Empire Of Secrets

Product Description

The gripping & largely untold story of the role of the intelligence services in Britain's retreat from empire. Against the background of the Cold War & the looming spectre of Soviet-sponsored subversion in Britain's dwindling colonial possessions the imperial intelligence service MI5 played a crucial but top secret role in passing power to newly independent national states across the globe. Mining recently declassified intelligence records Calder Walton reveals this 'missing link' in Britain's post-war history. He sheds new light on everything from violent counter-insurgencies fought by British forces in the jungles of Malaya & Kenya to urban warfare campaigns conducted in Palestine & the Arabian Peninsula. Drawing on a wealth of previously classified documents as well as hitherto overlooked personal papers this is also the first book to draw on records from the Foreign Office's secret archive at Hanslope Park which contains some of the darkest & most shameful secrets from the last days of Britain's empire. Packed with incidents straight out of a John le Carre novel Empire of Secrets is an exhilarating read by an exciting new voice in intelligence history.