Lamar Underwood - The Greatest Spy Stories Ever Told

The Spy and the Traitor, by Ben Macintyre, copyright 2018 by Ben Macintyre. Used by permission of Crown Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

The Morning They Shot the Spies, by W.C. Heinz, first published in TRUE magazine then collected in When We Were One: Stories of World War II, published in 2002 by Da Capo Press, a member of the Perseus Book Group. Reprint permission granted by Gayl B. Heinz.

The Spy, by Michael Shaara, from The Killer Angels, copyright 1974 by Michael Shaara, copyright renewed 2002 by Jeff M. Shaara and Lila E. Shaara. Used by permission of Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

The Wolves at the Door: The True Story of Americas Greatest Female Spy, by Judith L. Pearson, from The Wolves at the Door: The True Story of Americas Greatest Female Spy, Lyons Press, 2005, 2008. Reprinted by permission.

The Thirty-Nine Steps, by John Buchan, published by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh, 1915.

OSS, by Richard Harris Smith, from OSS:The Secret History of Americas First Central Intelligence Agency, Lyons Press, 2005. Reprinted by permission.

The Spies Who Stole a Train, by William Pittenger, from the book Capturing a Locomotive, 1881.

Spy for the Continental Army, by A.A. Hoehling, from Women Who Spied: True Stories of Feminine Espionage, Madison Books, Rowman-Littlefield, 1992.

The Frontier Spy, by James Fenimore Cooper, from The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground, 1821.

The Craft of Intelligence, by Allen Dulles, from The Craft of Intelligence:Americas Legendary Spy Master on the Fundamentals of Intelligence Gathering for a Free World, Lyons Press, 2016. Reprinted by permission.

Pinkertons War: The Civil Wars Greatest Spy and the Birth of the Secret Service, by Jay Bonansinga, from Pinkertons War: The Civil Wars Greatest Spy and the Birth of the U.S. Secret Service, Lyons Press, 2012. Reprinted by permission.

Beyond Repair, by Charles S. Faddis, from Beyond Repair: The Decline and Fall of the CIA, Lyons Press, 2009. Reprinted by permission.

Memories of Sherlock Holmes: The Final Problem, by Arthur Conan Doyle, from Memories of Sherlock Holmes: The Final Problem, 1893.

A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal, by Ben Macintyre, from A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal, copyright 2014 by Ben Macintyre. Used by permission of Crown Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

Ben Macintyre

The best true spy story I have ever read.

Those words from distinguished author John Le Carr on the cover of Ben Macintyres The Spy and the Traitor provide the launching of this new spy stories book with liftoff power. Macintyres book is subtitled: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War. If that description and John Le Carrs quote dont grab you, as they have this editor, Im afraid youve come to the wrong pew.

Since the publication of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold , in 1963, John Le Carr has been my favorite spymaster. From George Smiley tales, like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Honorable Schoolboy , through the years to more recent bestsellers like The Night Manager , Le Carrs prose has carried me into spying adventures. A writer of fiction, Le Carr worked in British Intelligence for years and knows what hes speaking about.

This excerpt from The Spy and the Traitor is a clear-cut chase story, a tense feel-the-heartbeats account of a Russian turncoat agent on the run from the KGB, Russias biggest and most vicious Intelligence agency. This was 1985, and Oleg Gordievsky had been delivering Russian secrets to British Intelligence for years while working for the KGB.

Ben Macintyre opens his book with this clear and powerful statement: Oleg Gordievsky was born into the KGB, shaped by it, loved by it, twisted, damaged, and very nearly destroyed by it.

Gordievsky was well-educated, knew languages, and despite his background he came to see the savagery and terror of the Communist regime. He became an agent for MI6, the British Intelligence Service and delivered critical information during the Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan era. MI6 fiercely guarded Gordievskys identity, even from the CIA. Good thing too, because at this same time the Russian spy Aldrich Ames was tearing the CIA apart.

As the KGB began moving in on Gordievsky, Margaret Thatcher launched Operation PIMLICO to get Gordievsky out of Russia, across Finland, and to England. Our excerpt begins with Gordievsky on the run for his life.