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Defence of the Realm, the

Defence of the Realm, the

by Christopher Andrew (Author)

  • Used

    Paperback 2009

    $3.28
Synopsis

This book marks an unprecedented publishing event: to mark the centenary of its foundation, the British Security Service, MI5, has for the first time opened its archives to an independent historian. The book reveals the precise role of the Security Service in twentieth-century British history, from its foundation by Captain Kell of the British Army in October 1909, through two world wars, up to and including its present roles in counter-espionage and counter-terrorism. The book describes how MI5 has been managed, what its relationship has been with government, where it has triumphed and where it has failed. In all of this no restriction has been placed on the judgements made by the author. The book also reveals the identities of previously unknown enemies of the UK whose activities have been uncovered by the Service, adds significantly to our knowledge of many celebrated events and notorious individuals, and definitively lays to rest a number of persistent myths; above all, it shows the place of this previously extremely secretive organisation within the United Kingdom. Few books could make such an immediate and extraordinary increase to our understanding of British history over the past century.

$3.28

Quantity

1 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
 Edition: Open Market Ed
 Publisher: Allen Lane
Published: 01 Jan 2009
ISBN 10: 1846142849
ISBN 13: 9781846142840

Media Reviews
Absolutely fascinating...a sweeping and highly readable account of a century of British intelligence. - Washington Times This unique publication is definitive and fascinating. Definitive because, after decades of ill-informed or partial accounts this book fully defines and describes its subject; no future writer can ignore it. Fascinating because the fluent clarity of Andrew's narrative, his eye for colourful individual detail and the sheer interest of his subjects...this book is essential reading for anyone with even the slightest interest in intelligence in the modern period. - Alan Judd, Spectator A scholarly and hugely entertaining account...often enthralling...Professor Andrew is an entertaining and authoritative guide through the labyrinth of secret files, with an infectious fascination for the game of counter-espionage...an important part of Andrew's achievement is to narrate with clarity an incredibly complex story in which bizarre and improbable reality often outruns the most rococo fabrications of the spy novelist...the reader is left in no doubt that the defence of the realm is being vigorously conducted by the secret state with all the extraordinary powers at its command. - Robert McCrum, Observer MI5 is the first major security or intelligence service in the world to give a historian free range of its records--nearly 400,000 paper files, some with many volumes, say Christopher Andrew with a touch of exhaustion...it has been well worth the effort. The Defence of the Realm throws new light on an important area of the running of the country, analysing the changing threats to national security over the 100 years and discussing the appropriateness or otherwise of the service's response. But just as interestingly, the book gets inside the culture of this secret service, showing how attitudes have changed with those changing threats; how woman have worked their way from the fringes to the heart of the organisation and how a se
Author Bio
Christopher Andrew is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History and Chair of the Faculty of History at Cambridge University. He is also chair of the British Intelligence Study Group, Co-Editor of Intelligence and National Security, former Visiting Professor at Harvard, Toronto and the Australian National University, and a regular presenter of BBC Radio and TV documentaries. His thirteen previous books include The Mitrokhin Archive volumes 1 and 2, and a number of path-breaking studies on the use and abuse of secret intelligence in modern history.