The Spy Who Came in from the Co-Op: Melita Norwood and the Ending of Cold War Espionage

Burke, David

ISBN 10 : 1843838877 ISBN 13 : 9781843838876

Editeur : The Boydell Press, 2013

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

On September 11th 1999 The Times newspaper carried the front page article "Revealed: the quiet woman who betrayed Britain for 40 years. The spy who came in from the Co-op." Melita Norwood, the last of the atomic spies, had finally been run to ground, but at 87 she was deemed too old to prosecute. Her crime: the shortening of the Soviet Union's atomic bomb project by up to 5 years. At a time when the world faces fresh dilemmas caused by the proliferation of nuclear weapons, this is the remarkable story of a much earlier drama. After the atomic bomb strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, British and American intelligence estimated the earliest date for the production of a Soviet bomb to be 1953. In fact, the Soviet Union went nuclear in 1948, and tested an atomic bomb in 1949. The Soviet Union's bomb coincided with the onset of The Cold War, and threatened humankind with extinction. Melita Norwood was a member of one of those communist spy networks in America and Britain, who by guaranteeing those weapons of mass destruction threw down a challenge to America as sole superpower in the post-Second World War era. This fascinating book sets her in the context of the times, and uses her as a prism and focus through which to investigate the whole milieu.

Revue de presse :

This is a splendid book, exhaustively researched and written in a clear, unpretentious style. --The Guardian

Presents not just a study of a now infamous individual and her motives but a narrative of a hidden but important part of British left-wing history. This book should not be missed. --Chartist

A valuable addition to the expanding library of works on the history of East-West espionage. --Times Higher Education

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: The Boydell Press
• Date d'édition: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1843838877
• ISBN 13: 9781843838876
• Reliure: Livre broché
• Nombre de pages: 240