The Spy And The Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story Of The Cold War By Ben Macintyre

I wish this could be made into a movie. It is SO incredible. I couldn’t put it down. All true and gripping, nearly every moment. Photos are great, also. What it takes to be a spy! If nothing else, a fabulous memory! You won’t believe some of the convoluted directions this spy had to remember! And the get-away is breathless!

Excelente novela basada en una historia real. Increíble la intervención de la nteligencia de la Unión Soviética para crear ideologías extremas en varios países que afectan la política de desarrollo económico de libre mercado y las instituciones democráticas de las naciones. Interesante que aún en la actualidad sucede.

The history of Oleg and what he and his family went through was well written.

The Spy and The Traitor is touted in its subhead as “the greatest espionage story ever told.” That isn’t just publisher hype. The real events and the story of Oleg Gordievsky, KGB officer and diplomat reads like something from a John LeCarre or Robert Ludlum story…except it’s true and marvelously documented. Raised by a father and older brother who both served devotedly and unquestioningly in the KGB (dad worked through Stalin’s purges and survived in the KGB’s precursor agency). Loyalty to the service then would seem to be a given–betraying the agency and its million members (you read that right) would be like sabotaging the family’s business. Yet events and history continue to flummox human expectations.

First the invasion of Hungary, then the erection of the Berlin Wall (which Gordievsky was present to see) and finally the brutal crushing of the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia all drove this KGB officer further and further away from the party. Exposure to the West in Copenhagen and later in London provided a first hand taste of liberty and freedom. It served as the final push into the eager and eternally grateful arms of his M16 handlers. The double agent provided them with not merely a trove of concrete information but invaluable insight into the workings of the KGB and planning of the Soviet Leadership. It is no exaggeration to say Gordievsky was our Kim Philby. The details of these meetings, contacts, “drops”, etc. and how spies operated from the end WWII until the dissolution of the Soviet empire is fascinating and novelistic in the telling. Gordievsky’s escape or “exfiltration” from the USSR by M16 is nothing short of breathtaking–a Bourne Identity moment.

Best of all though is the historical and moral context that gives readers a perspective of events’ meanings. Ben McIntyre is a masterful storyteller and detailed chronicler. He thoroughly but concisely points out the import and value of Grodievsky’s insights–particularly warning the Brits and thereby the Americans that the Soviet leader Yuri Andropov genuinely believed the West was intent upon a first nuclear strike. Appreciating that paranoia can be as perilous as animus, first Thatcher and then Reagan worked to assuage Soviet fears. It was Gordievsky who prepped both sides for successful summits in the 80s and it was he who counseled wisely to neither disband nor include the USSR in the SDI or Star Wars initiative. Rather, ratchet up the pressure and they would go bankrupt trying to keep up, which is precisely what happened.

Gordievsky certainly didn’t single handedly end the cold war–there were dozens of events and officials who played a significant role. But Oleg Gordievsky was surely in the first rank of those who made a valuable contribution earning the appreciation of Reagan, Thatcher, the CIA, M16 and yes, QEII (the monarch, not the ocean liner). Best of all, McIntryre doesn’t put a patriotic gloss on his subject’s behavior. What Gordievsky did was of enormous benefit to democracy and the West but it destroyed his marriage, implicated his wife and children as well as family and friends who all paid some price for his defection. In short, his actions both saved and ruined lives and the choices he made can be rightfully regarded as both morally defensible and appalling or enraging to those who knew him. Unsurprisingly, his marriage failed and most Russian friends regard him with disdain and disgust. In the western intelligence community he is a hero.

This is terrific, important history and a wonderfully well-told tale. Enjoy!

This is the story of Oleg Gordievsky who rose through the ranks of the KGB and achieved the lofty position of being in charge of all KGB agents in the United Kingdom in the mid-1980s. He may have risen even higher in the KGB except he was finally exposed as working for the British MI6. He was exposed — in part — by Aldrich Ames when the CIA was able to discover the name of the highly effective spy who did so much for British Intelligence.

This is one of the better books about espionage I have read. I do not know how much is accurate or true or embellishment or believable. But Ben Macintyre should be credited with an entertaining narrative of an incredible Cold War espionage story. Even though the events in this book took place from the 1960s – 1980s and the book was written in 2018 the individuals who contributed to the accounts of this case were still cautious as to what they could reveal.

The account of how Gordievsky escaped the Soviet Union into Finland and eventually the UK after being discovered reads like a script of the 1960’s TV show Mission Impossible. It is curious that the KGB did not apprehend him immediately once they figured out his betrayal. There are still many questions about this case for which we may never have the answers.

very well written and detailed by the author / gives a whole overview about the Cold War / exciting and tense.