The Secret World: A History of Intelligence

by Christopher Andrew

Overview

“The first global history of intelligence, remarkable for its scope and delightful for its unpredictable comparisons.”—Richard J. Aldrich, TLS

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300248296
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	09/10/2019
Pages:	960
Sales rank:	388,221
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.90(h) x 2.20(d)

About the Author

Christopher Andrew is emeritus professor of modern and contemporary history at the University of Cambridge and founder of its renowned Intelligence Seminar. His many books include The Sword and the Shield; The World Was Going Our Way; and Defend the Realm, an authorized history of MI5.
 

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Introduction: The Lost History of Global Intelligence 1

1 In the Beginning: Spies of the Bible and Ancient Egypt from Moses to the Last Supper 13

2 Intelligence Operations in Ancient Greece: Myth and Reality from Odysseus to Alexander the Great 27

3 Intelligence and Divination in the Roman Republic 40

4 The Art of War and the Arthashastra: How China and India Took an Early Lead over Greece and Rome 54

5 The Roman Empire and the Untermenschen 70

6 Muhammad and the Rise of Islamic Intelligence 86

7 Inquisitions and Counter-Subversion 100

8 Renaissance Venice and the Rise of Western Intelligence 118

9 Ivan the Terrible and the Origins of Russian State Security 141

10 Elizabeth I, Walsingham and the Rise of English Intelligence 158

11 The Decline of Early Stuart and Spanish Intelligence, and the Rise of the French Cabinet Noir 191

12 Intelligence and Regime Change in Britain: From the Civil War to the Popish Plot 214

13 Intelligence in the Era of the Sun King 242

14 Codebreakers and Spies in Ancien Régime Europe: From the Hanoverian Succession to the Seven Years War 269

15 Intelligence and American Independence 292

16 The French Revolution and the Revolutionary Wars 312

17 The Napoleonic Wars 339

18 Intelligence and Counter-Revolution. Part I: From the Congress of Vienna to the 1848 Revolutions 363

19 Intelligence and Counter-Revolution. Part II: From 1848 to the Death of Karl Marx 386

20 The Telegraph, Mid-Century Wars and the 'Great Game' 402

21 'The Golden Age of Assassination': Anarchists, Revolutionaries and the Black Hand, 1880-1914 425

22 The Great Powers and Foreign Intelligence, 1890-1909 449

23 Intelligence and the Coming of the First World War 472

24 The First World War. Part 1: From the Outbreak of War to the Zimmermann Telegram 497

25 The First World War. Part 2: From American Intervention to Allied Victory 543

26 Sigint and Humint between the Wars 573

27 The 'Big Three' and Second World War Intelligence 603

28 Intelligence and the Victory of the Grand Alliance 637

29 The Cold War and the Intelligence Superpowers 669

30 'Holy Terror': From the Cold War to 9/11 701

Conclusion: Twenty-First-Century Intelligence in Long-Term Perspective 731

Bibliography 761

Abbreviations Used in the Notes and References 819

Notes 821

Acknowledgements 876

Index 879

Editorial Reviews

A comprehensive exploration of spying in its myriad forms from the Bible to the present day. . . . Easy to dip into, and surprisingly funny. Spies have an acute sense of the ridiculous, and their own absurd and lethal drama.”—Ben Macintyre, “By the Book,” New York Times Book Review

“For anyone with a taste for wide-ranging and shrewdly gossipy history—or, for that matter, for anyone with a taste for spy stories—Andrew’s is one of the most entertaining books of the past few years.”—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker

“Perhaps the most comprehensive narrative of intelligence compiled: the author's breadth and depth of knowledge are unrivalled.”—Max Hastings, The Sunday Times (London)

“To write a world history of intelligence, from the dawn of recorded history to the present day, is a daunting task. To make such a work accurate, comprehensive, digestible and startling, and all in a single volume, is a stellar achievement. But that is what Christopher Andrew has done in The Secret World.”—Edward Lucas, The Times (London)

“The Secret World is a work of magisterial breadth.”—Amy Zegart, American Interest

“This scholarly but readable history unlocks a portfolio of secrets—supersecrets, even. . . . Failures of intelligence . . . figure as much as successes in Andrew’s spry account. Fans of Fleming and Furst will delight in this skillfully related true-fact side of the story.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Both brilliant in its sweep and near-miraculous in the detail and confident judgments provided on two and a half millennia of spying. . . . A crowning triumph of one of the most adventurous scholars of the security world.”—Financial Times

“The Secret World is a magisterial book. It is designed for the lay reader as much as for the expert; the scale, breadth, and depth of the work confirm Christopher Andrew’s position as the great Yoda of intelligence studies in the UK.”—Michael S. Goodman, Literary Review

“The first global history of intelligence, remarkable for its scope and delightful for its unpredictable comparisons. . . . Given that intelligence is partly about prediction, Andrew argues that the history of intelligence is one of the most powerful tools that modern spies can deploy. Accordingly, there are important lessons for spymasters everywhere in this breath-taking and brilliant book. . . . A stunning secret archaeology of a subject that [Andrew] himself helped to create.”—Richard J. Aldrich, Times Literary Supplement

