THE SECOND OLDEST PROFESSION the spy as bureaucrat, patriot, fantasist, and whore

• Main Author: Knightley, Phillip (Author)
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: London Deutsch 1986
• Edition: 1st American ed
• Subjects: Espionage > History > 20th century
• Online Access: Click Here to View Status and Holdings.

 Fascinating insight into the rise of secret intelligence services which for obvious reasons, concentrates on the British SIS and America's CIA. The author, Phillip Knightley, wrote for The Times (of London) and other newspapers on the intelligence services and propaganda for 30 years. During that time, he met most of the spy chiefs of all the major intelligence services in the world. This book doesn't gloss over the failures of such agencies and Knightley points out that, worldwide, they have grown into huge bureaucracies with massive budgets. First published in 1987, it shows how and why the major secret intelligence agencies were formed and how their work changed during the 20th Century. The author questions whether such agencies have ever changed the course of history and whether they should exist at all. Knightley also points out that as their power grows, civil liberties tend to decline - as true now as it was 30 years ago. As the spy fiction writer, John Le Carre, said in his 1987 review of this book: "If Reagan, Gorbachev, Thatcher and Mitterrand only manage one book this year, they could do a lot worse than pick up Philip Knightley's and find out what imbecilities are committed in the hallowed name of intelligence." A marvellous history book which should be required reading and the perfect antidote to the "official" histories which glorify the work of spies.