Spies
The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West
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Spies
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Narrated by:
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Dugald Bruce-Lockhart
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By:
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Calder Walton
About this listen
The riveting story of the hundred-year intelligence war between Russia and the West with lessons for our new superpower conflict with China
Espionage, election meddling, disinformation, assassinations, subversion, and sabotage - all attract headlines today about Putin's dictatorship. But they are far from new. The West has a long-term Russia problem, not a Putin problem. Spies mines hitherto secret archives and exclusive interviews with former agents to tell the history of the war that Russia and the West have been waging for a century. Espionage dark arts were the Kremlin's means to equalise the imbalance of arms between the East and West before, during and after the Cold War. There was nothing 'unprecedented' about Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. It was business as usual, new means for old ends.
The Cold War started long before 1945. Western powers gradually fought back after the Second World War, mounting their own shadow war, deploying propaganda, recruiting intelligence networks and pioneering new spy technologies against the Soviet Union. Spies is an inspiring, engrossing story of the best and worst of mankind: bravery and honour, treachery and betrayal. The narrative shifts across continents and decades, from the freezing streets of St. Petersburg in 1917 to the bloody beaches of Normandy; from coups in faraway lands to present-day Moscow, where troll farms weaponise social media against Western democracies. This fresh reading of history makes Spies a unique and essential addition to the story of the unrolling conflict between Russia, China and the West that will dominate the twenty-first century.
©2023 Calder Walton (P)2023 Hachette Audio UKListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
'A masterpiece' CHRISTOPHER ANDREW, author of The Defence of the Realm: The Authorised History of MI5
'The book we have all been waiting for' BRENDAN SIMMS, author of Hitler: A Global Biography
'Gripping, authoritative... A vivid account of intelligence skulduggery' Kirkus
What listeners say about Spies
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Robert Hood
- 13-09-23
A must read/listen
One of, if not, the best book on the past and new cold War subject. up to date and states in easy to understand form most of what you need to know of the past and present struggle of the free world, to stay free.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 29-05-24
Very detailed and well written
The detailed in the book was really impressive and the latest information he has access to shines new light on some of the episodes of the cold war.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Paul
- 08-08-23
Good intro to undercover agencies
A very good review of the success and often failures of the great powers security services and geopolitical implications. The conclusions rather lost it with pinning all blame on Trump for the US decline and I am by no means a fan but to leave out the growing evidence against the current president with obvious ties to the Chinese’s gov miss the fact that the CCP have infiltrated to the very top of western society by simply using money not ideology and consequently all westerns societies are compromised regardless of political affiliation
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- F. Pindar
- 04-08-23
A great read into the world of spycraft
I've listened to a couple of different books from the same narrator and he's great at keeping you interested throughout the book. The book is also cram packed with information, although a couple of points I don't think I would agree with, but outweighed by the fascinating insight into the life of spies.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mark H
- 12-09-23
Fascinating insight
Loved this. Very well researched and very well read by one of my favourite narrators. I'm already looking forward to listening to it again
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- E. H. Stephenson
- 24-01-24
A thick soup of intrigue
I'm going to have to come to terms with listening to factual books vs reading a physical copy. it's almost impossible for me to keep all of the bits in my head for any length of time. I think this format works better as a book.
The book is excellent and well read however for me... to much for an audio book.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Tony Johns
- 20-12-23
Good canter over the story of east west espionage over last 100 years
Well written, good summary, particularly enjoyed last chapter on China as it brings it bang up to date
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Oryx
- 16-01-24
wonderful piece
the author is really knowledgeable, although not impartial. I happen to agree with his POV, so I really enjoyed the book.
I had to slow down the narration to 0.8 to be able to process the torrent of facts.
Great insights at the end of the book.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Thomas Skwarek
- 22-07-23
Narrator too excited for my taste
I had return this after an hour. Maybe it is just me, the narrator seemed to almost be shouting. There was an unrelenting excitement in his voice. I thought he might relax in an hour or so but it became unnerving. Worth listening to the sample first.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Kendo nagassaki
- 03-04-24
political bias
this book contained much good information on espionage..and indeed I would have given a 4 until last couple of chapters.however once he reaches Russia he shows his left bias and rather than give an unbiased narrative it turns into an opinion piece,he glosses over the interception of USA /Allbright call when she is actually planning next Ukraine government, he does point out however USA is now classed as a flawed democracy.
He fails to point out the resignation of Head of GCHQ immediately he learned of Trumps win undoubtedly on fear that the fact GCHQ had been assisting Clinton would be exposed.
so fair to middling
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