a man of conscience. But, as his spymasters and many lovers often wondered, who was the real Eddie Chapman?Ben Macintyre weaves together diaries, letters, photographs, memories and top-secret MI5 files to create an exhilarating account of Britain''s most sensational

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'The pre-eminent historian of the secret world . . . His books have set the gold standard for accurate historical reporting, but read like heart-pounding thrillers' Mick HerronFrom the author of Sunday Times #1 bestsellers COLDITZ, SAS: ROGUE HEROES and THE SPY AND THE TRAITOR . . .On April 30, 1980, six heavily armed gunmen burst into the Iranian embassy on Princes Gate, overlooking Hyde Park in London. There they took 26 hostages, including embassy staff, visitors, and three British citizens.A tense six-day siege ensued as millions gathered around screens across the country to witness the longest news flash in British television history, in which police negotiators and psychiatrists sought a bloodless end to the standoff, while the SAS - hitherto an organisation shrouded in secrecy - laid plans for a daring rescue mission: Operation Nimrod.Drawing on unpublished source material, exclusive interviews with the SAS, and test

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'I am going to write the spy story to end all spy stories' One morning in February 1952, a journalist called Ian Fleming sat down at his desk and set about creating a fictional secret agent. James Bond was born and would go on to become one of the most successful, enduring and lucrative creations in literature. But Bond's world of glamour and romance, gadgets and cocktails, espionage and villainy wasn't entirely drawn from imagination: Fleming's background and his experiences as an intelligence officer during the Second World War were all formative parts in the creation of the world's most famous spy. Packed with astonishing detail and written in Macintyre's inimitable style, For Your Eyes Only is the most enlightening, enlivening book on the creator of the spy who not only lived twice, but proved to be immortal.

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THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER - AND PERFECT GIFT FOR HISTORY BUFFS!'A master at setting the pulse racing' Daily Mail'A fine feat of storytelling . . . will surely become the last word on the subject' Telegraph_____________________________FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SAS: ROGUE HEROESColditz Castle: a forbidding Gothic tower on a hill in Nazi Germany. You may have heard about the prisoners and their daring and desperate attempts to escape, but that's only part of the real story.In Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle, bestselling historian Ben Macintyre takes us inside the walls of the most infamous prison in history to meet the real men behind the legends. Heroes and bullies, lovers and spies, captors and prisoners living cheek-by-jowl for years in a thrilling game of cat and mouse - and all determined to escape by any means necessary.Deeply researched and full of incredible stories, this is a tale of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances - and will change how you think about Colditz forever._____________________________'Like watching a black-and-white photograph being colourised' Spectator'Every Ben Macintyre book is a treat' The TabletSunday Times bestseller, November 2022

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''Addictive and deeply moving'' Independent''Utterly gripping'' Anthony Beevor, Daily Telegraph''Enthralling . . . A reminder that heroism can be found in the most unlikely places'' Evening Standard''I have seldom enjoyed a spy story more than this one'' Max Hastings, Sunday Times_____________________D-Day, 6 June 1944, the turning point of the Second World War, was a victory of arms. But it was also a triumph for a different kind of operation: one of deceit . . .At the heart of the deception was the ''Double Cross System'', a team of double agents whose bravery, treachery, greed and inspiration succeeded in convincing the Nazis that Calais and Norway, not Normandy, were the targets of the 150,000-strong Allied invasion force. Under the direction of an eccentric but brilliant intelligence officer in tartan trousers, working from a smoky lair in St James''s, these spies would weave a web of deception so intricate that it ens

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THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER''A master at setting the pulse racing'' Daily Mail''A fine feat of storytelling . . . will surely become the last word on the subject'' Telegraph_____________________________FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SAS: ROGUE HEROESColditz Castle: a forbidding Gothic tower on a hill in Nazi Germany. You may have heard about the prisoners and their daring and desperate attempts to escape, but that''s only part of the real story.In Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle, bestselling historian Ben Macintyre takes us inside the walls of the most infamous prison in history to meet the real men behind the legends. Heroes and bullies, lovers and spies, captors and prisoners living cheek-by-jowl for years in a thrilling game of cat and mouse - and all determined to escape by any means necessary.Deeply researched and full of incredible stories, this is a tale of

