Spycatcher : the Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer / Peter Wright Hardcover – January 1, 1987

One of the best spy reading, and if true extreemly reveling. The book is best read by those living through 1960's as then you can follow the history, Ahristine Keeler, Blunt etc and Harold Wilson all come to life in this MI5 & MI6 book.

great insight into the communist infiltration of British and American intelligence. I first tried to buy it in Auckland 1986; "mate you'll have to wait till you get home to read that one" the shopkeeper told me. Book was banned by the Iron Maiden so it had to be good and i couldn't wait to read it. Somewhere along the line that copy disappeared into that famous, "I'll be sure and return it" friendship lending hole we book collectors know about. Time to read it again! I won't be disappointed.

This book is not just about Philby he is only one actor . Peter Wright spent most of his service finding spies. And also admits that MI5 and MI6 were compromised with many soviet penetrations. The author seems to be honest about that and the way many of his brethren refused to believe the evidence and indicators there was a real internal problem . Wright said an interesting thing.. His family had hard times during the depression . He found it interesting that he never strayed away from faith in his country's Government but the affluent young college men, hardly affected by hardship of the 30s were seduced into the communist myth. The famous Cambridge 5 were not the only problem for the British. The author explains a number of reasons for the distrust the US had for British intelligence. This is somewhat Ironic as the US had its own penetrations. It seems both countries were not as good at spying as they thought.I think the book is a good look at British and to a degree US intelligence after WW2. It is the first step to understanding how bad we got it and our probable misreading of many facts. One I suspect is Soviet spies got hold of the Government paper suggesting we should stand down the missiles in Turkey and rely on Polaris subs in the Mediterranean to protect the area. Khrushchev learned about this and realized he could leverage Cuba to get the missiles out of Turkey stifling his vocal opponents. The Missiles were outdated so the US wanted them gone.... but didn't want to offend Turkey . ( Which they did in the end fixing the crisis .)Its a very good book on the subject and I wish I found sooner. I found it well written and always interesting.

I read this book when it was first published in America. This was a refresher course for me. When the Soviet Union dissolved, I believed that it was merely "an attack in a different direction," a pause in the cold war in order to reform the Soviet Union's failed institutions Sooner or later the old guard would reappear with new spots but just as lethal. This appears to be true. That makes this out of print book relevant today and still a great read today.

I just could not put this book down , even though a lot of the technical information was way over my head , I found the whole read , interesting, informative , and an insight into what happened in the murky world of espionage/spying during the cold war years.I am for sure going to give the book a second read it is that enjoyable.

Maybe someone who finished this book can tell me if the author becomes a more compelling storyteller later in the book. The beginning did not capture my interest -- he begins by telling the story of his father's involvement with the agency. While this is critical information to an autobiography, it did not create a promising setting.

Some would say Peter Wright should never have written this book. I am glad he did as it highlights the scandlous behavious some officers in Mi5 engaged in. Wright admits for instance that he himself committed acts of burglary to obtain intelligence among other acts one would have to question the legality of. A brilliant brilliant read! 6 stars out of 5 for me!!!

For anyone who is involved professionally, or just enjoys intrigue, this is a FANTASTIC read. This man's memory for details is almost unbelievable. (Not to mention all of the historical people he knew and worked with.) Get this book!!!