“A study of unprecedented scope and depth, [covering] spying around the world, and from biblical times to today.”—T. A. Frail, “Smithsonian VIP” Newsletter

“Impressive. . . . Andrew, eminent historian of intelligence services, gifts us with his lifetime of knowledge. . . . This book fills a great need and should interest any serious student of international affairs.”—Michael J. Art, The University Bookman

“A definitive account. . . . No other contemporary writer matches Andrew’s record of bringing the shadowy world of intelligence into the light.”—J. R. Dunn, The Federalist

“It just may convince you that the West’s vaunted intelligence agencies would have been more successful if they’d studied the past, and that our need for capable spy agencies is greater today than ever.”—The Week

“Andrew, eminent historian of intelligence services, gifts us with his lifetime of knowledge in the field. This book fills a great need and should interest any serious student of international affairs.”—Michael J. Ard, Supporting Statecraft

"Some contend that intelligence is the second oldest profession, and Andrew (Cambridge) agrees. To emphasize the point, he has provided in his new work a pivotal study concerning the history of intelligence that will stand the test of time."—C. C. Lovett, Choice

"The Secret World provides an indispensable basis for recognizing intelligence as something far more than even aficionados of spy literature could imagine."—Charles Hill, Claremont Review of Books

"Masterful and illuminating. . . .  A masterpiece of concision, more than three thousand years of espionage and intelligence gathering covered within a single volume. . . . I am confident that it will achieve well-deserved status as a classic."—Aram Bakshian, Jr., The National Interest

“A truly magisterial tome, . . . a crowning achievement for Christopher Andrew, former official historian MI5 and leading Cambridge academic, whose life has been primarily devoted to the study of intelligence and espionage in the 20th century.”—Neil Kent, The RUSE Journal

“A truly magisterial work . . . [and] a must-read for any person with a serious interest in intelligence. . . . His evidence . . . is rich with anecdotes and opinions of world leaders who relied on — or ignored — intelligence as a tool of office. . . . An outstanding work. Ten cloaks, ten daggers.”—Joseph C. Goulden, Washington Times

Winner, 2018 Airey Neave Book Prize

Selected for Choice's 2019 Outstanding Academic Titles List
 

“In this extraordinarily ambitious and monumental work, Christopher Andrew brings an enormous amount of detail together in one place so patterns can begin to emerge and readers can appreciate connections and dissimilarities. No other book has come close to what Andrew has done here.”—Harvey Klehr, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Politics and History Emeritus, Emory University

From the Publisher

This audiobook exhaustively documents the history of intelligence—spying—from Moses to Napoleon to the present. It’s ideal for those who savor the world of international intrigue. From the start, it’s clear that narrator Clive Chafer recognizes the challenge of delivering Christopher Andrew’s lengthy book, and he is up to the task. With his British accent and low-key style, Chafer adeptly uses a mix of tone and inflection, while pacing his delivery. As a result, listeners can savor the audiobook. Another benefit is that many chapters are stand-alone stories, which provide an easy way for busy listeners to take in the work a little at a time if they wish. D.J.S. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2019 - AudioFile

2018-07-02
Franklin. Ben Franklin, superspy. This scholarly but readable history unlocks a portfolio of secrets—supersecrets, even.It seems fitting that Andrew (Modern and Contemporary History/Univ. of Cambridge; Defend the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5, 2010, etc.) spent his academic career at Cambridge given how many spies that august institution fielded in the Cold War. This doorstopping survey begins at the beginning, with the Aristotelean justification for espionage: "Since people also revolt because of their private lives," reads Politics, "it is necessary to set up some magistracy…to inspect those who live in a manner deleterious to the constitution." The narrative continues to the present and projects into the future, darkly warning that since all human inventions now tend to proliferate globally, it will only be a matter of time before state-level weapons of mass destruction are used against civilians in the West, at a much deadlier scale than 9/11 and other catastrophes. "Though good intelligence diminishes surprise," writes the author, "it cannot prevent it." On that note, he suggests, good intelligence has been harder to come by than in the glory days of the Cold War. He observes that if we had Cold War-quality intelligence on Saddam Hussein, as the West did on the Soviet Union, then the Iraq War, based on the flawed premise of hidden weapons of mass destruction, would likely never have taken place. In between, Andrew takes a deep, sometimes breathless look at such things as conspiracy theories in early-19th-century Germany, the Enigma codebreakers of Bletchley Park and Winston Churchill's steadfast support of their costly operation, the role of spying in the American Revolution, and the Israeli intelligence service's rather flamboyant mastery of assassination. Failures of intelligence, notably 9/11 but also the Chinese infiltration of Richard Nixon's 1972 mission to Beijing, figure as much as successes in Andrew's spry account.Fans of Fleming and Furst will delight in this skillfully related true-fact side of the story.

Kirkus Reviews