From Berlin to the Congo, from Moscow to the back streets of London,
these are the stories of the agents on the front lines of British
intelligence. And the truth is often more remarkable than fiction.
MI6 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 Carré. 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, and the moral ambiguities that come with working for
British intelligence.
From the defining period of the early Cold War through to the modern
day, MI6 has undergone a dramatic transformation from a gung-ho,
amateurish organization to its modern, no less controversial,
incarnation. Gordon Corera reveals the triumphs and disasters along the
way. The grand dramas of the Cold War; the rise and fall of the Berlin
Wall; the Cuban Missile Crisis; the September 11, 2001, attacks; and the
Iraq War are the backdrops for the individual spies whose stories form
the centerpiece of this narrative. And some of the individuals featured
here, in turn, helped shape the course of those events. Corera draws on
the first-hand accounts of those who have spied, lied, and in some cases
nearly died in service of the state. They range from the spymasters to
the agents they controlled to their sworn enemies. And the truth is
often more remarkable than the fiction.
