{"title":"Gifts for espionage enthusiasts","description":"\u003cp\u003eGifts for espionage enthusiasts\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"anthony-blunt-his-lives","title":"Anthony Blunt: His Lives","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhen Anthony Blunt died in 1983, he was a man about whom almost anything could be - and was - said. As Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures and Director of the Courtauld Institute, Blunt's position was assured until his exposure in 1979 left his reputation in tatters. Miranda Carter's brilliantly insightful biography gives us a vivid portrait of a human paradox. Blunt's totally discrete lives, with their permanent contradictions, serve to remind us that there is no one key to any human being's identity: we are all a series of conflicting selves.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Pan Macmillan","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":34074190807171,"sku":"9780330367660","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0364\/6285\/4275\/products\/9780330367660.jpg?v=1610104691"},{"product_id":"m","title":"M: Maxwell Knight, MI5's Greatest Spymaster","description":"\u003cp\u003eA 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Arrow","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":34074296811651,"sku":"9781784752040","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0364\/6285\/4275\/products\/9781784752040.jpg?v=1610357028"},{"product_id":"open-secret","title":"Open Secret: The Autobiography of the Former Director-General of MI5","description":"\u003cp\u003eStella Rimington was educated at Nottingham Girls' High School, and Edinburgh and Liverpool Universities. In 1959 she started work in the Worcestershire County Archives, moving in 1962 to the India Office Library in London, as Assistant Keeper responsible for manuscripts relating to the period of the British rule in India. In 1965 she joined the Security Service (MI5) part-time, while she was in India accompanying her husband on a posting to the British High Commission in New Delhi. On her return to the UK she joined MI5 as a full-time employee. During her career in MI5, which lasted from 1969 to 1996, Stella Rimington worked in all the main fields of the Service's responsibilities - counter-subversion, counter-espionage and counter-terrorism - and became successively Director of all three branches. She was appointed Director-General of MI5 in 1992. She was the first woman to hold the post and the first Director-General whose name was publicly announced on appointment. During her time as DG she pursued a policy of greater openness for MI5.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Arrow","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":34074322370691,"sku":"9780099436720","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0364\/6285\/4275\/products\/9780099436720.jpg?v=1610364236"},{"product_id":"spy-among-friends","title":"A Spy Among Friends: Philby and the Great Betrayal","description":"\u003cp\u003eKim 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. Philby's two closest friends in the intelligence world, Nicholas Elliott of MI6 and James Jesus Angleton, the CIA intelligence chief, thought they knew Philby better than anyone, and then discovered they had not known him at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a story of intimate duplicity; of loyalty, trust and treachery, class and conscience; of an ideological battle waged by men with cut-glass accents and well-made suits in the comfortable clubs and restaurants of London and Washington; of male friendships forged, and then systematically betrayed. With access to newly released MI5 files and previously unseen papers, this definitive biography unlocks what is perhaps the last great secret of the Cold War.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":34074382631043,"sku":"9781526683755","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0364\/6285\/4275\/files\/9781526683755.jpg?v=1738167178"},{"product_id":"spy-named-orphan","title":"A Spy Named Orphan: The Enigma of Donald Maclean","description":"\u003cp\u003eDonald 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":34074382794883,"sku":"9781784703578","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0364\/6285\/4275\/products\/9781784703578.jpg?v=1610103327"},{"product_id":"copy-of-dead-doubles-the-extraordinary-worldwide-hunt-for-one-of-the-cold-wars-most-notorious-spy-rings","title":"Dead Doubles: The Extraordinary Worldwide Hunt for One of the Cold War's Most Notorious Spy Rings","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Portland Spy Ring was one of the most infamous espionage cases from the Cold War. People the world over were shocked when its exposure revealed the shadowy world of deep cover KGB 'illegals' - spies operating under false identities stolen from the dead. The CIA's revelation to MI5 in 1960 that a KGB agent was stealing crucial secrets from the world-leading submarine research base at Portland in Dorset looked initially like a dangerous but contained lapse of security by a British man and his mistress.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut the couple were tailed by MI5 'watchers' to a covert meeting with a Canadian businessman, Gordon Lonsdale. The unsuspecting Lonsdale in turn led MI5's spycatchers to an innocent-looking couple in suburban Ruislip called the Krogers. But within weeks the CIA rang the alarm - their critical source of intelligence was to defect within hours - and MI5 was forced to act immediately.