Spies

The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West

De: Calder Walton

Narrado por: Dugald Bruce-Lockhart

Duración: 20 h y 22 m

Resumen del Editor

Foreign Policy Best Book of 2023
Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2023

The “riveting” (The Economist), secret story of the hundred-year intelligence war between Russia and the West with lessons for our new superpower conflict with China.

Spies is the history of the secret war that Russia and the West have been waging for a century. Espionage, sabotage, and subversion were the Kremlin’s means to equalize the imbalance of resources 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 simply business as usual, new means used for old ends.

The Cold War started long before 1945. But the West fought back after World War II, mounting its own shadow war, using disinformation, vast intelligence networks, and new technologies against the Soviet Union. Spies is a “deeply researched and artfully crafted” (Fiona Hill, deputy assistant to the US President) story of the best and worst of mankind: bravery and honor, 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, synthetic bots, and weaponized cyber-attacks being launched woefully unprepared West. It is about the rise and fall of Eastern superpowers: Russia’s past and present and the global ascendance of China.

Mining hitherto secret archives in multiple languages, Calder Walton shows that the Cold War started earlier than commonly assumed, that it continued even after the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, and that Britain and America’s clandestine struggle with the Soviet government provided key lessons for countering China today. This “authoritative, sweeping” (Fredrik Logevall, Pulitzer Prize­–winning author of Embers of War) history, combined with practical takeaways for our current great power struggles, make Spies a unique and essential addition to the history of the Cold War and the unrolling conflict between the United States and China that will dominate the 21st century.

©2023 Calder Walton (P)2023 Simon & Schuster Audio

This is a definitive account of pre & post cold war

This book explains the how and why of the coup that unseated Gorbachev and other things that only now are coming to light. The author does not stint in his praise and condemnation of Eastern and Western spy agencies.

Dry but fascinating

The language is dry as dust but the history is absolutely riveting. Worth every minute!

Great little know history

Really interesting and memorable history of east west spying. A lot of fascinating details of episodes and names that I knew a little about - Cambridge 5, Richard Hanson, Berlin, USSR spying on WW2 allies, a tunnel under Berlin, the Cuban Missile crisis ETC.

A lot of audible reviews are upset about the author’s reporting on trump and Russia. But if the book is credible about other Russian spying, why isn’t it about Russia and Trump?

At the end, the book does drift away from its core subject and into some unsupported speculation - quantum computing, the fourth Industrial Revolution etc.

But the discussion of Chinese spy craft and comparisons to the USSR was interesting.

Did not age well

Unfortunately this author comprised his own integrity with his token Trump - Russia collusion fraud. And yes, this book was written long after the facts were out. Really embarrassing and pathetic to read an author with TDS. Sad. More importantly, objectively false. What does that say about the rest of his research?

US Open for Sies

The conclusion after all the fascinating history, will leave the reader questioning America's future. Trump may be Russias greatest ally.

Author's Interpretation of Jan 6 2021

This book was decent overall and provided a good overview of the intelligence war. He clearly missed what the J6 protestors were all about but that is hardly surprising since the author lives in an Ivy League bubble and is clearly a leftist. It wasn't a coup and he clearly hates Trump and chose to bash him and label him a dictator while conveniently ignoring all the crap the Biden and Obama administrations did and are doing to undermine American society and turn us against one another. Trump is 1000% more patriotic than any of those two. You never heard Obama say he loves his country. Democrats hate America. They demonstrate this everyday. So with this politicized ending for the book it is not one I will be recommending my students to read. I stay off politics in the classroom unlike other Left leaning professors. No wonder why the Ivy League churns out so many so called "educated" elites who hate America with a guy like this teaching. He clearly doesn't understand what makes us real Americans tick and needs to pack up and go back to the in-bred has been empire he came from.

Fascinating

Amy of material overwhelming
Amazing we did as well as we did
Luckily opponents were often less competent

Historical perspective

Found the historical context eliminating.
The 50/50 chance of our democracy surviving scary to say the least.

a war by other means with consequences

Lots of detail and examples much confirmed by other sources. He does not use the term, but it is the "Great Game" of nations we have known throughout history that continues. Cold or hot it goes on and on. Think open society vs authoritarian describes the struggle better than "liberal democracy" vs authoritarian. He points out the not level playing field when Russia, China and others are police states make defending our open societies difficult.

Detailed overview of cold war espionage

This book was a great overview of Cold War espionage. I docked a star for inserting his own political beliefs at times.