The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War

ISBN-13: 9780241972137 / Angielski / Miękka / 2019 / 384 str.

Ben Macintyre

Opis

If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the infamous British double-agent Kim Philby, it was Oleg Gordievsky. The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions, the savvy, sophisticated Gordievsky grew to see his nations communism as both criminal and philistine. He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and eventually became the Soviet Unions top man in London, but from 1973 on he was secretly working for MI6.For nearly a decade, as the Cold War reached its twilight, Gordievsky helped the West turn the tables on the KGB, exposing Russian spies and helping to foil countless intelligence plots, as the Soviet leadership grew increasingly paranoid at the United Statess nuclear first-strike capabilities and brought the world closer to the brink of war. Desperate to keep the circle of trust close, MI6 never revealed Gordievskys name to its counterparts in the CIA, which in turn grew obsessed with figuring out the identity of Britains obviously top-level source. Their obsession ultimately doomed Gordievsky: the CIA officer assigned to identify him was none other than Aldrich Ames, the man who would become infamous for secretly spying for the Soviets.Unfolding the delicious three-way gamesmanship between America, Britain, and the Soviet Union, and culminating in the gripping cinematic beat-by-beat of Gordievskys nail-biting escape from Moscow in 1985, Ben Macintyres latest may be his best yet. Like the greatest novels of John le Carré, it brings readers deep into a world of treachery and betrayal, where the lines bleed between the personal and the professional, and one mans hatred of communism had the power to change the future of nations.

Recenzje

An incredible true life spy story...Every word ramps up the tension as you're drawn deeper into the danger

Mail on Sunday

O autorze

Ben Macintyre is the multimillion-copy bestselling author of books including Colditz, Agent Sonya, SAS: Rogue Heroes, The Spy and the Traitor, Agent Zigzag, Operation Mincemeat and A Spy Among Friends. He is a columnist and Associate Editor at The Times, and has worked as the newspaper's correspondent in New York, Paris and Washington. Several of his books have been made into films and television series, including Operation Mincemeat, A Spy Among Friends and SAS: Rogue Heroes.