A Spy Named Orphan
The Enigma of Donald Maclean
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Cowley
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By:
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Roland Philipps
About this listen
Donald Maclean was one of the most treacherous spies of the Cold War era, a member of the infamous "Cambridge Five" spy ring. Yet little is known of this shrewd, secretive man. The full extent of his betrayal has never been documented - until now. Drawing on the recent release of previously classified files, A Spy Named Orphan meticulously documents the extraordinary story of a man leading a chilling double life until his exposure and defection to the USSR.
Roland Philipps describes someone prone to alcoholic rages, who rose through the ranks of the British Foreign Office while secretly transmitting through his Soviet handlers reams of diplomatic and military secrets detailing intelligence on the making of the atom bomb and the division of power in postwar Europe. His story has inspired an entire genre of spy movies and novels, but no one so far has written the definitive story of the man code-named "Orphan."
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Story
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.
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John Lee is GREAT!
- By David on 09-21-18
By: Ben Macintyre
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Hitler
- The Memoir of a Nazi Insider Who Turned Against the Fuhrer
- By: Ernst Hanfstaengl
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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An intimate friend of Adolf Hitler’s who turned against him during the Nazi rise to power delves into the character of one of history’s most evil dictators. Of American and German parentage, Ernst Hanfstaengl graduated from Harvard and ran the family business in New York for a dozen years before returning to Germany in 1921. By chance he heard a then little-known Adolf Hitler speaking in a Munich beer hall and, mesmerized by his extraordinary oratorical power, was convinced the man would some day come to power. As Hitler’s fanatical theories and ideas hardened, however, he surrounded himself with rabid extremists...
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Once a Nazi, always a Nazi
- By Alan on 04-10-13
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A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich
- By: Lucas Delattre
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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A work of remarkable scholarship that moves with the swift pace of a John le Carre thriller, A Spy at the Heart of the Third Reich is a chilling addition to the literature of espionage. In 1943, a young official named Fritz Kolbe from the German foreign ministry arranged to meet with Allen Dulles, then an OSS officer in Switzerland and later the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
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100% very good
- By Coco on 06-11-07
By: Lucas Delattre
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Trotsky
- Downfall of a Revolutionary
- By: Bertrand M. Patenaude
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary, Stanford University lecturer Bertrand M. Patenaude tells the dramatic story of Leon Trotsky's final years in exile in Mexico. Shedding new light on Trotsky's tumultuous friendship with painter Diego Rivera, his affair with Rivera’s wife Frida Kahlo, and his torment as his family and comrades become victims of the Great Terror, Trotsky: Downfall ofa Revolutionary brilliantly illuminates the fateful and dramatic life of one of history's most famous yet elusive figures.
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Good Trotsky Book, BAD conclusions at end
- By Darius on 02-09-15
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The Race to Save the Romanovs
- The Truth Behind the Secret Plans to Rescue the Russian Imperial Family
- By: Helen Rappaport
- Narrated by: Damian Lynch
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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The murder of the Romanov family in July 1918 horrified the world, and its aftershocks still reverberate today. In Putin's autocratic Russia, the Revolution itself is considered a crime, and its anniversary was largely ignored. In stark contrast, the centenary of the massacre of the imperial family will be commemorated in 2018 by a huge ceremony to be attended by the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. While the murder itself has received major attention, what has never been investigated in detail are the various plots behind the scenes to save the family.
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Very disappointing
- By Jan on 07-18-18
By: Helen Rappaport
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When Lions Roar
- The Churchills and the Kennedys
- By: Thomas Maier
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 21 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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When Lions Roar begins in the mid-1930s at Chartwell, Winston Churchill's country estate, with new revelations surrounding a secret business deal orchestrated by Joseph P. Kennedy, the father of future American president John F. Kennedy. From London to America, these two powerful families shared an ever-widening circle of friends, lovers, and political associates - soon shattered by World War II, spying, sexual infidelity, and the tragic deaths of JFK's sister Kathleen and his older brother Joe Jr.
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Study of influence of Winston Churchill on JFK
- By Pierke Bosschieter on 08-10-16
By: Thomas Maier
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In the Garden of Beasts
- Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the “New Germany,” she has one affair after another....
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I loved it ... and hated it ... simultaneously
- By History on 11-21-11
By: Erik Larson
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Agent 110
- An American Spymaster and the German Resistance in WWII
- By: Scott Miller
- Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the secret and suspenseful account of how OSS spymaster Allen Dulles led a network of Germans conspiring to assassinate Hitler and negotiate surrender to bring about the end of World War II before the Soviet's advance. Agent 110 is Allen Dulles, a newly minted spy from an eminent family. Dulles met with and facilitated the plots of Germans who were trying to destroy the country's leadership.
