A Spy among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal
Ben Macintyre, Bloomsbury, £10.99
The most entertaining and revealing explanation of how Kim Philby, the star of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service MI6, charmed British spymasters and got away for so long so successfully passing secrets to Stalin’s Russia.
It includes an illuminating Afterword by John Le Carré.
Intercept: The Secret History of Computers and Spies
Gordon Corera, Orion, £9.99
In his admirably clear guide, the BBC’s security correspondent – a difficult assignment – shows how computers and the internet have transformed spying and identifies a still-unanswered, question: how to lay down rules governing the relationship between agencies of the state and the big, mainly US-based, tech companies as encryption gets increasingly sophisticated and widespread.
