Defend the Realm
The Authorized History of MI5
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Narrated by:
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Robin Sachs
About this listen
The book also describes how MI5 has been managed, what its relationship has been with government, where it has triumphed, and where it has failed. In all of this, no restriction has been placed on the judgments made by the author.
Defend the Realm also reveals the identities of previously unknown enemies of the United Kingdom whose activities have been uncovered by the Service, adds significantly to our knowledge of many celebrated events and notorious individuals, and definitively lays to rest a number of persistent myths. Above all, it shows the place of this previously extremely secretive organization within the United Kingdom. Few books could make such an immediate and extraordinary increase to our understanding of British history over the past century.
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While Vladimir Putin has been president and prime minister of Russia, the Kremlin has deployed the security services to intimidate the political opposition, reassert the power of the state, and carry out assassinations overseas. At the same time, its agents and spies were put beyond public accountability and blessed with the prestige, benefits, and legitimacy lost since the Soviet collapse.
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A little difficult to follow
- By Jairus on 12-10-10
By: Andrei Soldatov, and others
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Spying in America
- Espionage from the Revolutionary War to the Dawn of the Cold War
- By: Michael J. Sulick
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Can you keep a secret? Maybe you can, but the United States government cannot. Since the birth of our country, nations large and small, from Russia and China to Ghana and Ecuador, have stolen the most precious secrets of the United States. Written by Michael Sulick, former director of CIA's clandestine service, Spying in America presents a history of more than 30 espionage cases inside the United States.
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Good history, bad analysis
- By Crus458 on 02-20-21
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The Skripal Files
- The Life and Near Death of a Russian Spy
- By: Mark Urban
- Narrated by: Mark Urban
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
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The Skripal Files is a remarkable and definitive account of Sergei Skripal’s story, which lays bare the new spy war between Russia and the West. Mark Urban, the diplomatic and defense editor for the BBC, met with Skripal in the months before his poisoning, learning about his career in Russian military intelligence, how he became a British agent, his imprisonment in Russia, and the events that led to his release. Skripal’s first-hand accounts and experiences reveal the high stakes of a new spy game that harks back to the chilliest days of the Cold War.
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Facinating story and very relevant
- By Sheri on 06-25-24
By: Mark Urban
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Chain of Command
- The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib
- By: Seymour M. Hersh
- Narrated by: Peter Friedman
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
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Since September 11, 2001, Seymour M. Hersh has riveted readers, and outraged the Bush Administration, with his stories in The New Yorker magazine, including his breakthrough pieces on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Now, in Chain of Command, he brings together this reporting, along with new revelations, to answer the critical question of the last three years: how did America get from that clear morning in September to a divisive and dirty war in Iraq?
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Absolutely Fantastic
- By Nicholas on 10-12-04
By: Seymour M. Hersh
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The Ghost
- The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton
- By: Jefferson Morley
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In The Ghost, investigative reporter Jefferson Morley tells Angleton's dramatic story, from his friendship with the poet Ezra Pound through the underground gay milieu of mid-century Washington to the Kennedy assassination to the Watergate scandal. From the agency's MKULTRA mind-control experiments to the wars of the Mideast, Angleton wielded far more power than anyone knew.
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Flawed Superpatriot
- By Bubblehog on 11-23-17
By: Jefferson Morley
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JFK and the Unspeakable
- Why He Died and Why It Matters
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At the height of the Cold War, JFK risked committing the greatest crime in human history: starting a nuclear war. Horrified by the specter of nuclear annihilation, Kennedy gradually turned away from his long-held Cold Warrior beliefs and toward a policy of lasting peace. But to the military and intelligence agencies in the United States, who were committed to winning the Cold War at any cost, Kennedy's change of heart was a direct threat to their power and influence.
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One Book EVERY AMERICAN Needs to Read
- By Peter on 06-09-12
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The Angel
- The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel
- By: Uri Bar-Joseph
- Narrated by: Neil Shah
- Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins
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As the son-in-law of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and a close advisor to his successor, Anwar Sadat, Ashraf Marwan had access to the deepest secrets of the country's government. But he himself had a secret: he was a spy for the Mossad, Israel's intelligence service. Under the codename "The Angel", Marwan turned Egypt into an open book for the Israeli intelligence services and, by alerting the Mossad in advance of the joint Egyptian-Syrian attack on Yom Kippur, saved Israel from a devastating defeat.
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Buena biografía
- By Rony M on 07-05-20
By: Uri Bar-Joseph
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CIA & JFK
- The Secret Assassination Files
- By: Jefferson Morley
- Narrated by: Larry Wayne
- Length: 3 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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The JFK story remains unsettled well into the 21st century, no matter what the various conspiracy and anti-conspiracy theorists may proclaim. This is a book that reveals deceit and deception on the part of the CIA relating to the Kennedy assassination and why the CIA should reveal to the American people what it is still keeping secret.
