The Spy and the Traitor by Ben Macintyre
subtitle; The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
from amazon;
If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the infamous British double-agent Kim Philby, it was Oleg Gordievsky. The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions, the savvy, sophisticated Gordievsky grew to see his nation's communism as both criminal and philistine. He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and eventually became the Soviet Union's top man in London, but from 1973 on he was secretly working for MI6.
For nearly a decade, as the Cold War reached its twilight, Gordievsky helped the West turn the tables on the KGB, exposing Russian spies and helping to foil countless intelligence plots, as the Soviet leadership grew increasingly paranoid at the United States's nuclear first-strike capabilities and brought the world closer to the brink of war.
Desperate to keep the circle of trust close, MI6 never revealed Gordievsky's name to its counterparts in the CIA, which in turn grew obsessed with figuring out the identity of Britain's obviously top-level source. Their obsession ultimately doomed Gordievsky: the CIA officer assigned to identify him was none other than Aldrich Ames, the man who would become infamous for secretly spying for the Soviets.
a very interesting read. goes into the motivation of gordievsky vs. philby (who will probable haunt MI5 & MI6 as long as those organizations exist) & ames. as well as some of the work gordievsky did for MI6 & what happned to him when the KGB got word of what he was up too.
if you like real life spy stories/thrillers, i recommend this book. i also reomend similar books that macintyer wrote; Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies & Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal.
macintyre also wrote a book about philby, a spy among friends, that's now a tv series. i tried to reed it, but it felt very british & i could not make it very far.
from amazon;
If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the infamous British double-agent Kim Philby, it was Oleg Gordievsky. The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions, the savvy, sophisticated Gordievsky grew to see his nation's communism as both criminal and philistine. He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and eventually became the Soviet Union's top man in London, but from 1973 on he was secretly working for MI6.
For nearly a decade, as the Cold War reached its twilight, Gordievsky helped the West turn the tables on the KGB, exposing Russian spies and helping to foil countless intelligence plots, as the Soviet leadership grew increasingly paranoid at the United States's nuclear first-strike capabilities and brought the world closer to the brink of war.
Desperate to keep the circle of trust close, MI6 never revealed Gordievsky's name to its counterparts in the CIA, which in turn grew obsessed with figuring out the identity of Britain's obviously top-level source. Their obsession ultimately doomed Gordievsky: the CIA officer assigned to identify him was none other than Aldrich Ames, the man who would become infamous for secretly spying for the Soviets.
a very interesting read. goes into the motivation of gordievsky vs. philby (who will probable haunt MI5 & MI6 as long as those organizations exist) & ames. as well as some of the work gordievsky did for MI6 & what happned to him when the KGB got word of what he was up too.
if you like real life spy stories/thrillers, i recommend this book. i also reomend similar books that macintyer wrote; Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies & Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal.
macintyre also wrote a book about philby, a spy among friends, that's now a tv series. i tried to reed it, but it felt very british & i could not make it very far.