Table of Contents

THE MOLES: H.A.R. Philby; Anthony Blunt; George Blake; Vladimir I Vetrov; DEFECTORS: Afansy Shorikhov; Igor Gouzenko; Whittaker Chambers; THE LEGENDS: Leida Domb; Wilhelm Wassmuss; Ian Fleming; Dusko Popov; Margareta Zelle; THE TRAITORS: Larry Wu-Tai Chin; Klaus Fuchs; Alfred Redl; THE SPYMASTERS: K'ang Sheng; Markus Wolf; THE INFAMIES: Laventri Beria; Reinhard Heydrich; Gabor Peter; SOME MYSTERIES: Rudolf Roessler; Vitali Yurchenko; AND A FEW CURIOSITIES: Graham Greene; Somerset Maugham.

About the Author

Ernest Volkman is an American author, investigative reporter, and journalist who writes about war, espionage, and the criminal underworld. Volkman, a 1959 graduate of Whitman High School in his home town of Huntington, attended Hofstra University and graduated with a B.A. degree in Journalism in 1963.

Reviews

Perhaps this title should have been something like ``Famous People in 20th-Century Intelligence History,'' since only some of the 48 people profiled here by the author of Warriors of the Night: Spies, Soldiers, and American Intelligence ( LJ 2/1/85) were actual agents. Lavrenti Pavlovich Beria and Reinhard Heydrich headed intelligence agencies, making their mark by carrying out the evil policies of evil dictators. Herbert Yardley, F.W. Winterbotham, and Claude Dansey became better known for their administrative abilities than any of their field activities. Ian Fleming, Graham Greene, and Somerset Maugham are much more famous for their later literary efforts. Each person receives a few pages of biographical narrative that touches on the interesting high points of his career. The worst thing about this easy-to-read book is that there are no footnotes or bibliography for verifying the stories (was Fleming really involved with inducing Rudolf Hess to fly to England in May 1941?). With a glossary and list of intelligence agencies. A very general work; appropriate for public libraries. (Index not seen.)-- Daniel K. Blewett, Loyola Univ. Lib., Chicago

Volkman ( Secret Intelligence ) here offers a collection of short biographies of nearly 50 of the century's major secret agents and those who ``ran'' them. The cast includes such well-known operatives as Kim Philby, mole of moles; Klaus Fuchs, who stole the secret of the atom bomb; and George Blake, the true Manchurian Candidate. Among the lesser-known but history-changing figures are Richard Sorge, a German journalist who spied on the Axis powers for the Soviets, and Dusko Popov, whom the author denotes as the original James Bond. Volkman describes the exploits of legendary spymasters as well, among them Markus Wolf, an East German who was the model for John le Carre's fictional ``Karla,'' and Communist China's super-sinister Kang Sheng. Volkman rightly calls this highly entertaining, if chilling, omnibus an espionage hall of infamy. Photos. (Mar.)