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JFK
- By Amazon Customer on 12-22-22
By: Jefferson Morley
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Directorate S
- The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan
- By: Steve Coll
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 28 hrs and 30 mins
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Resuming the narrative of his Pulitzer Prize-winning Ghost Wars, best-selling author Steve Coll tells for the first time the epic and enthralling story of America's intelligence, military, and diplomatic efforts to defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 9/11.
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Slow At Times But Always Horrifying And Engaging
- By Gillian on 02-20-18
By: Steve Coll
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At the Center of the Storm
- My Years at the CIA
- By: George Tenet
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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In the whirlwind of accusations and recriminations that has attended the post 9/11 world, one man's vital testimony has been conspicuously absent. Candid and compelling, At the Center of the Storm is George Tenet's memoir of his life at the CIA - a revelatory look at the inner workings of America's top intelligence agency and its dealings with national leaders at home and abroad.
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Brilliant!
- By Karen on 05-05-07
By: George Tenet
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What listeners say about Defend the Realm
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Lee CD
- 12-18-18
Excellent until the end
Extremely interesting until the end. just fizzled. Maybe later additional information will become declassified and add more insight post 9/11.
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- Menachem
- 06-08-12
A read that was both informative and captivating
Where does Defend the Realm rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Defend the realm is an unique kind of book. It is a very informative, to the point of being a bit droll at times, but at the same time, it manages to capture the feeling of camraderie and adventure that it describes being present in Mi5. When I finished the book, I felt like I had just finished a career at Mi5 (and not just because of the book's length!), and felt nostalgia for times past.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The feelings of victory at the end of world war one and two were conveyed adeptly to the reader, and they were touching to me.
Any additional comments?
The narrator does a fantastic job of sounding both professional and interesting, which is very much in the spirit of this book.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Jason Blum
- 05-25-23
Brilliant.
Any and every new recruit who is joining a western internal security service must read this book.
J Bloom
Wash DC
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Overall
- Wally s
- 01-27-10
interesting BUT
I have enjoyed learning the history of MI5. This was obviously a well researched and written book, and the narration was good if a little bland. My major criticism is one that I should have realized when I bought the book. It is written by a British historian -- which of course translates to making a very exciting subject blander than it would have been if it had been written by a novelist or someone outside of academia.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Matthew
- 12-01-09
A very throrough and impartial history.
Christopher Andrew has excelled himself in the daunting task of cataloging and critiquing the first century of MI5's work in the UK and around the Commonwealth.
I found the tone both entertaining and witty. This book could have so easily been either too dry or, even worse, too trashy and "spy thriller" like. Thankfully, Defend the Realm is neither. It is, instead, filled with insightful analysis and intriguing new information.
I do have two minor criticisms, however. Firstly, one of the middle sections - dedicated to the Service's role in the break up of the Empire - drags on a little. MI5 did very similar things in almost all newly independent countries and the repetition becomes a little stale. Lastly, the final section on the Service's modern day responsibilities (counter-terrorism) is all too brief. Sadly, this is unavoidable due to the sensitive nature of the book and Andrew Explains this in the foreword.
I would highly recommend Defend the Realm, especially to those interested in 20th century history and most of all those interested in the role of espionage in both World Wars and the Cold War. You will be surprised at all that the Service has achieved and entertained by a brilliant writing style.
I would like to also commend Robin Sachs reading. His voice adds greatly to the success of the audio-book, despite his occasional accents.
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11 people found this helpful
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- Walden
- 02-01-22
The baseline of counterespionage
Even aside from the "C" references, you can just feel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy throughout this book. Like other Christopher Andrew books, and given the page count, the narrative shifts back and forth between big strategic picture and on the ground person to person details and interactions. As an example of the former, Andrew starts with MI5's largest concern in World War II being communism and the Soviet defectors, some of whom are very famous, such as Kim Philby and the Cambridge 5. As the narrative moves on towards the modern day, the focus of MI5 shifts initially to Northern Ireland and the IRA, and most significantly to radical Islamic terrorism. Andrew points out that the biggest change in the agency came in the 90s with this shift in mission, to contrast how different the agency had been during world War II Page to page however, the book is filled with intrigue and story after story of personal narratives. the reader really gets a sense of how much espionage is about interpersonal relationships; how much it takes to convince someone to betray and spy on their own country, especially in the West where the living standards are typically so high, the reasons that the Cambridge types are convinced to turn on luxury and their nation are fascinating. A must read for fans of intelligence.
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- Arpee
- 07-02-14
mind-numbingly dull
Would you try another book from Christopher Andrew and/or Robin Sachs?
I don't think so, unless I see reviews that say "way better than his other works, this one actually grabbed my attention". or somesuch.
What was most disappointing about Christopher Andrew’s story?
Felt like a recectiation of facts- no energy or zing to it.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Ken
- 04-04-10
A painful read
I was looking forward to reading this book but it turned out to be one of the very few books that I could not finish. The author was given access to the files of the British secret service...and the book reads exactly like it came from the files. The author apparently felt it was not his job to write an interesting book as opposed to just copying what was in the files. It reads like a term paper. No comment, no humor, just the facts and nothing but the facts. Hard to make this stuff boring but it is boring, boring, boring. You get the idea.
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8 people found this helpful