Great Spies of the 20th Century

Great Spies of the 20th Century PDF Author: Patrick Pesnot
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473862213
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
Heroes to some, traitors to others, spies and intelligence officers continue to fascinate and enthral us with their abilities to operate secretly in the shadows. With these mini-biographies of twenty agents of various nationalities (including members of the DGSE, KGB, CIA, MI6 and Mossad), Patrick Pesnot and 'Mr X' bring the reader as close as possible into the world of espionage, though a panorama of intelligence history.Among the best known of these agents, the reader will find Aldrich Ames, an American accused of spying for the KGB; Eli Cohen, the Israeli spy best known for his espionage work in Syria and Klaus Fuchs, the German-born British agent who helped the USSR to manufacture its atomic bomb in 1949.

Great Spies of the 20th Century

Great Spies of the 20th Century PDF Author: Patrick Pesnot
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473862213
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 314

Get Book Here

Book Description
Heroes to some, traitors to others, spies and intelligence officers continue to fascinate and enthral us with their abilities to operate secretly in the shadows. With these mini-biographies of twenty agents of various nationalities (including members of the DGSE, KGB, CIA, MI6 and Mossad), Patrick Pesnot and 'Mr X' bring the reader as close as possible into the world of espionage, though a panorama of intelligence history.Among the best known of these agents, the reader will find Aldrich Ames, an American accused of spying for the KGB; Eli Cohen, the Israeli spy best known for his espionage work in Syria and Klaus Fuchs, the German-born British agent who helped the USSR to manufacture its atomic bomb in 1949.

A Century of Spies

A Century of Spies PDF Author: Jeffery T. Richelson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199880581
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 545

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Book Description
Here is the ultimate inside history of twentieth-century intelligence gathering and covert activity. Unrivalled in its scope and as readable as any spy novel, A Century of Spies travels from tsarist Russia and the earliest days of the British Secret Service to the crises and uncertainties of today's post-Cold War world, offering an unsurpassed overview of the role of modern intelligence in every part of the globe. From spies and secret agents to the latest high-tech wizardry in signals and imagery surveillance, it provides fascinating, in-depth coverage of important operations of United States, British, Russian, Israeli, Chinese, German, and French intelligence services, and much more. All the key elements of modern intelligence activity are here. An expert whose books have received high marks from the intelligence and military communities, Jeffrey Richelson covers the crucial role of spy technology from the days of Marconi and the Wright Brothers to today's dazzling array of Space Age satellites, aircraft, and ground stations. He provides vivid portraits of spymasters, spies, and defectors--including Sidney Reilly, Herbert Yardley, Kim Philby, James Angleton, Markus Wolf, Reinhard Gehlen, Vitaly Yurchenko, Jonathan Pollard, and many others. Richelson paints a colorful portrait of World War I's spies and sabateurs, and illuminates the secret maneuvering that helped determine the outcome of the war on land, at sea, and on the diplomatic front; he investigates the enormous importance of intelligence operations in both the European and Pacific theaters in World War II, from the work of Allied and Nazi agents to the "black magic" of U.S. and British code breakers; and he gives us a complete overview of intelligence during the length of the Cold War, from superpower espionage and spy scandals to covert action and secret wars. A final chapter probes the still-evolving role of intelligence work in the new world of disorder and ethnic conflict, from the high-tech wonders of the Gulf War to the surprising involvement of the French government in industrial espionage. Comprehensive, authoritative, and addictively readable, A Century of Spies is filled with new information on a variety of subjects--from the activities of the American Black Chamber in the 1920s to intelligence collection during the Cuban missile crisis to Soviet intelligence and covert action operations. It is an essential volume for anyone interested in military history, espionage and adventure, and world affairs.

