The Cambridge Five: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Soviet Spy Ring in Britain during World War II and the Cold War
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Narrated by:
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Colin Fluxman
About this listen
The spy novel emerged from the intrigues of the mid-20th century for good reason. The war with the Third Reich involved an unseen cloak-and-dagger struggle between the participants, but beyond that, an even larger and longer contest took place in the shadows.
Communism gained its first major foothold in statehood with the success of the Russian Revolution at the end of World War I, a success bizarrely assisted by the massive funding provided to the revolutionaries by some Western businessmen. Armand Hammer’s father, Julius, for instance, gave the new Soviet Union $50,000 in gold to back their new currency. In exchange, he received asbestos mining and oil concessions, plus a pencil manufacturing monopoly in the USSR lasting until the Stalin era.
Soviet Russia followed a philosophy demanding international, global revolution - which, in practice, often resembled conquest by any means available, direct or indirect. While the Soviets never hesitated to use naked force when it seemed advisable, or when compelled to it by outside attack, they made intensive use of covert operations - spying, assassination, bribery, infiltration of governments and educational systems, the deployment of agents provocateur, and "agitprop" - in an effort to weaken other nations from within or possibly cause takeover by a friendly revolutionary regime.
Soviet agents operated in all European countries and others, but their main efforts naturally focused on the strongest potential rivals - Germany, the United States, and Great Britain. Intelligent, persistent, and ruthless, the Soviets succeeded in recruiting a considerable number of agents, including men from the British ruling class.
Their activities enabled the Soviets to capture and execute hundreds, if not thousands, of the opponents of their regime along with numbers of British agents. The men responsible for this unprecedented leaking of life-or-death information would enter history as the Cambridge Five - though in fact, they may have been only the core of a much larger group.
The Cambridge Five: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Soviet Spy Ring in Britain During World War II and the Cold War chronicles the war’s most infamous spy ring and its activities. You will learn about the Cambridge Five like never before.
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Wise Gals
- The Spies Who Built the CIA and Changed the Future of Espionage
- By: Nathalia Holt
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In the wake of World War II, four agents were critical in helping build a new organization that we now know as the CIA. Adelaide Hawkins, Mary Hutchison, Eloise Page, and Elizabeth Sudmeier, called the “wise gals” by their male colleagues because of their sharp sense of humor and even quicker intelligence, were not the stereotypical femme fatale of spy novels.
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Intriguing untold history
- By Andrea Guzman on 12-15-22
By: Nathalia Holt
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Agent Sniper
- The Cold War Superagent and the Ruthless Head of the CIA
- By: Tim Tate
- Narrated by: Tim Tate
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Michal Goleniewski, cover name Sniper, was one of the most important spies of the early Cold War. For two and a half years at the end of the 1950s, as a Lt. Colonel at the top of Poland’s espionage service, he smuggled more than 5,000 top-secret Soviet bloc intelligence and military documents, as well as 160 rolls of microfilm, out from behind the Iron Curtain. In January 1961, he abandoned his wife and children and made a dramatic defection across divided Berlin with his East German mistress to the safety of American territory.
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Very entertaining cold war spy story
- By Jason on 12-18-21
By: Tim Tate
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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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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 Sword and the Shield
- By: Christopher Andrew, Vasilli Mitrokhin
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 31 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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This book reveals the most complete picture ever of the KGB and its operations in the United States and Europe. It is based on an extremely top secret archive which details the full extent of its worldwide network. Christopher Andrew is professor of modern and contemporary history and chair of the history department at Cambridge University, a former visiting professor of national security at Harvard, a frequent guest lecturer at other United States universities, and a regular host of BBC radio and TV programs.
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Great book on the history of the KGB
- By Clydene on 05-28-12
By: Christopher Andrew, and others
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Heinrich Himmler
- The SS, Gestapo, His Life and Career
- By: Roger Manvell, Heinrich Fraenkel
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Authors Roger Manvell and Heinrich Fraenkel, notable biographers of the World War II German leaders Joseph Goebbels and Herman Goring, delve into the life of one of the most sinister, clever, and successful of all the Nazi leaders: Heinrich Himmler. As the head of the feared SS, Himler supervised the extermination of millions. Here is the story of how a seemingly ordinary boy grew into an obsessive and superstitious man who ventured into herbalism, astrology, and homeopathic medicine before finally turning to the “science” of racial purity and the belief in the superiority of the Aryan people.
