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Defend the Realm: The Official History of MI5
An unprecedented publishing event: to mark the centenary of its foundation, the British Security Service, MI5, has for the first time opened its archives to an independent historian. The book reveals the precise role of the Security Service in twentieth-century British history, from its foundation by Captain Kell of the British Army in October 1909, through two world wars,...more
Hardcover, 704 pages
Published
November 3rd 2009
by Knopf
(first published 2009)
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Un autre livre qui a demandé beaucoup d'efforts à l'autre pour réunir un paquet de faits dans un ordre chronologique.
Malheureusement, le livre se résume à cette idée d'être une collection de faits, sautant à gauche et à droite sur des événements qui se sont déroulés au fil de l'histoire du MI5. Et puisqu'il s'agit d'une histoire officielle, l'auteur ne porte aucun regard critique et tente de préserver son objectivité, ce que j'ai trouvé particulièrement difficile.
En effet...more
Malheureusement, le livre se résume à cette idée d'être une collection de faits, sautant à gauche et à droite sur des événements qui se sont déroulés au fil de l'histoire du MI5. Et puisqu'il s'agit d'une histoire officielle, l'auteur ne porte aucun regard critique et tente de préserver son objectivité, ce que j'ai trouvé particulièrement difficile.
En effet...more
This book has the hallmarks of an official history: It frequently refers to official documents and meeting minutes, elaborates on the managerial culture of MI5, and contains organizational diagrams as an appendix. It also contains accounts of the most important counter-espionage and counter-terrorism cases in the history of MI5, and a large number of interesting background facts. Nevertheless, readers who are only looking for a gripping espionage story may be bored by the story of MI5 as an inst...more
I BEAT YOU YOU BASTARD. 950 pages of small type. YES.
Anyway, it is a great book, loads of great details, lots of humour. You do respect the chaps of MI5 a lot afterwards, and it is further proof that conspiracies are bloody hard to pull off, which is why their aren't that many of them.
Anyway, it is a great book, loads of great details, lots of humour. You do respect the chaps of MI5 a lot afterwards, and it is further proof that conspiracies are bloody hard to pull off, which is why their aren't that many of them.
Dull in parts, true. Not everything is interesting. Suggestions that this is uncritical are unfair -- there is a much criticism, notably with respect to counter-espionage in the Cold War period. There is also much shifting of blame. The idea that this must be baseless self-service because the work is an official history is a valid possibility, but that hardly makes it a conclusive vice.
Only for those with a close interest in these matters. Discussion of early interactions betwee...more
Only for those with a close interest in these matters. Discussion of early interactions betwee...more
The main problem with this book is that you don’t really know what’s been left out. The early history including the campaign against Germany up to 1945 is probably largely complete and it is an impressive story. The early Cold War is also very informative and the author convincingly undermines the Peter Wright conspiracy theories.
Perhaps not surprisingly the detail starts to fall away as the book approaches recent decades. I strongly suspect a lot of bad things went on vis-à-vis Nort...more
Perhaps not surprisingly the detail starts to fall away as the book approaches recent decades. I strongly suspect a lot of bad things went on vis-à-vis Nort...more
More of a survey of British history than a history of MI5.
Not as much about MI5 itself (nothing on training, structure, authorities, how it interacts with law enforcement, the military or other intelligence services).
The book was authorized by MI5, which gave the author probably more access
than other authors. For this reason, it is understandable that the author
would toe the party line, which is fine but the author reveals his bias
in a couple places...more
Not as much about MI5 itself (nothing on training, structure, authorities, how it interacts with law enforcement, the military or other intelligence services).
The book was authorized by MI5, which gave the author probably more access
than other authors. For this reason, it is understandable that the author
would toe the party line, which is fine but the author reveals his bias
in a couple places...more
Bunxena
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
very perseverant spy history buffs
Recommended to Bunxena by:
the Globe and Mail
At long last, I must concede defeat to the behemoth that is The Defence of the Realm. I first started in August 2010 when it came in for me at the library, didn't finish it, eventually bought the paperback in November because I figured then I could take as long as I wanted... and I've been reading it in fits and starts ever since. I've kept it out on my bedside table since January in hopes of finishing it eventually, but sadly I do not think that is likely. I'll put it back on the shelf and perh...more
Christopher Andrew has scraped the barrel on MI5; the mass of information here is daunting. Given the secretive nature of the agency, such an amount of material commands respect. For the most part, though, the information isn't efficiently molded into a straightforward narrative. The organization is largely chronological, but the consequences of one period in relation to another aren't clearly examined. There are some notable exceptions, as when the clandestine machinations of British espionage ...more
Erik Graff
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
espionage fans
Recommended to Erik by:
Kelly Kingdon
Shelves:
history
I have been reading the official histories of both MI6 (espionage) and MI5 (counter-espionage/terrorism) simultaneously. Of the two, this is the better study, both because it is more inclusively open and because it is better written. A sympathetic study, it still notes many of the failures and controversies which have marked the history of the service during the years covered, 1909-2009.