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Brought to you by Penguin.A TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'His best book yet' The Times'Macintyre's page-turner is a dazzling portrait of a flawed yet driven individual who risked everything (including her children) for the cause' Sunday TimesDISCOVER THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF THE SPY WHO ALMOST KILLED HITLER - FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE SPY AND THE TRAITORUrsula Kuczynski Burton was a spymaster, saboteur, bomb-maker and secret agent. Codenamed 'Agent Sonya', her story has never been told - until now.Born to a German Jewish family, as Ursula grew, so did the Nazis' power. As a fanatical opponent of the fascism that ravaged her homeland, Ursula was drawn to communism as a young woman, motivated by the promise of a fair and peaceful society. From planning an assassination attempt on Hitler in Switzerland, to spying on the Japanese in Manchuria, to preventing nuclear war (or so she believed) by stealing the science of atomic weaponry from Britain to give to Moscow, Ursula conducted some of the most dangerous espionage operations of the twentieth century.In Agent Sonya, Britain's most acclaimed historian Ben Macintyre delivers an exhilarating tale that's as fast-paced as any fiction. It is the incredible story of one spy's life, a life that would alter the course of history . . . 'Macintyre does true-life espionage better than anyone else' John Preston'Macintyre has found a real-life heroine worthy of his gifts as John le Carré's nonfiction counterpart' New York Times 'This book is classic Ben Macintyre . . . quirky human details enliven every page' Spectator © Ben Macintyre 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

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'The pre-eminent historian of the secret world . . . His books have set the gold standard for accurate historical reporting, but read like heart-pounding thrillers' Mick HerronFrom the author of Sunday Times #1 bestsellers COLDITZ, SAS: ROGUE HEROES and THE SPY AND THE TRAITOR . . . On April 30, 1980, six heavily armed gunmen burst into the Iranian embassy on Princes Gate, overlooking Hyde Park in London. There they took 26 hostages, including embassy staff, visitors, and three British citizens. A tense six-day siege ensued as millions gathered around screens across the country to witness the longest news flash in British television history, in which police negotiators and psychiatrists sought a bloodless end to the standoff, while the SAS hitherto an organisation shrouded in secrecy laid plans for a daring rescue mission: Operation Nimrod. Drawing on unpublished source material, exclusive interviews with the SAS, and testimony from witnesses including hostages, negotiators, in

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THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLERDiscover the incredible true story of WW2's most extraordinary spy - from the bestselling author of The Spy and the Traitor. 'His best book yet' The Times________________From planning an assassination attempt on Hitler in Switzerland, to spying on the Japanese in Manchuria, to preventing nuclear war (or so she believed) by stealing the science of atomic weaponry from Britain to give to Moscow, Ursula Kuczynski Burton conducted some of the most dangerous espionage operations of the twentieth century.Born to a German Jewish family, as Ursula grew, so did the Nazis' power. A fanatical opponent of the fascism that ravaged her homeland, she was drawn to communism as a young woman, motivated by the promise of a fair and peaceful society. She eventually became a spymaster, saboteur, bomb-maker and secret agent.In Agent Sonya, Britain's most acclaimed historian vividly reveals the fascinating tale of a life that would change the course of history. Classic Ben Macintyre - a gripping ride, based on meticulous research, that reads like a novel - this is the greatest spy story never told.________________'Macintyre has found a real-life heroine worthy of his gifts as John le Carré's nonfiction counterpart' New York Times'This book is classic Ben Macintyre . . . quirky human details enliven every page' Clare Mulley, Spectator'She is the strongest character of all in Macintyre's bestselling series of wartime tales . . . I raced through the pages to keep up with the plot' Julian Glover, Evening StandardBEN MACINTYRE'S NEXT BOOK COLDITZ: PRISONERS OF THE CASTLE IS AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW!

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THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER! ANYONE WHO WATCHED THE BBC SERIES WILL LOVE THIS GIFT!THE BOOK BEHIND THE HIT BBC SERIES SAS: ROGUE HEROES, STARRING CONNOR SWINDELLS, JACK O'CONNELL, ALFIE ALLEN AND DOMINIC WEST'A master at setting the pulse racing' Daily Mail________________In the summer of 1941, at the height of the war in the Western Desert, a bored and eccentric young officer, David Stirling, has a vision for a new kind of war: attacking the enemy where they least expect it - from behind their own lines.Despite the intense opposition of many in British High Command, Winston Churchill personally gives Stirling permission to recruit the toughest, brightest and most ruthless soldiers he can find. And so begins the most celebrated and mysterious military organisation in the world: the SAS.With unprecedented access to the SAS secret files, unseen footage and exclusive interviews with its founder members, SAS: Rogue Heroes tells the remarkable story behind an extraordinary fighting force, and the immense cost of making it a reality.________________'Thorough and highly entertaining. It would be nigh on impossible to praise it too highly' Daily Express'Impeccably researched, superbly told - by far the best book on the SAS in World War II' Antony Beevor'Told with deceptive brilliance . . . one the finest books of its kind' Evening StandardSunday Times bestseller, February 2023

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