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Product Description
Product Description
Before the collapse of Communist East Germany the country ran one of the most extensive intelligence networks in the world. Its secret service, the Stasi, consisted of as many as 150,000 agents by the time of its demise in 1990. Much more than a junior partner to the Soviet Union's KGB, the Stasi was in fact a highly professional and ruthless organisation which was dedicated to principles of conspiratorial aggressiveness and the protection of the Communist cause. Anthony Glees is one of the last researchers to gain access to the Stasi Archive in Berlin before it was closed. Drawing on documentary evidence in the files he presents a fascinating portrait of the Stasi's interest in, among other topics, the burgeoning CND movement in Britain and the Labour Party's prospects of holding office. Along the way he explains the elaborate structure of intelligence officers, agents and sources who together constituted the troops on the ground for the Stasi's campaign against the UK. Revelatory and controversial, THE STASI FILES is the most important book on espionage to appear since THE MITROKHIN ARCHIVE.
About the Author
Anthony Glees is Reader in Politics and Director of European Studies at Brunel University. He is the author of two previous books: REINVENTING GERMANY (OUP, 1996) and THE SECRETS OF THE SERVICE (Cape, 1987).
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful
I had high hopes for this book. I expected some original and informative content. I expected it to be written in a way that encouraged the reader to finish the book in a single sitting. Above all, I expected it to "do what it says on the tin" and denounce a few important people who spied for the GDR.
Let's shatter my illusions one by one, shall we?
The content is so bland, it's as if the writer simply cobbled together all the press cuttings about the GDR which appeared between 1974 and 1990 and then tried to fashion a conspiracy theory out of them. If he seriously thinks that writing that the CND was infiltrated by Communist spies is new information, then he should have taken his head out of the sand more often in the 1980's.
The writing style is so juvenile and sensationalist that it would be better suited to an expose of Princess Diana's sex life than a serious historical research document. We are continually promised a stunning revelation (the "more of this later" type), only to arrive at the end of the book wondering if our copy has a chapter or three missing, as we have yet to find the promised information.
As to the unmasking of important people spying for the enemy, if the best he can come up with is an obscure academic in a second-class university who any security service worth the name would have suspected and watched, then either the Stasi files were very well destroyed, or the author needs to work on his German.
All in all, this must be the most disappointing book I have read in many years.
Let's shatter my illusions one by one, shall we?
The content is so bland, it's as if the writer simply cobbled together all the press cuttings about the GDR which appeared between 1974 and 1990 and then tried to fashion a conspiracy theory out of them. If he seriously thinks that writing that the CND was infiltrated by Communist spies is new information, then he should have taken his head out of the sand more often in the 1980's.
The writing style is so juvenile and sensationalist that it would be better suited to an expose of Princess Diana's sex life than a serious historical research document. We are continually promised a stunning revelation (the "more of this later" type), only to arrive at the end of the book wondering if our copy has a chapter or three missing, as we have yet to find the promised information.
As to the unmasking of important people spying for the enemy, if the best he can come up with is an obscure academic in a second-class university who any security service worth the name would have suspected and watched, then either the Stasi files were very well destroyed, or the author needs to work on his German.
All in all, this must be the most disappointing book I have read in many years.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
I think a previous reader struck the right chord when suggested that this work had been badly cobbled together and had been written in a style that borders on sensationalism. To some this might suggest an exciting and fast-paced read, but to those of us who might wish to see a deeper and more thoughtful analysis it is an utter disappointment.
As for the author's German, here is a man who once during a seminar got all flustered at being corrected over his translation of "Völkischer Beobachter" as "ethnic observer". Yes, I studied under this fellow.
As for the author's German, here is a man who once during a seminar got all flustered at being corrected over his translation of "Völkischer Beobachter" as "ethnic observer". Yes, I studied under this fellow.
16 of 22 people found the following review helpful
There was a certain amount of scepticism upon reading the reviews on theback of this paperback version. When you have praise from Anthony Robertsand The Daily Telegraph you tend to feel that there will be a fair amountof "right wing" brow beating and this is indeed the case. The excerpt ofthe review from The Sunday Times, is very selective, as if you ever getchance to read this review in full you actually realise that this reviewerwas actually far from positive on the overall nature of the book.
There is no doubt whatsoever that the research undertaken by the authorfor this book is conducted with an admirable level of rigour. The mainfault is that there is actually not that much data of real interest. Theever vigilant and efficient Stasi destroyed many of the files in 1989/1990and you get the distinct impression that the author, depsite his valiantefforts, is really picking around the remaining scraps. The otherimpression is that, although the Stasi was very professional they did notreally hit at the nerve centres of the British political and economicsystems. Yes they were industrious, yes they had spys and informers inthe UK, but what really did they achieve? Anything really of note musthave been destroyed as the cases made in this book, though highlyfascinating, reveal that they really were working at the margins.
Naturally the author has attempted to make what he can of the availablematerial, but you are often left with the feeling that at the outset hehad various points to make and he is attemting to find results from thefiles to flesh out these points. Other parts of the book seem tocomprise of what areas of the files he can find that have not beendestroyted or blacked out.
Add to this the authors undesirable and continous attempts to inject theanalysis with his opinionated views, deviating from the facts, can makethe reading of this book more than a little tiresome.
For example his lauding of Margaret Thatcher as a defender of human rightsis Eastern Europe is laughable. He seems to forget that this was onlythrough political expediency of the most cynical kind and in her supportof dubious regimes such as apatheeid South Africa and elswhere in Africaand Latin America she displayed little interest in human rights elsewhere.
Furthermore, however objectionable the GDR may have been, it was formallyrecognised by the UK and the West and was hence a soverign state. Unpalatable perhaps, but a fact. The author lets his own views of the GDRcloud the wiriting of this book.
Although the author is a respected academic it is only to the detriment ofthis book that he fails to provide an impartial academic focus in thewriting of it.
An opportunity wasted in my opinion
There is no doubt whatsoever that the research undertaken by the authorfor this book is conducted with an admirable level of rigour. The mainfault is that there is actually not that much data of real interest. Theever vigilant and efficient Stasi destroyed many of the files in 1989/1990and you get the distinct impression that the author, depsite his valiantefforts, is really picking around the remaining scraps. The otherimpression is that, although the Stasi was very professional they did notreally hit at the nerve centres of the British political and economicsystems. Yes they were industrious, yes they had spys and informers inthe UK, but what really did they achieve? Anything really of note musthave been destroyed as the cases made in this book, though highlyfascinating, reveal that they really were working at the margins.
Naturally the author has attempted to make what he can of the availablematerial, but you are often left with the feeling that at the outset hehad various points to make and he is attemting to find results from thefiles to flesh out these points. Other parts of the book seem tocomprise of what areas of the files he can find that have not beendestroyted or blacked out.
Add to this the authors undesirable and continous attempts to inject theanalysis with his opinionated views, deviating from the facts, can makethe reading of this book more than a little tiresome.
For example his lauding of Margaret Thatcher as a defender of human rightsis Eastern Europe is laughable. He seems to forget that this was onlythrough political expediency of the most cynical kind and in her supportof dubious regimes such as apatheeid South Africa and elswhere in Africaand Latin America she displayed little interest in human rights elsewhere.
Furthermore, however objectionable the GDR may have been, it was formallyrecognised by the UK and the West and was hence a soverign state. Unpalatable perhaps, but a fact. The author lets his own views of the GDRcloud the wiriting of this book.
Although the author is a respected academic it is only to the detriment ofthis book that he fails to provide an impartial academic focus in thewriting of it.
An opportunity wasted in my opinion
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