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Krogers were exposed as two of the most important Russian 'illegals' ever, whom the Americans had been hunting for years. And Lonsdale was no Canadian, but a senior KGB controller. This astonishing but true story of MI5's spyhunt is straight from the world of John le Carre and is told here for the first time using hitherto secret MI5 and FBI files, private family archives and original interviews.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIts tentacles stretch around the world - from America, to the USSR, Canada, New Zealand, Europe and the UK. Dead Doubles is a gripping episode of Cold War history, and a case that fully justified the West's paranoia about infiltration and treachery.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Weidenfeld \u0026 Nicolson","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39576559288451,"sku":"9781474609111","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0364\/6285\/4275\/products\/9781474609104_c8909b25-1fc4-4bba-99ff-daeee9e44eba.jpg?v=1621166318"},{"product_id":"spydle","title":"Spydle: An Addictive Espionage Puzzle Book","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe National Archives and Britain’s leading puzzle masterminds, Dr Gareth Moore and Laura Jayne Ayres, have drawn on five centuries of British spycraft and cryptography to compile an unputdownable history of real-life codebreaking and espionage through a series of addictive puzzles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUsing original documents, maps, ciphers, plans, letters and telegrams from plots and espionage relating to Mary, Queen of Scots, the Gunpowder Plot, Mata Hari, Agent Zigzag and dozens more; Spydle’s puzzles are based on real codes and conundrums.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePacked with fiendish puzzles covering over 500 years of espionage, could you be a code-cracking spymaster and untangle history’s most cryptic mysteries?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\"\u003e\u003cbr style=\"color-scheme: unset; forced-color-adjust: unset; mask: unset; math-depth: unset; position: unset; position-anchor: unset; text-size-adjust: unset; appearance: unset; font-feature-settings: unset; font-kerning: unset; font-optical-sizing: unset; font-palette: unset; font-size-adjust: unset; font-stretch: unset; font-synthesis: unset; font-variant-alternates: unset; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: unset; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: unset; font-variant-position: unset; font-variation-settings: unset; inset-area: unset; text-orientation: unset; text-rendering: unset; text-spacing-trim: unset; -webkit-font-smoothing: unset; -webkit-locale: unset; -webkit-text-orientation: unset; -webkit-writing-mode: unset; writing-mode: unset; zoom: unset; accent-color: unset; place-content: unset; place-items: unset; place-self: unset; alignment-baseline: unset; anchor-name: unset; animation-composition: unset; animation: unset; app-region: unset; aspect-ratio: unset; backdrop-filter: unset; backface-visibility: unset; background: unset; background-blend-mode: unset; baseline-shift: unset; baseline-source: unset; block-size: unset; border-block: unset; border: unset; border-radius: unset; border-collapse: unset; border-end-end-radius: unset; border-end-start-radius: unset; border-inline: unset; border-start-end-radius: unset; border-start-start-radius: unset; inset: unset; box-shadow: unset; box-sizing: border-box; break-after: unset; break-before: unset; break-inside: unset; buffered-rendering: unset; caption-side: unset; caret-color: unset; clear: unset; clip-path: unset; clip-rule: unset; color-interpolation: unset; color-interpolation-filters: unset; color-rendering: unset; columns: unset; column-fill: unset; gap: unset; column-rule: unset; column-span: unset; contain: unset; contain-intrinsic-block-size: unset; contain-intrinsic-size: unset; contain-intrinsic-inline-size: unset; container: unset; content: unset; content-visibility: unset; counter-increment: unset; counter-reset: unset; counter-set: unset; cursor: revert; cx: unset; cy: unset; d: unset; display: revert; dominant-baseline: unset; empty-cells: unset; field-sizing: unset; fill: unset; fill-opacity: unset; fill-rule: unset; flex: unset; flex-flow: unset; float: unset; flood-color: unset; flood-opacity: unset; grid: unset; grid-area: unset; height: unset; hyphenate-character: unset; hyphenate-limit-chars: unset; hyphens: unset; image-orientation: unset; image-rendering: unset; initial-letter: unset; inline-size: unset; inset-block: unset; inset-inline: unset; isolation: unset; lighting-color: unset; line-break: unset; line-height: unset; list-style: unset; margin-block: unset; margin: unset; margin-inline: unset; marker: unset; mask-type: unset; math-shift: unset; math-style: unset; max-block-size: unset; max-height: unset; max-inline-size: unset; max-width: unset; min-block-size: unset; min-height: unset; min-inline-size: unset; min-width: unset; mix-blend-mode: unset; object-fit: unset; object-position: unset; object-view-box: unset; offset: unset; opacity: unset; order: unset; orphans: 2; outline: revert; outline-offset: unset; overflow-anchor: unset; overflow-clip-margin: unset; overflow-wrap: unset; overflow: unset; overlay: unset; overscroll-behavior-block: unset; overscroll-behavior-inline: unset; overscroll-behavior: unset; padding-block: unset; padding: unset; padding-inline: unset; page-orientation: unset; paint-order: unset; perspective: unset; perspective-origin: unset; pointer-events: unset; position-try: unset; position-visibility: unset; quotes: unset; r: unset; resize: unset; rotate: unset; ruby-position: unset; rx: unset; ry: unset; scale: unset; scroll-behavior: unset; scroll-margin-block: unset; scroll-margin: unset; scroll-margin-inline: unset; scroll-padding-block: unset; scroll-padding: unset; scroll-padding-inline: unset; scroll-snap-align: unset; scroll-snap-stop: unset; scroll-snap-type: unset; scroll-timeline: unset; scrollbar-color: unset; scrollbar-gutter: unset; scrollbar-width: unset; shape-image-threshold: unset; shape-margin: unset; shape-outside: unset; shape-rendering: unset; size: unset; speak: unset; stop-color: unset; stop-opacity: unset; stroke: unset; stroke-dasharray: unset; stroke-dashoffset: unset; stroke-linecap: unset; stroke-linejoin: unset; stroke-miterlimit: unset; stroke-opacity: unset; stroke-width: unset; tab-size: unset; table-layout: unset; text-align: start; text-align-last: unset; text-anchor: unset; text-combine-upright: unset; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-line: unset; text-decoration-skip-ink: unset; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-emphasis: unset; text-emphasis-position: unset; text-overflow: unset; text-shadow: unset; text-underline-offset: unset; text-underline-position: unset; timeline-scope: unset; touch-action: unset; transform: unset; transform-box: unset; transform-origin: unset; transform-style: unset; transition: unset; translate: unset; user-select: unset; vector-effect: unset; vertical-align: unset; view-timeline: unset; view-transition-class: unset; view-transition-name: unset; visibility: unset; border-spacing: unset; -webkit-box-align: unset; -webkit-box-decoration-break: unset; -webkit-box-direction: unset; -webkit-box-flex: unset; -webkit-box-ordinal-group: unset; -webkit-box-orient: unset; -webkit-box-pack: unset; -webkit-box-reflect: unset; -webkit-line-break: unset; -webkit-line-clamp: unset; -webkit-mask-box-image: unset; -webkit-print-color-adjust: unset; -webkit-rtl-ordering: unset; -webkit-ruby-position: unset; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: unset; -webkit-text-combine: unset; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: unset; -webkit-text-fill-color: unset; -webkit-text-security: unset; -webkit-text-stroke-color: unset; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; -webkit-user-drag: unset; widows: 2; width: unset; will-change: unset; word-break: unset; x: unset; y: unset; z-index: unset; clip: unset; filter: unset; word-spacing: 0px;\"\u003e\u003cbr style=\"mso-special-character: line-break;\"\u003e\u003c!-- [if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--\u003e\u003c!--[endif]--\u003e\u003c!-- [if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; float: none; word-spacing: 0px;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; float: none; word-spacing: 0px;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44725972205699,"sku":"9781405969017","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0364\/6285\/4275\/files\/Spydle_d2f25a7f-6ae6-43af-9a38-d099f615bd6b.jpg?v=1762857933"},{"product_id":"her-secret-service-the-forgotten-women-of-british-intelligence","title":"Her Secret Service: The Forgotten Women of British Intelligence","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro',sans-serif; color: #1a1a1a; background: white;\"\u003eSince the inception of the Secret Service Bureau back in 1909, women have worked at the very heart of British secret intelligence - yet their contributions have been all but written out of history. Now, drawing on private and previously-classified documents, leading historian Claire Hubbard-Hall brings their gripping true stories to life. From encoding orders and decrypting enemy messages to penning propaganda and infiltrating organisations, the women of British intelligence played a pivotal role in both the First and Second World Wars.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro',sans-serif; color: #1a1a1a;\"\u003e\u003cbr style=\"font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; word-spacing: 0px;\"\u003e\u003cbr style=\"font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; word-spacing: 0px;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"background: white;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; widows: 2; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; float: none; word-spacing: 0px;\"\u003ePrepare to meet the true custodians of Britain's military secrets, from Kathleen Pettigrew, personal assistant to the Chief of MI6 Stewart Menzies, who late in life declared 'I was Miss Moneypenny, but with more power', to Jane Archer, the very first female MI5 officer who raised suspicions about the Soviet spy Kim Philby long before he was officially unmasked and Winifred Spink, the first female officer ever sent to Russia in 1916. In Her Secret Service, Hubbard-Hall rescues these silenced voices and those of many other fascinating women from obscurity to provide a definitive account of women's contributions to the history of the intelligence services.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; color: black;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Weidenfeld \u0026 Nicolson","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44929866596483,"sku":"9781399603430","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0364\/6285\/4275\/files\/9781399603430.jpg?v=1729530930"},{"product_id":"i-spy-my-life-in-mi5","title":"I Spy: My Life in MI5","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eThe explosive book from ex-MI5 surveillance officer Tom Marcus takes the listener on a non-stop, adrenaline-fuelled ride as he hunts down those who would do our country harm.