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A new and insightful look at a Monster
- By Doc Pearce on 07-26-13
By: Roger Manvell, and others
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The Devil's Chessboard
- Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government
- By: David Talbot
- Narrated by: Peter Altschuler
- Length: 25 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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An explosive, headline-making portrait of Allen Dulles, the man who transformed the CIA into the most powerful - and secretive - colossus in Washington, from the founder of Salon.com and author of the New York Times best seller Brothers.
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Disturbing. Makes you question the company line.
- By KTS on 02-06-16
By: David Talbot
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Defend the Realm
- The Authorized History of MI5
- By: Christopher Andrew
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 39 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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An unprecedented publishing event: to mark the centenary of its foundation, the British Security Service, MI5, has for the first time opened its archives to an independent historian. The book reveals the precise role of the Security Service in 20th-century British history, from its foundation by Captain Kell of the British Army in October 1909, through two world wars, up to and including its present roles in counterespionage and counterterrorism.
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A very throrough and impartial history.
- By Matthew on 12-01-09
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A Man Called Intrepid
- The Incredible WWII Narrative of the Hero Whose Spy Network and Secret Diplomacy Changed the Course of History
- By: William Stevenson
- Narrated by: David McAlister
- Length: 21 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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A Man Called Intrepid is the account of the world’s first integrated intelligence operation and of its master, William Stephenson. Codenamed INTREPID by Winston Churchill, Stephenson was charged with establishing and running a vast, worldwide intelligence network to challenge the terrifying force of Nazi Germany. Nothing less than the fate of Britain and the free world hung in the balance as INTREPID covertly set about stalling the Nazis by any means necessary.
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You have to wonder ...
- By Mike From Mesa on 04-15-14
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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
- Unabridged
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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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Hunting Evil
- The Nazi War Criminals Who Escaped and the Quest to Bring Them to Justice
- By: Guy Walters
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley
- Length: 18 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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From its haunting chronicle of the monstrous mass murders the Nazis perpetrated and the murky details of their postwar existence to the challenges of hunting them down, Hunting Evil is a monumental work of nonfiction written with the pacing and intrigue of a thriller.
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Eye-opening and riveting
- By Ellen on 10-20-10
By: Guy Walters
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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
What listeners say about The Cambridge Five: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Soviet Spy Ring in Britain during World War II and the Cold War
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- AJC
- 04-25-21
EVEN THE SMARTEST FOLKS CAN BE STUPID
I knew about the Cambridge Five Spy Ring. I remember what a scandal it was both in the UK and the US as a classic case of intelligence failure during the Cold War. Having read a book, some years back, titled Spy Catcher I just wanted a refresher. Like most presentations by Charles River Editors it is concise and to the point. And, will get one up to snuff quickly. Essentially this colossal intelligence failure was a case of purposefully not wanting to the forest for the trees. It shows what happens when MI5, MI6, the CIA, and the FBI put potential embarrassment before closing down serious intelligence networks set up by one's adversary.
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- texasgirl
- 04-06-22
wanted to like it, could not
First of all this is not the entire book. Which happens a lot.
The topic matter is interesting, but the performance is distracting. The reader does not tell the story but merely reads the words. Not enough inflection or appropriate pausing. It makes listening to it like a wall of words coming at you.
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- pedro filipuzzi
- 03-05-21
cambridge,'s traitors
an overwelmimg account of the five traitors of cambridge with amazing mastership un the history of russian espionage inside UK.
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- Molly
- 08-14-18
Short on Content~ Spies for Russia 3 stars~
A brief glimpse into the Cambridge Spies.
This is a very short book. About 90 minutes. It is very short on details and is best described as an overview. The Russian (USSR) recruits each man who in turn help recruit other spies. They devote their time passing secrets to the Russian KGB. Over time intercepted radio messages are finally decoded called Venona by the US. When a clue to McClain's spying is found. McClain is headed to a complete mental breakdown. So fellow spy Burgess receives an order to *flea" to the USSR with McClain. Left behind is Philby who is soon a major suspect. It takes years for Philby to finally be nailed down as a spy and he leaves and is soon living in the USSR as an honored guest because of his spy history. This fills in the missing pieces how the British class system aided the good old boy network to make the spies above suspicion I would give it over all 5 stars.
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- Kindle Customer
- 01-30-19
Fascinating history of WW2 Era and the cold War and the spies of that time
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- Didem G.
- 04-10-20
What a waste of time
I thought I can learn something instead I had to listen sexist, homophobic, nationalist man claim that everyone was sex adicts and british people who have sent their kins to eton and cambridge are absent parents. No historical evidence, no references to any document pure personal view on communism without even balanced criticism. I will directly gove it back, do not even try to listen this, simply rubbish!
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