Intelligence and the War against Japan: Britain, America and the Politics of Secret Service

Intelligence and the War against Japan offers the first comprehensive scholarly history of the development of the British secret service and its relations with its American intelligence counterparts during the war against Japan. Richard J. Aldrich makes extensive use of recently declassified files in order to examine the politics of secret service during the war against Japan, analyzing the development of organizations such as the Special Operations Executive and the Office of Strategic Services in Asia. He argues that, from the Battle of Midway in June 1942, the Allies focused increasingly on each other's future ambitions, rather than the common enemy. Central to this theme are Churchill, Roosevelt and their rivalry over the future of the role of Asia. Richard J. Aldrich's cogent, fluent analysis of the role of intelligence in Far Eastern developments is the most thorough and penetrating account of this latterday "Great Game" yet produced. Richard J. Aldrich is Senior Lecturer, Department of Politics at the University of Nottingham. He has edited several books, as well as the journal Intelligence and National Security.