My Silent War: The Autobiography Of A Spy
My Silent War: The Autobiography Of A Spy was written by Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 1912 – 11 May 1988, who was a high-ranking member of British intelligence who worked as a double agent before defecting to the Soviet Union in 1963. He served as both an NKVD and KGB operative.
In 1963, Philby was revealed to be a member of the spy ring now known as the Cambridge Five, the other members of which were Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt and, possibly, John Cairncross. Of the five, Philby is believed to have been most successful in providing secret information to the Soviet Union. Philby was an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) from 1946 to 1965. Treachery is the subject of My Silent War, the 1968 memoir of Kim Philby, who as a double agent headed the Cambridge Five spy ring and fed British and American WWII and Cold War intelligence to the Soviet Union. Philby became a communist and Soviet agent in the 1930s, then easily joined MI6 and rose to be head of British Counterintelligence before seeking asylum in Moscow in 1963 (where he lived until his death in 1988). The book details why he became a communist (while still in school) and how he was recruited by Soviet intelligence and made to stay as a resident spy in his own home country. Even after revelations of Stalin's crimes, he still remained a communist and explained his choice.
If you are a lover of espionage, this is a must read. It gives you an insight as to what goes on inside a spy's head. You will find out why he became a communist at a young age and why he remained committed to the cause of communism.
What other famous authors say about this book:
“Far more gripping than any novel of espionage I can remember.” —Graham Greene
“To this day I am convinced that he was not an ideologue. Spying was just his way of being above lesser mortals.” —Nigel West
“Addictive . . . highly polished . . . written with style and a feline sense of irony, making it a much better read than any of the other Philby literature.” —The Guardian
“Philby has no home, no women, no faith. Behind the inbred upper-class arrogance, the taste for adventure, lies the self-hate of a vain misfit for whom nothing will ever be worthy of his loyalty. In the last instance, Philby is driven by the incurable drug of deceit itself.” —John le Carré
So go ahead and read this book. Very educational and worth your time! Available at AMAZON.
