- Paperback: 832 pages
- Publisher: HarperPerennial; 1st HarperPerennial Ed edition (Oct 1991)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0060921099
- ISBN-13: 978-0060921095
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13 x 5.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 451,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
The international bestseller critically acclaimed as "undoubtedly the most important book ever written on Soviet espionage."--San Francisco Chronicle.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is the most comprehensive book on the structure and history of KGB.
The text is very logical and easy to read. The book is written partly by Oleg Gordievsky - a man who spent around thirty years within KGB.
It starts from Tsar Okhrana (1500) and leads you up to 1990s. It covers all Russian and USSR secret services. The book gives details of almost all famous assassinations carried out by KGB and it's predecessors. Good coverage of life of the most known spies including Sydney Reilly. It deeply analyses lives of the Oxford "Magnificent Five". It gives good analysis on the "active measures", "wet affairs", agent penetration and other actions carried out by KGB.
I recommend it to everyone interested in KGB.
The text is very logical and easy to read. The book is written partly by Oleg Gordievsky - a man who spent around thirty years within KGB.
It starts from Tsar Okhrana (1500) and leads you up to 1990s. It covers all Russian and USSR secret services. The book gives details of almost all famous assassinations carried out by KGB and it's predecessors. Good coverage of life of the most known spies including Sydney Reilly. It deeply analyses lives of the Oxford "Magnificent Five". It gives good analysis on the "active measures", "wet affairs", agent penetration and other actions carried out by KGB.
I recommend it to everyone interested in KGB.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was the first major book I read on the history of the KGB, and it has proved over the years to be the best. Not only does it give an insite into the "known" history of the Service, but also gives the history and political intrigue. The most interesting part of the book is the private lives of some of the most powerful men in Russia during those years. That more than anything else was the most frightening and interesting part of all. Overall an excellent and informative read.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I've been looking for a book on the history of the KGB for some time and after reading the reviews for this on Amazon I thought I would give it a try, I'm pleased I did as I found the book quite interesting.
The author takes the reader through the history of "secret police" in Tsarist Russia, looking at the work of the Oprichnina and the Okhrana, and then the history under the Soviets right through to the Gorbachev era circa 1985. The narration flows well for the most part, although it can become a little turgid in places, and the book is very informative, with little insights from Gordievsky (a KGB defector who was a mole for SIS) on particular topics.
The one thing that constantly struck me as a I read this book was how much more effective the KGB and the other divisions would have been if they had concentrated solely on factual threats instead of delving into the myriad of non-existent conspiracy theories. I would also have liked the author to expand further on the murder of Georgi Markov and the disappearance of Raoul Wallenberg but felt that his coverage of the traitors from Cambridge - the Magnificent Five - was very good, and in fact the most informative account that I have ever read of their traitorous activites.
I would recommend this book, as I did enjoy reading it and feel I have learnt quite a lot from the experience. I would counsel fellow readers that this book can be heavy going in places but would urge perserverance as the book is definitely worth it.
The author takes the reader through the history of "secret police" in Tsarist Russia, looking at the work of the Oprichnina and the Okhrana, and then the history under the Soviets right through to the Gorbachev era circa 1985. The narration flows well for the most part, although it can become a little turgid in places, and the book is very informative, with little insights from Gordievsky (a KGB defector who was a mole for SIS) on particular topics.
The one thing that constantly struck me as a I read this book was how much more effective the KGB and the other divisions would have been if they had concentrated solely on factual threats instead of delving into the myriad of non-existent conspiracy theories. I would also have liked the author to expand further on the murder of Georgi Markov and the disappearance of Raoul Wallenberg but felt that his coverage of the traitors from Cambridge - the Magnificent Five - was very good, and in fact the most informative account that I have ever read of their traitorous activites.
I would recommend this book, as I did enjoy reading it and feel I have learnt quite a lot from the experience. I would counsel fellow readers that this book can be heavy going in places but would urge perserverance as the book is definitely worth it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Rambling, long-winded and sneering
A hefty tome which looked the part however once I began turning the pages I found myself quickly turned off a) by the turgid writing and b) sneering tone adopted by the authors... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Jay Hoolihan
KGB The Inside by Christopher Andrew
KGB The Inside Story is very exciting reading by Christopher Andrew, highly regarded Cambridge professor ,who writes a series of books brilliantly on intelligence subjects... Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2009 by M. McNulty
Definitive book on KGB maybe ?
Written in co-operation with Oleg Gordievsky this books tell the grim story of the birth and development of the KGB. Read more
Published on 10 Jun 2009 by Christopher Lalor
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