- Hardcover: 1024 pages
- Publisher: Allen Lane; Thid Issue edition (20 Sep 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0713993588
- ISBN-13: 978-0713993585
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 17 x 6.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 571,396 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Derived from 30,000 top-secret files of the KGB's Foreign Intelligence Service, The Mitrokhin Archive has sparked controversy in Whitehall and Fleet Street. It has also made Melita Norwood--Britain's grandmother-spy--an overnight media celebrity. This huge book is the result of a collaboration between Vasili Mitrokhin, a former senior officer of the Soviet Foreign Intelligence Service, and Christopher Andrew, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History and Chair of the Faculty of History at Cambridge University.
Mitrokhin defected to the UK in 1992, bringing with him notes and classified files he had smuggled out of the Soviet foreign intelligence archives. The authors reveal that Norwood was more highly valued by the Soviets as a spy than the more famous Kim Philby. She passed on technical information that had enabled the Russians to build their own atomic bomb. As an employee at the British Non- Ferrous Metals Research Association, she passed on top- secret files on the Tube Alloys (atomic bomb) project. But Norwood was not alone in being approached to spy for the Soviets--others were MPs Tom Driberg and Raymond Fletcher. The book also records a misguided attempt at recruiting Sir Harold Wilson.
The soviets may have been masters at collecting intelligence, but The Mitrokhin Archive shows their inability to interpret the information they received. It's an exhaustive but riveting read--and there's a promise of a second volume. --Susan Sheph
Product Description
In 1992, the British Secret Intelligence Service exfiltrated from Russia a defector. Vasili Mitrokhin worked for almost 30 years in the foreign intelligence archives of the KGB, which in 1972 he was made responsible for moving to a new HQ just outside Moscow. He was congratulated by the head of foreign intelligence, Vladimir Kryuchkov (later the ringleader of the 1991 Moscow coup), for his success in transferring the archives and his devoted "service to the state security authorities". Unknown to Kryuchkov, Mitrokhin - a secret dissident - spent over a decade noting and copying highly-classified files which, at enormous personal risk, he smuggled daily out of the archives and kept beneath his dacha floor. This collection of KGB materials, supplemented by research from other published and unpublished sources, has enabled Christopher Andrew to cast new light on the history of both the Soviet Union and the East-West conflict which spanned three quarters of the 20th century. This first volume gives an insight into the KGB's penetration of the West, its secret links with Western Communist parties, its covert role in maintaining the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe, and its brutal war against dissidents inside and outside the Soviet Union, all of which were on a scale and of a variety which we have never previously realized. Among the British Agents revealed for the first time are a corrupt Scotland Yard detective who became a KGB "Romeo Spy" on four continents, and a woman who was both the KGB's longest-serving British agent and its most important female spy. Both are still alive.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I thought this book was a most interesting insight into the ways of the KGB. The bravery of Mitrokhin to bring all of these revelations to light must be admired.
Having close relation to someone who lived in the latter part of Soviet times, Mitrokhin's archive even manages to surprise those who were living it day to day.
I enjoyed reading this book from start to finish, but sometimes the level of information given at any one time was too congested, the book jumped from time to time leaving me confused as to which time was being mentioned, but it didn't hinder my enjoyment too much.
My other criticism of this title is that there is an intended second volume from what I can grasp, I feel that as a chronological history of the whole KGB era was presented the introduction of a second volume is largely unnecessary. Maybe a better structure of this volume would have sufficed.
All in all on sheer content I give this book four stars. I really recommend it as criticisms aside, there is a certain "shock value" when you realise that this is fact and not fiction. One of the most interesting, and perhaps worrying, parts deals with the "Centre's" pre-occupations of USA nuclear first strikes both in the 60's and 80's, that was enough to realise that it really is a good job what happened has happened.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In this superb book, Vasili Mitrokhin and Christopher Andrew have written the definitive account of the Cold War. With the help of the KGB files exfiltrated by Mitrokihn, the authors show how the Soviet regime's paranoia over Western influences drove it to extaordinary lengths to safeguard its empire.
Although the revelations about Melita Norwood have made all the headlines, there is much else here to commend this book to the reader of modern history. My favourite piece concerned the influence of Pope John Paul II on the downfall of the Polish communist regime, although you could take your pick from the October Revolution, the Great Terror, or the demise of the Soviet Union in the late eighties; this book spans the entire seven decades of the Soviet behemoth.
Although this book is a heavy read (it is over seven hundred pages long), the patient reader will be rewarded with perspectives on the Cold War that no other book can offer. Thanks to the Mitrokhin archive, we can not only understand why the Soviet regime collapsed, but what preserved it for seventy years.
19 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This perhaps is one of the most detailed and comprehensive books ever written on the activities of the KGB around the world during the Cold War. It requires some knowledge of modern history and an interest in the world of government intelligence services. The fact that it is based on the information collected over many years by the KGB's veteran archivist from the KGB archives gives it extra authority. However, the book's blatant bias in favour of British MI6 prevents it from being top grade material. While it is undoubtful that Western liberal democracy is by far morally superior and legitimate form of government than socialist authoritarianism, it is important to remember that espionage is a very dirty business irrespective of the government it is conducted by. 'The Mirtokhin Archive' fails to acknowledge that ultimately the KGB was more successful than MI6 had ever been. The KGB's enormous successes in infiltrating the highest levels of MI6 are discredited by a combination of ideological arguments and apparent absurdity of Soviet decision-making in foreign affairs, while the most minor successes of British MI6 are made into major victories over the KGB. This is exactly what the British government wants the public to believe. 'The Mitrokhin Archive' is ultimately great material (of Vasili Mitrokhin) spoiled by MI6's self-praising political spin (by Christopher Andrew).
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The two faces of Cold War
The Mitrokhin Archive is an account of intelligence operations conducted by the KGB in successful attempts to infiltrate the British MI6. Read more
Published on 28 May 2007 by Anna Abrahamyan
Compelling, Thorough
Prof. Andrew's work is very clear and covers a vast topic and time period. It makes it very easy to understand the importance of intelligence when trying to understand modern... Read more
Published on 9 April 2005
fantastic inside account of the KGB
An in-depth, comperhensive account of the KGB over 80 years. Can be heavy going, but provides an excellent account of "the other side" before, during, and after the cold... Read more
Published on 19 Dec 2001 by epps30@hotmail.com
An interesting reference book on Russian Politics
This book goes into certain depth on various activities of the Cheka / KGB during the last century.
Where does Russia go from here? Read more
Published on 19 July 2001
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