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The Crown Jewels: The British Secrets at the Heart of the KGB Archives

2000; Society for Military History; Volume: 64; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/120852

1543-7795

Andrew Webster, Nigel West, Oleg Tsarev,

Intelligence, Security, War Strategy

This lively account of Soviet foreign intelligence activity in Great Britain during Cold War is based on documents newly released from KGB archives, their crown jewels, as KGB unofficially called its most valuable assets. Written by Nigel West, called by Sunday Times the unofficial historian of secret services and Oleg Tsarev, a former KGB lieutenant colonel, The Crown Jewels provides much new information on activities of all well-known British pro-Soviet spies, including Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, and Anthony Blunt, as well as many lesser-known spymasters and recruiters, reproducing many of their reports for first time. The book adds unsuspected dimensions to famous Cambridge ring (including details of Burgess's offer to murder his fellow conspirator Goronwy Rees). It also reveals a completely unknown Soviet network based in London and headed by a named Daily Herald journalist; describes huge scale of Soviet penetration of British Foreign Office from 1927 to 1951; explores a previously unknown spy ring in Oxford; and tells about key role played by Blunt in supervising post-war Soviet espionage activities in London.