By: Scott Miller
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The Wise Men
- Six Friends and the World They Made
- By: Evan Thomas, Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Reese
- Length: 33 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Six close friends shaped the role their country would play in the dangerous years following World War II. They were the original best and brightest, whose towering intellects, outsize personalities, and dramatic actions would bring order to the postwar chaos, and whose strong response to Soviet expansionism would leave a legacy that dominates American policy to this day. In April 1945, they converged to advise an untutored new president, Harry Truman.
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Dull with poor narration
- By KD6161 on 03-31-17
By: Evan Thomas, and others
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Lioness
- Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel
- By: Francine Klagsbrun
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 32 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Golda Meir was a world figure unlike any other. Born in tsarist Russia in 1898, she immigrated to America in 1906 and grew up in Milwaukee, where from her earliest years she displayed the political consciousness and organizational skills that would eventually catapult her into the inner circles of Israel's founding generation. Moving to mandatory Palestine in 1921 with her husband, the passionate socialist joined a kibbutz but soon left and was hired at a public works office by the man who would become the great love of her life.
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The persistent mispronunciations of Hebrew and Yiddish words ruined this performance
- By YH-O on 12-30-18
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Sisters in Resistance
- How a German Spy, a Banker's Wife, and Mussolini's Daughter Outwitted the Nazis
- By: Tilar J. Mazzeo
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1944, Benito Mussolini's daughter, Edda, gave Hitler and her father an ultimatum: release her husband, Galeazzo Ciano, from prison, or risk her leaking her husband's journals to the press. To avoid the peril of exposing Nazi lies, Hitler and Mussolini hunted for the diaries for months, determined to destroy them. Hilde Beetz, a German spy, was deployed to seduce Ciano to learn the diaries' location and take them from Edda. Drawing from in‑depth research and first-person interviews, Mazzeo gives listeners a riveting look into this little‑known moment in history.
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Fascinating WW2 account of women in resistance
- By lgmichael on 10-30-23
By: Tilar J. Mazzeo
What listeners say about A Spy Named Orphan
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Everard (Desert Islander)
- 09-03-19
A compelling story
I returned this audiobook after the first chapter or two. I couldn't warm to Jonathan Cowley's narration. Once upon a time there was a thing for 16-yr olds called GCE O-level 'English Language & Oral'. One was examined on reading prose aloud, and this narrator would have failed. Furthermore, in telling us the name of Kim Philby's father, he didn't seem aware that 'St John' is actually pronounced "Sinjen". Later he referenced an Aga cooker, but didn't seem familiar this type of stove is commonly found in the kitchens of upper middle class country houses. Enough already!
After returning this audiobook, I listened to "Stalin's Englishman" by Andrew Lownie, narrated by Steven Crossley. Any and everything about the 'Cambridge Five' is just too compelling. So, when I finished Stalin's Englishman, I went back and re-purchased "A Spy Named Orphan", narrated by Jonathan Cowley.
What does that say about this audiobook? Too compelling a story that takes you past the pain barrier.
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- D. Jones
- 07-01-23
Well written and researched
Excellent research. Well written.
The reader is a natural and very easy to listen to.
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- dthom02
- 06-24-18
Excellent & Draws on Recently Declassified Sources
This audiobook draws on recently declassified official sources to present an interesting, informative and very sympathetic account of the life of the famous British spy Donald Maclean. The British foreign and intelligence services come off extremely badly in the telling. Maclean spied for the Soviets for over fifteen years while rapidly rising through the ranks of the foreign service. At the same time, he compromised virtually every important secret that came his way in a career that took him to important postings in London, Paris, Washington, DC and Cairo in the period that lead up to and included: WWII, the Manhattan Project, and the early Cold War. Ultimately, he was outed through American intelligence code cracking efforts. This book puts a heavy focus on Maclean's motives, boozing and carousing, family life etc. I wish it had explored his personal career accomplishments in a bit more detail than just pointing out he ran a tight ship and did great staff work. I'm sure there was a bit more to it than that which would explain his rapid rise through the ranks. The narration is excellent. Highly recommended.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-22-18
Good story
A fascinating story about a fascinating man. Unfortunately the narration was poor and at times interfered with the tale trying to be told.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Lorie Christian
- 09-25-19
Narrator Ruined My Listening
I am very interested in how people become spies and/or traitors, especially intelligent people. However, I am now in Chapter 3, almost two hours in, and I can't take it anymore. The narration style is repetitive and not good for a non-fiction book. All I can hear is someone who sounds like Neil Gaimen when narrating the Graveyard Book.
This is NOT how I want to listen to a non-fiction book about Brits who became agents for the Soviet Union.
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1 person found this helpful
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- CNNelson
- 05-20-21
Narrator not my cup of tea
I really wanted to listen to this book but the narrator is so grating with a monotonous uplilt intonation and emphasis on every article. Perhaps the expected audience is non native English speakers.
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1 person found this helpful