Secret World

'The most comprehensive narrative of intelligence compiled ... unrivalled' Max Hastings, Sunday Times

'Captivating, insightful and masterly' Edward Lucas, The Times

Thehistory of espionage is far older than any of today's intelligenceagencies, yet the long history of intelligence operations has beenlargely forgotten. The first mention of espionage in world literature isin the Book of Exodus.'God sent out spies into the land of Canaan'.From there, Christopher Andrew traces the shift in the ancient worldfrom divination to what we would recognize as attempts to gather realintelligence in the conduct of military operations, and considers howfar ahead of the West - at that time - China and India were. He chartsthe development of intelligence and security operations and capacitythrough, amongst others, Renaissance Venice, Elizabethan England,Revolutionary America, Napoleonic France, right up to sophisticatedmodern activities of which he is the world's best-informed interpreter.What difference have security and intelligence operations made to courseof history? Why have they so often forgotten by later practitioners?This fascinating book provides the answers.

Reviews

Christopher Andrew delivers a stunning secret archaeology of a subject that he himself helped to create