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The Secret World
- A History of Intelligence
- Narrated by: Clive Chafer
- Length: 37 hrs and 42 mins
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Publisher's summary
The history of espionage is far older than any of today's intelligence agencies, yet the long history of intelligence operations has been largely forgotten. The codebreakers at Bletchley Park, the most successful World War II intelligence agency, were completely unaware their predecessors in earlier moments of national crisis had broken the codes of Napoleon during the Napoleonic wars and those of Spain before the Spanish Armada.
Those who do not understand past mistakes are likely to repeat them. Intelligence is a prime example. At the outbreak of World War I, the grasp of intelligence shown by US President Woodrow Wilson and British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith was not in the same class as that of George Washington during the Revolutionary War and leading 18th-century British statesmen.
In this audiobook, distinguished historian Christopher Andrew recovers much of the lost intelligence history of the past three millennia - and shows its relevance today.
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The Middle East has long been a region of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and ambitions. All of these conflicts are rooted in the region's political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed by the Allies after the First World War. Author David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies drew lines on an empty map that remade the geography and politics of the Middle East. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, when all seemed possible, he delivers in this sweeping and magisterial book the definitive account of this defining time.
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Still A Great Book On The Topic
- By Nostromo on 02-03-19
By: David Fromkin
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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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Spymaster
- Startling Cold War Revelations of a Soviet KGB Chief
- By: Tennent H. Bagley
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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From the dark days of World War II through the Cold War, Sergey A. Kondrashev was a major player in Russia’s notorious KGB espionage apparatus. Rising through its ranks through hard work and keen understanding of how the spy and political games are played, he “handled” American and British defectors, recruited Western operatives as double agents, served as a ranking officer at the East Berlin and Vienna KGB bureaus, and tackled special assignments from the Kremlin.
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An brilliant personal Cold War perspective
- By Iamnotaspy on 01-09-15
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Operation Snow
- How a Soviet Mole in FDR’s White House Triggered Pearl Harbor
- By: John Koster
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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On December 7, 1941, the nation of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and prompted the United States’ entry into the bloodiest war in human history. Americans have long debated the cause of the bombing; many have argued that the attack was a brilliant Japanese military coup or a failure of US intelligence agencies or even a conspiracy of the Roosevelt administration. But despite the attention historians have paid to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the truth about that fateful day has remained a mystery - until now.
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PUT IT IN THE FILE BLAMING FDR FOR PEARL HARBOR
- By Ron on 11-21-20
By: John Koster
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Hitler's Hangman
- The Life of Heydrich
- By: Robert Gerwarth
- Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Reinhard Heydrich is widely recognized as one of the great iconic villains of the 20th century, an appalling figure even within the context of the Nazi leadership. Chief of the Nazi Criminal Police, the SS Security Service, and the Gestapo, ruthless overlord of Nazi-occupied Bohemia and Moravia, and leading planner of the "Final Solution," Heydrich played a central role in Hitler's Germany.
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A different perspective on the Third Reich
- By Robyn on 11-18-16
By: Robert Gerwarth
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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 Pope at War
- The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hitler
- By: David I. Kertzer
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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When Pope Pius XII died in 1958, his papers were sealed in the Vatican Secret Archives, leaving unanswered questions about what he knew and did during World War II. Those questions have only grown and festered, making Pius XII one of the most controversial popes in Church history, especially now as the Vatican prepares to canonize him.
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Intellectually dishonest
- By ReviewAmazon384 on 04-08-23
By: David I. Kertzer
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The Venona Secrets
- Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors
- By: Herbert Romerstein, Eric Breindel
- Narrated by: Jim McCance
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The Venona Files are several intercepted communiques between the Soviet Union and American Communists following WWII. Some historians and journalists are starting to regard the Cold-War-era American Communist Party as nothing more than a quaint club of polite if misguided ideologues. In The Venona Secrets, Herbert Romerstein and Eric Breindel intend to create a new impression of treacherous Americans "who willfully gave their primary allegiance to a foreign power, the USSR."
