A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal in Espionage Aficionados

Aug 18, 2014 KOMET rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: history-espionage, ben-macintyre, biographies-and-memoirs, zz-out-of-residence, history-of-britain-20th-century

For Americans, the name "Benedict Arnold" is synonymous with traitor. (Arnold was an officer in the Continental Army with a distinguished combat record during the American War of Independence who later changed sides and fought with the British.) Taken in the larger context of the Cold War, the same can be said for Harold Adrian Russell Philby - aka Kim Philby.

Philby was one of those men of Britain's interwar generation hailing from a privileged class who, upon graduating from Oxford or Cambridg For Americans, the name "Benedict Arnold" is synonymous with traitor. (Arnold was an officer in the Continental Army with a distinguished combat record during the American War of Independence who later changed sides and fought with the British.) Taken in the larger context of the Cold War, the same can be said for Harold Adrian Russell Philby - aka Kim Philby.

Philby was one of those men of Britain's interwar generation hailing from a privileged class who, upon graduating from Oxford or Cambridge, were expected to make their mark upon the world and lead it. In Philby's case, as the son of a distinguished, eccentric and distant father, he learned early how to ingratiate and endear himself with people. In his early 20s, Philby became a convert to Soviet Communism and devoted his life in service to the Soviet Union. What is remarkable in Philby's case is how he was able for close to 30 years to live, in effect, two lives. The one of an urbane, witty, charming, and suave Englishman (who rose to the highest ranks of Britain's MI6, which is analogous to the CIA) --- coupled with that of a Soviet spy --- a mole --- who faithfully served Moscow Centre by compromising a whole host of Allied/Western espionage operations dating from the Second World War to the early 1960s (when he defected to Moscow).

In reading this book, I was amazed at how the British "old boy network" operated in terms of both promoting and protecting its own in its intelligence services (MI5 and MI6). The following observations made by the author I found both interesting and startling ---

"... Philby's life developed a pattern of duality, in which he consistently undermined his own work, but never aroused suspicion. He made elaborate plans to combat Soviet intelligence, and then immediately betrayed them to Soviet intelligence; he urged ever greater efforts to combat the communist threat, and personified that threat; his own section worked smoothly, yet nothing quite succeeded."

"During the war, the Bletchley Park decoders had enabled Britain to discover what German intelligence was doing. Philby's espionage went one better: he could tell his Soviet handlers what Britain's spymasters were intending to do, before they did it; he could tell Moscow what London was thinking."

This is a book that provides the reader with "a chilling examination of how far anyone can ever really know another human being." ...more

28 likes · Like · see review

Apr 04, 2014 Cold War Conversations Podcast rated it really liked it

Shelves: cold-war, uk, espionage

How on earth did he get away with it for so long?!

Ben Macintyre's latest book answers this question and more in an accessible, enjoyable and informative way.

Philby's deceit of MI6 is well known, but the book details more the deceit of his friends and particularly his friend and colleague in SIS, Nicholas Elliot.

I find the The Philby case and indeed the whole of the Cambridge 5 fascinating in that the "old boy network" of MI6 just couldn't comprehend that that one of their own (i.e of their clas ...more

15 likes · Like · see review

May 11, 2015 Pupsi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history, politics

I really enjoyed this book. having no prior knowledge of the Cambridge five, Ben Macintyre writes what could be a dry topic in a very engaging way. For me trying to understand Kim Philby's motivation came down to in his head, Friends were Friends but the cause was the cause. Only if the two came into direct conflict the cause won.

...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 28, 2018 Patrick Schultheis rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars. I liked it and felt that the characters of Philby and Elliott were well done. I guess I wanted to read more about the relationships with the other Cambridge traitors.

Like · see review