Spies and Traitors
Kim Philby, James Angleton and the Friendship and Betrayal that Would Shape MI6, the CIA and the Cold War
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3.8 • 4 Ratings
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
A brilliant exposé of how Kim Philby—the master-spy and notorious double agent—became the mentor, and later, mortal enemy, of James Angleton, who would eventually lead the CIA.
Kim Philby's life and career has inspired an entire literary genre: the spy novel of betrayal. Philby was one of the leaders of the British counter-intelligence efforts, first against the Nazis, then against the Soviet Union. He was also the KGB's most valuable double-agent, so highly regarded that today his image is on the postage stamps of the Russian Federation even today.
Before he was exposed, Philby was the mentor of James Jesus Angleton, one of the central figures in the early years of the CIA who became the long-serving chief of the counter-intelligence staff of the Agency.
James Angleton and Kim Philby were friends for six years, or so Angleton thought. Then they were enemies for the rest of their lives. This is the story of their intertwined careers and a betrayal that would have dramatic and irrevocable effects on the Cold War and US-Soviet relations, and have a direct effect on the shape and culture of the CIA in the latter half of the twentieth century.
Spanning the globe, from London and Washington DC, to Rome and Istanbul, Spies and Traitors gets to the heart of one of the most important and flawed personal relationships in modern history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historian and novelist Holzman (Donald and Melinda Maclean) delivers a comprehensive yet tedious chronicle of the relationship between British double agent Kim Philby and CIA counterintelligence chief James Angleton. Aiming to deepen the standard depictions of Angleton and Philby "as two-dimensional exemplars of their ideologies: the anti-communist Cold Warrior and the traitorous communist spy," Holzman oversaturates the book with biographical and historical details. He delves into the work Philby's father, Indian civil service officer St. John Philby, did to further the cause of Arab independence after WWI, and scrupulously documents the younger Philby's activities as a "young communist activist" in Vienna in the 1930s. Angleton, meanwhile, grew up in Milan, Italy, where his father was an executive with the National Cash Register company, and joined the OSS after graduating from Yale University. After WWII, the two men developed a mentor/mentee relationship as Angleton sought Philby's advice on counterintelligence matters. The revelation, in 1964, that Philby had been moonlighting for 30 years as a KGB spy would forever scar the CIA officer, Holzman argues, making Angleton obsessed with rooting out communist double agents in the U.S. foreign intelligence services. It's a likely hypothesis, but Holzman buries his analysis in minutiae and long discourses on complex international affairs. Readers will have a tough time following the thread.
