MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service
Stephen Dorril
MI6 is one of Britain's most elusive organisations. Despite the architectural prominence of its London headquarters at Vauxhall Cross, its operations remain veiled from scrutiny. To write about Britain's Secret Intelligence Service risks harassment and prosecution, as former members and current commentators know to their cost. It is impossible, under the laws presently shielding MI6 and its sister service, MI5, to write about its daily activities.
But MI6 has a history, and that reveals a great deal. At the beginning of the Cold War, Britain was a global power literally dividing up the world. By 1992 influence abroad had been lost in the Middle East, most of Africa and large swathes of Asia, and even in Europe Britain seemed exiled and isolated.
What had MI6 been doing? MI6's postwar activities were grounded in prewar attitudes and practices, at home in the clubs of Pall Mall and St James but little suited to a retreating post-imperial power. Britain's management of the Cold War was in the itching hands of a mixture of frustrated former members of the wartime SOE, desperate for active military engagements, anxious reactionaries who saw more to fear from Clement Attlee's Labour Party than from any red menace abroad, and a few socialist devotees for whom communism was the future and spying the career of choice.
Here for the first time is an operational history of MI6's activities and attitudes. Dorril's is a searching story of the characters and situations in which the games have been played, and of half a century of international political intriguing, spying and thuggery - all in the name of intelligence.
Book Details:
- Author: Stephen Dorril
- Published Year: 2002
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Rights Sold
- UK: Harper Collins
- US: Simon & Schuster
- France: Editions Timeli
- Spain: Editions Timeli
- Russia: Adaptek
Stephen Dorril
Stephen Dorril is Senior Lecturer in Print Journalism in the Media and Journalism Department of Huddersfield University. He has been investigating the British security and intelligence services for more than twenty years. He is particularly interested in the realtionship between intelligence and politics.He has appeared on numerous radio and television programmes - Panorama, Media Show, Secret History, World at One, NBC News, Canadian television, History Channel, French television etc. - as a specialist and consultant on intelligence matters. He is consultant to a forthcoming series on Chan...
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Book Reviews
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"A remarkable achievement ... which any student of the secret world should read."
Guardian -
"A fascinating, highly readable and ... weighty addition to the relatively small number of worthwhile books about Britain's Secret Intelligence Service."
Daily Mail -
"A corking read which I urge you to buy at once..."
Observer -
"Fascinating... an excellent account of MI6"
Daily telegraph -
"Carefully organised to avoid overwhelming the more casual reader, while providing much in-depth research for the serious student and entertainment for the well-informed spy buff. "
Publishers Weekly -
"Stephen Dorril, a front-ranking investigative journalist, discloses the fullest portrait yet of M16...Blending stories of gripping espionage and intrigue with tales of farcical failure and ruthless violence, this is an engrossing analysis of Britain’s secret service and what role it has in the future. "
Current Affairs -
"Fascinating reading ."
The Herald -
"Demonstrates the importance of intelligence history to any understanding of 20th Century international affairs...a valuable quarry for anyone wanting to know what has been reported on our secret history ."
Alan Judd, The Mail on Sunday -
"A welcome contribution to the intelligence library ."
Financial Times -
"A remarkable piece of work, a landmark in the field ..."
Tribune