A mammoth book, superbibly documented, on the history of British Security Service. Though sometimes is arid to read is a must. The book covers 100 years of existence of the agency since its foundation to 2009 describing the personal lives of spies, classified files, archives, scandals and famous affairs in which the agency was involved in one way or another...
Good if rather academic in places. The description of the WW1, WW2 and Cold war are good. The description of WW1 is great if rather worrying, amatuer is a kind view but it all turned out well. It gets a bit more story half told I feel the closer it gets to the present day. Some of it still needs to secret I suppose. A good read and a good book.
Very comprehensive history. I think it will get more interesting as it approaches the present. I have trouble caring enough about the amazingly amateurish goings-on in the early days of the British security services. I remember hearing talks by the author about the more recent history of espionage at Leckhampton House in the late 1970s.
I was hooked from the first page. Christopher Andrew writes an engaging history of the British Security Service that helps you understand the intelligence community: its function and how its very presence enables us to go about our daily business. Even people who don't like James Bond are going to enjoy this book, because it's real and not full of cheesy spy bally-hoo.
Hard work but interesting. I originally started to read it to see how many people I knew were mentioned in it. 4 so far. Its not the sort of book you read at one go. I keep picking it up and putting it down. Still not actually finished it.
A biblical-length examination of the secret service that leaves NO stone unturned. But its extraordinary page count does mean that it isn't an easy or light read. Be warned: this will take considerable stamina.
Very interesting history of MI5, Britain's internal security service. Can be a bit draggy at times for us yanks who are not familiar with all of the political players, but there is a lot of good stuff here.
This is a fascinating insight into areas I did not know about. It colours in areas of history I knew about but gives a different perspective. Its more a project to get through. I dip in and out.
This book shows us that not only is life in MI5 interesting, it is also fraught with danger to the individuals and to society as a whole.
The early part of the book is in my view more interesting than the final part, say, after the Cambridge Five have been discussed. This is not to say the IRA and post-9/11 times weren't interesting, it's just that the space allotted to narrating what happened is not sufficient and there's a cramped feeling to it.
But the First WOrld War and ...more
The early part of the book is in my view more interesting than the final part, say, after the Cambridge Five have been discussed. This is not to say the IRA and post-9/11 times weren't interesting, it's just that the space allotted to narrating what happened is not sufficient and there's a cramped feeling to it.
But the First WOrld War and ...more
Andi
is currently reading it
Very interesting and detailed history of MI5. Print is very small and the book is very large and heavy, thus making difficult to read.
Nyree
is currently reading it
This will be on the currently reading shelf for quite some time me thinks...
view 1 comment
Interesting read.
Alan
is currently reading it
Very good
Heavy going but interesting in parts.
What I learned... books written by historians are long; why Special Branch is special; and the special British mentality that enables them to have a "Constitution" without actually bothering to write one down extended to the intelligence services, who have spent most of their existence without actually existing. Hardly a page turner in the style of Clancy, it had a lot of pages to turn, with lots of details, interesting and boring.
Readable but very dry - interesting subject, but narratively/tonally rather flat. A bit of a plod through very dense material, best taken in small doses.
Made me think a purely organisational (as opposed to operational) history might be very interesting, though - I'd quite like to see that, get a better sense of the way things worked, especially during the early years, and especially of the ground staff.
Made me think a purely organisational (as opposed to operational) history might be very interesting, though - I'd quite like to see that, get a better sense of the way things worked, especially during the early years, and especially of the ground staff.
It started in such a way I thought of keystone cops. Then every spy film had elements that were mentioned. I enjoyed Christopher Andrews amusing style of writing, he certainly helped to keep what could have become extremely dry from becoming so.
How can something so incredibly full of acronyms and abbreviations still be nearly 1000 pages long?? Totally sold based on the intro and conclusion, though. This is going to be excellent.
Very interesting study of the history of MI5--definitely a work that students of either British history or intelligence should read.
Excellent history of MI5. Particularly interesting are the chapters of post-war activities and the mention of names which those of us over 60 remember - Jck Jones, Kagan, Harold Wilson etc. Good to see that the British CP was completely penetrated by the spooks!
This took an awful lot of work, but it certainly seemed complete. There were mentions of failures as well as successes, which leads me to trust in its accuracy.
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Christopher Andrew is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, former Chair of the History Faculty at Cambridge University, Official Historian of the Security Service (MI5), Honorary Air Commodore of 7006 Squadron (Intelligence) in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, Chair of the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar, and former Visiting Professor at Harvard, Toronto and Canberra. Professor Andrew is als...more
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