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTom spent years working covertly to stop those who want to do us harm. In his best-selling memoir \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eSoldier Spy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, he told how he was recruited and described some of his top-secret operations. In \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eI Spy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, he takes us deeper undercover as he puts his life on the line once more.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eI Spy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e plunges the listener straight into the action as Tom and his team race to prevent terrorists from causing carnage on our streets and outsmart Russian agents, blocking a daring plot that threatens the security of the nation. Relying on their quick wits, training and courage, the extraordinary men and women of MI5 are under intense pressure every day. Not everyone is suited for the work, and Tom shows how the incredibly tough challenges he faced growing up gave him the mental strength and skills to survive in a dangerous world.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGritty and eye-opening, this is a unique insight into a hidden war and the sacrifices made by those who fight it. You will never take your safety for granted again.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Pan Macmillan","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55759754494336,"sku":"9781509864119","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0364\/6285\/4275\/files\/9781509864119.jpg?v=1741630738"},{"product_id":"double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies","title":"Double Cross: The True Story of The D-Day Spies","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eD-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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt 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 ensnared Hitler's army and helped to carry thousands of troops across the Channel in safety.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese double agents were, variously, brave, treacherous, fickle, greedy and inspired. They were not conventional warriors, but their masterpiece of deceit saved countless lives. Their codenames were Bronx, Brutus, Treasure, Tricycle and Garbo.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd this is their story.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55830376055168,"sku":"9781526682659","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0364\/6285\/4275\/files\/9781526682659.jpg?v=1743611116"},{"product_id":"the-spy-in-the-archive-how-one-man-tried-to-kill-the-kgb","title":"The Spy in the Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe compulsively readable new book from The Rest is Classified host Gordon Corera. About how one man – Vasili Mitrokhin – turned first disaffected dissident and then traitor to the KGB, stealing the most secret Soviet archives and smuggling them to the West. How do you steal a library? Not just any library but the most secret, heavily guarded archive in the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe answer is to be a librarian. To be so quiet, that no-one knows what you are up to as you toil undercover and deep amongst the files. The work goes on for decades but remains so low key, that even after your escape, aided by MI6, no-one even notices you are gone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Spy in the Archive tells the remarkable story of how Vasili Mitrokhin – an introverted archivist who loved nothing more than dusty files – ended up changing the world. As the in-house archivist for the KGB, the secrets he was exposed to inside its walls turned him first into a dissident and then a spy, a traitor to his country but a man determined to expose the truth about the dark forces that had subverted Russia, forces still at work in the country today. Bestselling writer and historian Gordon Corera tells of the operation to extract this prized asset from Russia for the first time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is an edge-of-the-seat thriller, with vivid flashbacks to Mitrokhin’s earlier time as a KGB idealist prepared to do what it took to serve the Soviet Union and his growing realisation that the communist state was imprisoning its own people. It is the story of what it was like to live in the Soviet Union, to raise a family and then of one man’s journey from the heart of the Soviet state to disillusion, betrayal and defection. At its heart is Mitrokhin’s determination to take on the most powerful institution in the world by revealing its darkest secrets.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"William Collins","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55833488294272,"sku":"9780008644796","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0364\/6285\/4275\/files\/9780008644796.jpg?v=1743692796"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.nationalarchives.gov.uk\/collections\/gifts-for-espionage-enthusiasts.oembed","provider":"The National Archives Shop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}