Espionage

Espionage PDF Author: Ernest Volkman
Publisher: Wiley
ISBN: 9780471161578
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
DISCOVER THE SPYING OPERATIONS THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY Espionage expert Ernest Volkman goes behind the scenes of 20th-century history to uncover twenty-three incredible capers, con games, and subterfuges. Here are just a few: * Windows shattered in Manhattan, shrapnel struck the Statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn Bridge swayed when, in July of 1916, German saboteurs blew up the huge Black Tom munitions dump near Bayonne, New Jersey. The spectacular explosion galvanized public opinion against Germany and helped bring the United States into World War I. * Japan's seizure of the Mandate Islands in the central Pacific triggered U.S. covert activities. Could the secret of Amelia Earhart's tragic final flight be connected to America's pre-war jitters? * In the early 1920s, to ensure the survival of the fledgling Soviet state, Lenin used his personal intelligence service, CHEKA, to control anti-Bolshevik resistance. Enemies of the revolution were lured to their destruction through the ironically named Trust Operation. * How were the Allies able to counter Hitler's deadliest weapons? For six years a mole inside Nazi Germany's scientific establishment betrayed the secrets of his country's classified military research to Britain's MI6.

The Secret World

The Secret World PDF Author: Christopher Andrew
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 030024052X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1019

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Book Description
“A comprehensive exploration of spying in its myriad forms from the Bible to the present day . . . Easy to dip into, and surprisingly funny.” —Ben Macintyre in The New York Times Book Review The history of espionage is far older than any of today’s intelligence agencies, yet largely forgotten. The codebreakers at Bletchley Park, the most successful WWII intelligence agency, were completely unaware that their predecessors had broken the codes of Napoleon during the Napoleonic wars and those of Spain before the Spanish Armada. Those who do not understand past mistakes are likely to repeat them. Intelligence is a prime example. At the outbreak of WWI, the grasp of intelligence shown by US President Woodrow Wilson and British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith was not in the same class as that of George Washington during the Revolutionary War and eighteenth-century British statesmen. In the first global history of espionage ever written, distinguished historian and New York Times–bestselling author Christopher Andrew recovers much of the lost intelligence history of the past three millennia—and shows us its continuing relevance. “Accurate, comprehensive, digestible and startling . . . a stellar achievement.” —Edward Lucas, The Times “For anyone with a taste for wide-ranging and shrewdly gossipy history—or, for that matter, for anyone with a taste for spy stories—Andrew’s is one of the most entertaining books of the past few years.” —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker “Remarkable for its scope and delightful for its unpredictable comparisons . . . there are important lessons for spymasters everywhere in this breathtaking and brilliant book.” —Richard J. Aldrich, Times Literary Supplement “Fans of Fleming and Furst will delight in this skillfully related true-fact side of the story.” —Kirkus Reviews “A crowning triumph of one of the most adventurous scholars of the security world.” —Financial Times Includes illustrations

Farewell

Farewell PDF Author: Sergei Kostin
Publisher: Amazon Crossing
ISBN: 9781611090260
Category : Spies
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Vladimir Vetrov, joined the KGB to work as a spy. Following a couple of murky incidents, he is removed from the field and placed at a desk as an analyst. Soon, burdened by a troubled marriage and frustrated at a failing career, Vetrov turns to alcohol. Desparate and in need of redemption, in 1980 he offers his services to the DST, the French counterintelligence service. Thus Agent Farewell is born. Soon he is sneaking files and photographing sensitive dcouments, keeping the West informed of the USSR's plans--right in the heart of KGB headquarters, hastening the end of the Cold War.

Twentieth-Century Spies

Twentieth-Century Spies PDF Author: Neil Root
Publisher: Summersdale
ISBN: 0857653318
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
What drives a person to enter the deadly world of high-level espionage? In this investigation of the most important cases of the twentieth century, Neil Root focuses on the personalities of these enigmatic figures, discusses their motivations and influences, and asks whether they were heroes, traitors or just scapegoats.

An Impeccable Spy

An Impeccable Spy PDF Author: Owen Matthews
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1408857812
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 451

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Book Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE PUSHKIN HOUSE PRIZE 'The most formidable spy in history' IAN FLEMING 'His work was impeccable' KIM PHILBY 'The spy to end spies' JOHN LE CARRÉ Born of a German father and a Russian mother, Richard Sorge moved in a world of shifting alliances and infinite possibility. In the years leading up to and during the Second World War, he became a fanatical communist - and the Soviet Union's most formidable spy. Combining charm with ruthless manipulation, he infiltrated and influenced the highest echelons of German, Chinese and Japanese society. His intelligence proved pivotal to the Soviet counter-offensive in the Battle of Moscow, which in turn determined the outcome of the war itself. Drawing on a wealth of declassified Soviet archives, this is a major biography of one of the greatest spies who ever lived.

