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The Hidden Hand: Britain, America, and Cold War Secret Intelligence
(Hardcover)
by Richard J. Aldrich (Author) "Wing Commander George Keat of the RAF
encountered Soviets forces for the first time in Austria on 1 October
1945, Germany and Austria had been..." (more)
Key Phrases: atomic intelligence, astern bloc, human espionage,
Chiefs of Staff, State Department, Special Branch (more...)
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
America and Britain have long enjoyed what leaders in both countries
have deemed a "special relationship." Their closeness has long been
cemented, Richard Aldrich writes, by shared intelligence--"the hidden
hand" of his title, even if their intelligence communities have
sometimes been at odds and worked to different purposes. In the
postwar era, writes University of Nottingham professor of politics
Aldrich, American intelligence was aided immeasurably by Britain,
which had had considerable experience in keeping tabs on Russian
agents for decades, thanks to the long-played "great game" in Central
Asia. One successful joint enterprise took place in Iran, threatened
by Soviet invasion after World War II: even with a few missteps,
joint American-British efforts led to victory in a battle largely
fought through propaganda, even if that battle gave America strategic
advantage in the Persian Gulf region at Britain's expense. Other
joint efforts were less successful, including the cynical abandonment
of the Hungarian rebels of 1956, and relations between the two powers
were often strained by competing interests, such as those made
evident by the Suez crisis. Despite errors of judgment, spy scandals,
interagency and international competition, and other blights on the
record, Aldrich observes that "Cold War intelligence was neither
fruitless nor a zero-sum game, and its most substantial benefits
might be measured through inaction"--that is, the fact that the war
stayed for the most part cold. Aldrich considers the whole range of
operations in this detailed account, which will be of considerable
interest to students of cold war history. --Gregory McNamee
From Publishers Weekly
We do not yet know the full story of the Cold War, writes Aldrich
near the beginning of this impressive study of Anglo-American secret
intelligence. Indeed, we may never know. Nevertheless, Aldrich, co-
editor of the journal Intelligence and National Security, gives it
his best shot. Beginning in 1941 with the Nazi invasion of the
U.S.S.R., and concluding in 1962 with the Cuban missile crisis, he
details an astonishing range of covert activities by British and
American intelligence units. Some of these, like the British effort
to break the German Enigma code, are now well-known; others have
remained largely obscure, for example, Operation Unthinkable,
Churchill's appropriately named plan to attack the U.S.S.R.
immediately after WWII or the British parachuting of agents into the
Ukraine, where nationalist guerrillas fought against the Soviets well
into the 1950s. Such revelations can be found on almost every page.
Aldrich builds a convincing case that much of the Cold War was fought
behind the scenes, manipulated by the hidden hand of spies,
counterspies and secret analysts. Much of the important history of
the Cold War, Aldrich says, remains locked away in the vaults of the
CIA, MI6 and KGB. And even when information is released, the sheer
volume precludes comprehensive analysis Aldrich notes that the U.S.
National Security Agency alone now produces more documents in a
single day than anyone could read in a lifetime. Despite these
obstacles, Aldrich succeeds in throwing open the door on the grim
secrets of recent history. Though the book's academic tone and sheer
size may overwhelm some readers, those who persist will dramatically
expand their understanding of the Cold War. 32 b&w photos not seen by
PW.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
Product Details
* Hardcover: 733 pages
* Publisher: Overlook Hardcover (May 9, 2002)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 1585672742
* ISBN-13: 978-1585672745
* Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 2 inches
* Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
* Average Customer Review: based on 1 review. (Write a review.)
* Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,018,374 in Books (See Bestsellers in
Books)
recent reviews submitted by a UK reader, July 2, 2002
Reviewer: A reader
Max Hastings in The Sunday Telegraph `Books of the Year' 2 December
2001 >
The Hidden Hand by Richard Aldrich (John Murray) is as good an
account of Cold War Intelligence between 1945 and 1962 as we are
likely to get for some time.
George Walden in The Evening Standard 23 July 2001 >
From riveting case-histories of individual operations to the furious
intrigues of the transatlantic intelligence community , from the
unsung role of the low-level agent to the evolution of electronic
espionage - everything is here ... Aldrich has a gift for conveying a
sense of living history, combing colourful detail of this or that
episode with the grand strategies that drove the intelligence men.
Cal McCrystal in The Financial Times 1 July 2001 >
What makes Aldrich's book so delightful is its abundance of
marvellous anecdote ... Miles Copeland, the CIA's new station chief
in Cairo at the time of the Suez crisis, had little time for US
ambassadors and was a bit of a cowboy. As station chief in Syria in
1950 Copeland was blamed for a series of army coups that "eventually
led to an increasingly pro-Soviet dictatorship". He was moved to
Cairo after a wild party during which guns were fired through the
ceiling. Indeed, an Aldrich sub-theme is the extent to which British
and American secret agents frequently unnerved their own governments
more than the regimes they were supposed to monitor subvert or
liberate.
