The Art of Betrayal: The Secret History of MI6: Life and Death in the British Secret Service

M16 has been cloaked in secrecy and shrouded in myth since it was created a hundred years ago. Our understanding of what it is to be a spy has been largely defined by the fictional worlds of Ian Fleming and John le Carre. Gordon Corera provides a unique and unprecedented insight into this secret world and the reality that lies behind the fiction. He tells the story of how the secret service has changed since the end of the Second World War and, by focusing on the people and the relationships that lie at the heart of espionage, illustrates the danger, the drama, the intrigue, the moral ambiguities and the occasional comedy that come with working for British intelligence. Into the shadows : life and death in Vienna -- The cost of betrayal -- A river full of crocodiles : murder in the Congo -- Moscow rules -- The wilderness of mirrors -- Compromising situations -- Escape from Moscow -- The Afghan plains -- Out of the shadows -- In the bunker "From Berlin to the Congo, from Moscow to the back streets of London, these are the stories of the agents on the front lines of British intelligence. And the truth is often more remarkable than fiction."--Provided by publisher