The Art of Betrayal (Paperback)
M16 has been cloaked in secrecy and shrouded in myth since it was created a hundred years ago. Our understanding of what it is to be a spy has been largely defined by the fictional worlds of Ian Fleming and John le Carre. Gordon Corera provides a unique and unprecedented insight into this secret world and the reality that lies behind the fiction. He tells the story of how the secret service has changed since the end of the Second World War and, by focusing on the people and the relationships that lie at the heart of espionage, illustrates the danger, the drama, the intrigue, the moral ambiguities and the occasional comedy that come with working for British intelligence.
Gordon Corera is a security correspondent for BBC News. In that role, he covers the work of Britain's intelligence agencies. His documentary series 'MI6: A century in the Shadows' was broadcast in the summer of 2009. His series 'The Real Spooks' on MI5 was broadcast in December 2007. He was educated at Oxford and Harvard Universities and joined the BBC in 1997.
As
a good journalist and a reader of spy novels, Corera presents his
material as fast-paced stories, from the covert diplomacy of the Cold
War to recent security concerns in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
The best post-1949 account of British intelligence I have read. This is as good as it gets.
An absorbing study focused on the questionable cost of gathering secrets.
This
well-written, hard-hitting book shows that MI6 has never in the past
put its own conscience before its duty to protect the public. It mustn't
start now.
— Andrew Roberts
a good journalist and a reader of spy novels, Corera presents his
material as fast-paced stories, from the covert diplomacy of the Cold
War to recent security concerns in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
The best post-1949 account of British intelligence I have read. This is as good as it gets.
An absorbing study focused on the questionable cost of gathering secrets.
This
well-written, hard-hitting book shows that MI6 has never in the past
put its own conscience before its duty to protect the public. It mustn't
start now.
— Andrew Roberts