
The Illegals
Russia's Most Audacious Spies and Their Century-Long Mission to Infiltrate the West
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Narrated by:
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Paul Thornley
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By:
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Shaun Walker
About this listen
The definitive history of Russia’s most secret spy program, from the earliest days of the Soviet Union to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and a revelatory examination of how that hidden history shaped both Russia and the West.
More than a century ago, the new Bolshevik government began sending Soviet citizens abroad as deep-cover spies, training them to pose as foreign aristocrats, merchants, and students. Over time, this grew into the most ambitious espionage program in history. Many intelligence agencies use undercover operatives, but the KGB was the only one to go to such lengths, spending years training its spies in language and etiquette, and sending them abroad on missions that could last for decades. These spies were known as “illegals.” During the Second World War, illegals were dispatched behind enemy lines to assassinate high-ranking Nazis. Later, in the Cold War, they were sent to assimilate and lie low as sleepers in the West. The greatest among them performed remarkable feats, while many others failed in their missions or cracked under the strain of living a double life.
Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews, as well as archival research in more than a dozen countries, Shaun Walker brings this history to life in a thrilling tour de force that takes us into the heart of the KGB’s most secretive program. A riveting spy drama peopled with richly drawn characters, The Illegals also uncovers a hidden thread in the story of Russia itself. As Putin extols Soviet achievements and the KGB’s espionage prowess, and Moscow continues to infiltrate illegals across the globe, this timely narrative shines new light on the long arc of the Soviet experiment, its messy aftermath, and its influence on our world at large.
©2025 Shaun Walker (P)2025 Random House AudioRelated to this topic
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Northern Ireland, 1975. Violence has erupted on the streets of Belfast. After years as a guerilla army, the IRA is clashing with Loyalist gangs and heavily armed British soldiers. But the Troubles have spilled beyond the island: An ocean away, in the heart of Philadelphia’s Irish enclave, a teenage girl finds a letter in her mailbox. Inside is a bullet, and the message is clear: The next one is for you or your family. As reporter Ali Watkins reveals, the conflict in Northern Ireland might have gone very differently had it not been for a small ragtag band of gunrunners in the United States.
By: Ali Watkins
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To Lose a War
- The Fall and Rise of the Taliban
- By: Jon Lee Anderson
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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From one of the greatest foreign correspondents of our time, whose essential and profound on the ground reporting from Afghanistan for The New Yorker from before 9/11 to the return of the Taliban to power in 2021 has definitively shaped our understanding of the country and its fate, comes the complete accounting of that era, combining previously published dispatches and new reporting into a narrative of great impact and lasting value.
By: Jon Lee Anderson
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Allies at War
- How the Struggles Between the Allied Powers Shaped the War and the World
- By: Tim Bouverie
- Narrated by: Tim Bouverie
- Length: 20 hrs
- Unabridged
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After the fall of France in June 1940, all that stood between Adolf Hitler and total victory was a narrow stretch of water and the defiance of the British people. Desperate for allies, Winston Churchill did everything he could to bring the United States into the conflict, drive the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany apart, and persuade neutral countries to resist German domination. By early 1942, after the German invasion of Russia and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the British-Soviet-American alliance was in place.
By: Tim Bouverie