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The Stalin Burreau in America
- By Doug on 07-09-13
By: Herbert Romerstein, and others
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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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Non political BUT very anti-violence
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Absorbing
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The Way of the Knife
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Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Mazzetti examines secret wars over the past decade, tracking key characters from the intelligence and military communities across the world. Among the characters we meet in The Way of the Knife are a young CIA officer dropped into the tribal areas to learn the hard way how the spy games in Pakistan are played; an Air Force test pilot who fired the first drone missile in the Nevada desert; and a chain-smoking Pentagon official who ran an off-the-books spying operation in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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Excellent critique of covert operations
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Non political BUT very anti-violence
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Important context for privacy debate
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The Secret History of MI6: 1909-1949
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In Twilight Warriors, award-winning foreign correspondent James Kitfield introduces us to the tight-knit brotherhood that strives to keep the United States safe from the dimly understood threats it now faces. Together these men have broken down the boundaries between their respective agencies to engineer a network-centric way of fighting using a seamless web of intelligence analysts, information networks, FBI forensics experts, and Special Forces units to take the fight to America's enemies as never before.
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South African Perspectives
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Details, details, details
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Dead Center
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Raw, straightforward, and powerful, Ed Kugler's account of his two years as a Marine scout-sniper in Vietnam vividly captures his experiences there - the good, the bad, and the ugly. After enlisting in the Marines at 17, then being wounded in Santo Domingo during the Dominican crisis, Kugler arrived in Vietnam in early 1966. As a new sniper with the 4th Marines, Kugler picked up bush skills while attached to 3d Force Recon Company, and then joined the grunts.
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If not the best certainly tied for the best
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The Puzzle Palace
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In this remarkable tour de force of investigative reporting, James Bamford exposes the inner workings of America's largest, most secretive, and arguably most intrusive intelligence agency. The NSA has long eluded public scrutiny, but The Puzzle Palace penetrates its vast network of power and unmasks the people who control it, often with shocking disregard for the law.
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Great NSA genesis - but watch the publication date
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What listeners say about The Secret World
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Scott W of Federal Way
- 12-21-23
Thought it was objective until it was obviously not.
Because Allende killed himself instead of being killed by opposing forces is somehow proof the CIA had nothing to do with his overthrow.
Stopped reading immediately. Who knows what other fairy tales I read in this book I didn’t even question.
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- Purchaser
- 11-11-18
Great survey of the history of intelligence!
I enjoyed this trip through 3000 years to discover the history of intelligence till the present day. Great book and enjoyable listen. Highly recommended!! #AmericanRevolution #WorldWarI #WorldWarII #tagsgiving #sweepstakes
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1 person found this helpful
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- kucherv
- 12-06-18
Very detailed and informative.
This book is very detailed and just over all amazing. Yet it is a little biased and takes the English (United kingdom) and the primary subject of the secret world of intelligence.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Ariel
- 07-13-20
Wonderful book but flawed performance
The Secret World is full of fascinating historical characters and amusing anecdotes. It's also erudite. The bibliography alone is more than 250 pages long in the hardcover edition. Sadly, though, I can't recommend this audiobook. Clive Chafer reads in a quick monotone that flattens the material. Christopher Andrew's humor is lost, and this deadening makes this well-written book more difficult to comprehend and appreciate. I recommend the physical book over this audio version.
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2 people found this helpful
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- David
- 05-09-20
Overall good but missing big pieces
Really limited information on China and basically any non-European services once it gets to the modern era. The conclusions focus on terrorism seems also based in a 2015/2016 writing timeframe and seems outdated.
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- Anonymous User
- 04-20-21
a unique look at the big picture
this book looks at the full history without hyper focusing on any one time or person. it is in chronological order so early on is antiquity and lessons learned. this, unlike others, is a strategic look at espionage
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- Thor Olson
- 10-09-18
Very interesting history but biased
This is a very in-depth look at the the history of intelligence and how it was used throughout history. A lot of the information was very new to me, but on the historical parts I am better versed on, it was very accurate. The whole book was interesting.
However, it is sort of implied that the author believes all methods and function of intelligence work is totally justified and not at all problematic in a free and open society. I’m not entirely sure the author can tell were a well intend intelligence activity begins and purges and paranoia ends in the destruction of the society it was meant to protect.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Daniel Gutierrez
- 02-25-23
Incredible depth and great information!
The author has done an amazing job with the depth of research and presentation of all the information.
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