Ben Macintyre is een bestsellerauteur wiens werken zich verdiepen in boeiende personages en verborgen geschiedenissen. Zijn schrijfstijl wordt gekenmerkt door scherp inzicht in de menselijke natuur en meesterlijk verteltalent, dat de lezer naar het centrum van dramatische gebeurtenissen trekt. Door zijn proza ontrafelt hij de complexe motivaties en buitengewone daden van individuen, vaak binnen de sfeer van spionage en geheime operaties. Zijn verhalen verkennen thema's als loyaliteit, verraad en moed met een feilloos oog voor detail en een meeslepende plot.
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.
**NOW A MAJOR SIX-PART SERIES ON ITVX, STARRING DAMIAN LEWIS AND GUY PEARCE** A SUNDAY TIMES No. 1 BESTSELLER WITH AN AFTERWORD BY JOHN LE CARRÉ 'Riveting, astounding ... An unputdownable postwar thriller' Observer 'Irresistibly readable' Sunday Times 'Worthy of John le Carré at his best' Guardian 'Hugely engrossing ... Both authoritative and enthralling' William Boyd ________________ Kim Philby was the most notorious British defector and Soviet mole in history. Agent, double agent, charmer and traitor, he betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians in the early years of the Cold War. In the aftermath of the Second World War, Philby, Nicholas Elliott and James Jesus Angleton were rising stars in the intelligence world and shared every secret. Elliott and Angleton thought they knew Philby better than anyone - and then discovered they had not known him at all. This is a story of loyalty, trust and treachery, class and conscience, of male friendships forged, and then systematically betrayed. With access to newly released MI5 files and previously unseen papers, A Spy Among Friends unlocks what is perhaps the last great secret of the Cold War.
From the secret SAS archives, and acclaimed author Ben Macintyre: the first ever authorized history of the SAS 'Impeccably researched, superbly told - by far the best book on the SAS in World War II' - Antony Beevor In the summer of 1941, at the height of the war in the Western Desert, a bored and eccentric young officer, David Stirling, came up with a plan that was radical and entirely against the rules: a small undercover unit that would inflict mayhem behind enemy lines. Despite intense opposition, Winston Churchill personally gave Stirling permission to recruit the toughest, brightest and most ruthless soldiers he could find. So began the most celebrated and mysterious military organisation in the world: the SAS. Now, 75 years later, the SAS has finally decided to tell its astonishing story. It has opened its secret archives for the first time, granting historian Ben Macintyre full access to a treasure trove of unseen reports, memos, diaries, letters, maps and photographs, as well as free rein to interview surviving Originals and those who knew them. The result is an exhilarating tale of fearlessness and heroism, recklessness and tragedy; of extraordinary men who were willing to take monumental risks. It is a story about the meaning of courage.
**NOW A MAJOR SIX-PART SERIES ON ITVX, STARRING DAMIAN LEWIS AND GUY PEARCE**A SUNDAY TIMES No. 1 BESTSELLERWITH AN AFTERWORD BY JOHN LE CARRÉ'Riveting, astounding ... An unputdownable postwar thriller' Observer'Irresistibly readable' Sunday Times'Worthy of John le Carré at his best' Guardian'Hugely engrossing ... Both authoritative and enthralling' William Boyd________________Kim Philby was the most notorious British defector and Soviet mole in history. Agent, double agent, charmer and traitor, he betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians in the early years of the Cold War. In the aftermath of the Second World War, Philby, Nicholas Elliott and James Jesus Angleton were rising stars in the intelligence world and shared every secret. Elliott and Angleton thought they knew Philby better than anyone - and then discovered they had not known him at all.This is a story of loyalty, trust and treachery, class and conscience, of male friendships forged, and then systematically betrayed. With access to newly released MI5 files and previously unseen papers, A Spy Among Friends unlocks what is perhaps the last great secret of the Cold War.
THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER - AND PERFECT GIFT FOR HISTORY BUFFS! 'A master at setting the pulse racing' Daily Mail 'A fine feat of storytelling . . . will surely become the last word on the subject' Telegraph _____________________________ FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SAS: ROGUE HEROES Colditz Castle: a forbidding Gothic tower on a hill in Nazi Germany. You may have heard about the prisoners and their daring and desperate attempts to escape, but that's only part of the real story. In Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle, bestselling historian Ben Macintyre takes us inside the walls of the most infamous prison in history to meet the real men behind the legends. Heroes and bullies, lovers and spies, captors and prisoners living cheek-by-jowl for years in a thrilling game of cat and mouse - and all determined to escape by any means necessary. Deeply researched and full of incredible stories, this is a tale of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances - and will change how you think about Colditz forever. _____________________________ 'Like watching a black-and-white photograph being colourised' Spectator 'Every Ben Macintyre book is a treat' The Tablet Sunday Times bestseller, November 2022
From the bestselling author of Agent Zigzag. The thrilling true story of the greatest and most successful wartime deception ever attemptedA Richard & Judy Book Club selection