The secretive world of spycraft extends far beyond what contemporary intelligence would have us believe. As far back as the Roman Empire, through Renaissance Venice, Sir Francis Walsingham, the Spanish Armada and the Napoleonic Wars, to the two World Wars and today, history is replete with, and redolent of, the endless whiff of political betrayal.
Present day intelligence boasts illustrious antecedents; and in this consistently fascinating magnum opus, Christopher Andrew, who is internationally acknowledged as an expert on the topic (his history of MI5, as an insider, remains the one to beat), has excelled himself, not only covering three millennia of intelligence, but doing so in the most revealing and readable fashion.
Do not be put off by the book's girth, still less by the prodigious extent of its sources. Making light of a dense topic is never easy, but in the 700-plus pages of riveting text, Professor Andrew's tone is never less than engaging, gripping and comprehensive, covering the full gamut of political skulduggery from antiquity to the present day.
Our vignette has singled out the infamous Zimmermann telegram for special treatment, but we might well have alighted anywhere.
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