[A] fascinating and valuable account. AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW A fascinating and wonderfully researched book. REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA Madeira's study is an outstanding example of what can be achieved by piecing together intelligence and diplomatic history, offering at last the missing dimension to shed light on many political controversies. JOURNAL OF BRITISH ... Read moreSTUDIES [A]n impressively researched and insightful history that highlights the centrality of the geopolitical rivalry between Britain and Russia
or, perhaps more accurately, the Soviet Union
and the importance of understanding the intelligence wars of the early twentieth century. H-NET Reviews Excellent . . . a pioneering work [that] should also appeal to anyone interested in modern politics, international relations and, as strange as it may sound, in Russia's present-day secret intelligence operations in Britain. THE SPECTATOR Intelligence historians have been so bedazzled by the Cambridge Five that we have neglected who and what came before. Victor Madeira's fascinating study takes us into the first great skirmishes of the long intelligence war between the UK and the Soviet Union, and he does not shrink from applying lessons to today's version of the duel. PETER HENNESSY, Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History, Queen Mary, University of London. Exciting and essential reading
not only for intelligence specialists
but for everyone interested in the secret battle between the British and Soviet superpowers during the interwar period. RICHARD J. ALDRICH, Professor of International Security, University of Warwick An impressive and sharply perceptive account of a key period in British and Soviet intelligence history. GILL BENNETT, OBE, MA, Chief Historian, Foreign & Commonwealth Office (1995-2005) This is history at its best
objective, penetrating analysis extremely well written, covering an important but neglected issue, and with lessons amazingly relevant to today. CHRIS DONNELLY, CMG, TD, Director, The Institute for Statecraft Show Less