Wilderness of Mirrors

At the dawn of the Cold War, the world's most important intelligence agencies--the Soviet KGB, the American CIA, and the British MI6--appeared to have clear-cut roles and a sense of rising importance in their respective countries. But when Kim Philby, head of MI6's Russian division and arguably the twenty-first century's greatest spy, was revealed to be a Russian mole along with British government heavyweights Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, everything in the Western intelligence world turned upside down.

Here is the true story of how the American James Bond--the colorful, foulmouthed, pistol-packing, alcoholic ex-FBI agent William "King" Harvey--put the finger on Philby; how James Jesus Angleton, the chain-smoking poet of Yale University and the CIA's supposed "master spy" in charge of counterintelligence, began his descent into a paranoid wilderness of mirrors upon learning of family friend Kim Philby's ultimate betrayal; and the devastating consequences of the loss of MI6 prestige and the CIA's subsequent self-defeating witch hunts.

Every revelation, every stranger-than-fiction twist and turn is all the more intriguing as truths become lies and unlikely scenarios are revealed as reality. With impeccable sourcing and the use of thousands of pages of declassified research, David C. Martin's Wilderness of Mirrors is widely recognized as a masterpiece of intelligence literature.

La inceputul Razboiului Rece, cele mai importante agentii de informatii din lume - KGB sovietic, CIA americana si MI6 britanic - pareau sa aiba roluri clare si un sentiment de importanta crescanda in tarile lor respective. Dar cand Kim Philby, seful diviziei ruse a MI6 si, probabil, cel mai mare spion al secolului al XXI-lea, s-a dovedit a fi o alunita rusa impreuna cu greutatii guvernului britanic Donald Maclean si Guy Burgess, totul in lumea serviciilor de informatii occidentale s-a dat peste cap. povestea adevarata a modului in care americanul James Bond - fostul agent al FBI-ului William "King" Harvey, colorat, prost, ambalat cu pistol, a pus degetul pe Philby; modul in care James Jesus Angleton, poetul care fumeaza in lant la Universitatea Yale si presupusul „spion maestru” al CIA responsabil de contraspionaj, si-a inceput coborarea intr-o salbaticie paranoica de oglinzi, afland despre tradarea finala a prietenului de familie Kim Philby; si consecintele devastatoare ale pierderii prestigiului MI6 si ale urmatoarelor vanatoare de vrajitoare auto-infrante ale CIA. Fiecare revelatie, fiecare intorsatura mai stranie decat fictiunea este cu atat mai interesanta cu cat adevarurile devin minciuni si scenariile improbabile sunt revelate ca realitate.