The Secret War
- Author Max Hastings
- Narrator Steven Crossley
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date 10 September 2015
- Run Time 30 hours and 40 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Modern warfare, Second World War.
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What to expect
‘As gripping as any spy thriller, Hastings’s achievement is especially impressive, for he has produced the best single volume yet written on the subject’ Sunday Times
‘Authoritative, exciting and notably well written’ Daily Telegraph
‘A serious work of rigourous and comprehensive history … royally entertaining and readable’ Mail on Sunday
In ‘The Secret War’, Max Hastings examines the espionage and intelligence machines of all sides in World War II, and the impact of spies, code-breakers and partisan operations on events. Written on a global scale, the book brings together accounts from British, American, German, Russian and Japanese sources to tell the story of a secret war waged unceasingly by men and women often far from the battlefields but whose actions profoundly influenced the outcome.
Returning to the Second World War for the first time since his best-selling ‘All Hell Let Loose’, Hastings weaves into a ‘big picture’ framework, the human stories of spies and intelligence officers who served their respective masters. Told through a series of snapshots of key moments, the book looks closely at Soviet espionage operations which dwarfed those of every other belligerent in scale, as well as the code-breaking operation at Bletchley Park – the greatest intelligence achievement of the conflict – with many more surprising and unfamiliar tales of treachery, deception, betrayal and incompetence by spies of Axis, Allied or indeterminate loyalty.
Critics Review
u2018As gripping as any spy thriller. Hastings understands, better than any previous historian, that this is as much a story about human nature as it is about the mechanics of code-breaking or spycraft u2026 he has the novelistu2019s eye for the telling detail u2026 this book works because Hastings is simply a very fine writer who is not afraid of making judgements u2026 Hastingsu2019s achievement is especially impressive, for he has produced the best single volume yet written on the subjectu2019 Lawrence Rees, Sunday Times
nu2018This is his war and he writes with an easy assurance, scatter-gunning opinions u2026 Hastings is on form. He has set out to provide thought and discussion and, with his familiar robustness, shotgun at side, he has succeededu2019 The Times
nu2018Authoritative, exciting and notably well writtenu2019 Daily Telegraph
nu2018A serious work of rigorous and comprehensive history u2026 royally entertaining and readableu2019 Mail on Sunday
nu2018Vintage Hastings: a vivid cast of characters, social observation and opinions forcefully expressed u2026 Given the national fixation with spies and special forces, Hastingsu2019s book is a very necessary correctiveu2019 Evening Standard
nu2018Lively and entertaining u2026 a rich gallery of rogues, eccentrics and brainstorming professors which u2026 Hastings can manipulate with wonderful deftnessu2019 Observer
nu2018A compendious, crisply argued and witty assessment of the intelligence operations of the major powersu2019 Financial Times
nu2018A magisterial account u2026 his great strength is to use his formidable journalistic talents to bring alive a cast of characters who operated in the shadows and it is the mark of an author at the top of his game that he is able to keep a multiplicity of narratives running without causing confusion u2026 a worthy additionu2019 Country Life
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