The Nuclear Spies

The Nuclear Spies PDF Author: Vince Houghton
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501739603
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Why did the US intelligence services fail so spectacularly to know about the Soviet Union's nuclear capabilities following World War II? As Vince Houghton, historian and curator of the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, shows us, that disastrous failure came just a few years after the Manhattan Project's intelligence team had penetrated the Third Reich and knew every detail of the Nazi 's plan for an atomic bomb. What changed and what went wrong? Houghton's delightful retelling of this fascinating case of American spy ineffectiveness in the then new field of scientific intelligence provides us with a new look at the early years of the Cold War. During that time, scientific intelligence quickly grew to become a significant portion of the CIA budget as it struggled to contend with the incredible advance in weapons and other scientific discoveries immediately after World War II. As The Nuclear Spies shows, the abilities of the Soviet Union's scientists, its research facilities and laboratories, and its educational system became a key consideration for the CIA in assessing the threat level of its most potent foe. Sadly, for the CIA scientific intelligence was extremely difficult to do well. For when the Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb in 1949, no one in the American intelligence services saw it coming.

Good Hunting

Good Hunting PDF Author: Jack Devine
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 142994417X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
"A sophisticated, deeply informed account of real life in the real CIA that adds immeasurably to the public understanding of the espionage culture—the good and the bad." —Bob Woodward Jack Devine ran Charlie Wilson's War in Afghanistan. It was the largest covert action of the Cold War, and it was Devine who put the brand-new Stinger missile into the hands of the mujahideen during their war with the Soviets, paving the way to a decisive victory against the Russians. He also pushed the CIA's effort to run down the narcotics trafficker Pablo Escobar in Colombia. He tried to warn the director of central intelligence, George Tenet, that there was a bullet coming from Iraq with his name on it. He was in Chile when Allende fell, and he had too much to do with Iran-Contra for his own taste, though he tried to stop it. And he tangled with Rick Ames, the KGB spy inside the CIA, and hunted Robert Hanssen, the mole in the FBI. Good Hunting: An American Spymaster's Story is the spellbinding memoir of Devine's time in the Central Intelligence Agency, where he served for more than thirty years, rising to become the acting deputy director of operations, responsible for all of the CIA's spying operations. This is a story of intrigue and high-stakes maneuvering, all the more gripping when the fate of our geopolitical order hangs in the balance. But this book also sounds a warning to our nation's decision makers: covert operations, not costly and devastating full-scale interventions, are the best safeguard of America's interests worldwide. Part memoir, part historical redress, Good Hunting debunks outright some of the myths surrounding the Agency and cautions against its misuses. Beneath the exotic allure—living abroad with his wife and six children, running operations in seven countries, and serving successive presidents from Nixon to Clinton—this is a realist, gimlet-eyed account of the Agency. Now, as Devine sees it, the CIA is trapped within a larger bureaucracy, losing swaths of turf to the military, and, most ominous of all, is becoming overly weighted toward paramilitary operations after a decade of war. Its capacity to do what it does best—spying and covert action—has been seriously degraded. Good Hunting sheds light on some of the CIA's deepest secrets and spans an illustrious tenure—and never before has an acting deputy director of operations come forth with such an account. With the historical acumen of Steve Coll's Ghost Wars and gripping scenarios that evoke the novels of John le Carré even as they hew closely to the facts on the ground, Devine offers a master class in spycraft.

The Spy and the Traitor

The Spy and the Traitor PDF Author: Ben Macintyre
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 1101904208
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The celebrated author of Double Cross and Rogue Heroes returns with a thrilling Americans-era tale of Oleg Gordievsky, the Russian whose secret work helped hasten the end of the Cold War. “The best true spy story I have ever read.”—JOHN LE CARRÉ Named a Best Book of the Year by The Economist • Shortlisted for the Bailie Giffords Prize in Nonfiction 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 nation's communism as both criminal and philistine. He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and eventually became the Soviet Union's 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 States's 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 Gordievsky's name to its counterparts in the CIA, which in turn grew obsessed with figuring out the identity of Britain's 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 Gordievsky's nail-biting escape from Moscow in 1985, Ben Macintyre's 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 man's hatred of communism had the power to change the future of nations.