<p>At the end of World War II, the Cabinet Office commissioned an eminent academic, Professor William Mackenzie, to undertake a comprehensive secret history of Special Operations Executive. This document is declassified for the first time.</p>

The Secret History of SOE: The Special Operations Executive 1940-1945

History

Mackenzie, W.J.M.

Military

St Ermins

Throughout a distinguished military and diplomatic career General Vernon Walters met and worked with many of the world's leading statesman, including ten US Presidents and most of Europe's post-war politicians. He was also involved in secret negotiations on behalf of Kissinger with the North Vietnamese, the Chinese Communists and the PLO in the 1970s. These personal reminiscences of the mighty - leading politicans in the post-war age - and some meek worthy of mention, as well as the revealing details of Walters' often dangerous diplomatic rescue attempts, provide an insight into international diplomacy in the second half of the 20th century.

The Mighty and the Meek

Walters, Vernon

Biographies & Memoirs

Lambasted by the Soviets as a "spy school", the Joint Services School for Linguists (JSSL) was a major Cold War initiative, which pushed 5000 young National Servicemen through intensive training as Russian translators and interpreters, primarily to meet the needs of Britain's signals intelligence operations. Over its nine-year life it operated from military camps in Surrey, Cornwall and Scotland, and special enclaves created at Cambridge and London Universities. It had parade grounds rather than sports fields and pupils included a remarkable cross-section of talented young men who came to JSSL as National Servicemen and went on to a diversity of glittering careers: professors of Russian, Chinese, ancient philosophy, economics, history; authors such as Alan Bennett, Dennis Potter and Michael Frayn; screenwriter Jack Rosenthal; and churchmen ranging from a bishop to a displaced Carmelite friar. The two authors, both of whom emerged from JSSL as interpreters, have drawn on many personal recollections and interviews with fellow students, as well as once highly classified documents in the Public Record office.

Secret Classrooms

Shukman, Harold

<p>A career CIA officer, Dick Holm served in America's "secret war" in Laos, then in 1965 was transferred to the Congo where he was injured in a plane crash and suffered appalling burns. This near-death experience had a profound effect on him, and after two painful years of recuperation he went to Hong Kong to run agents into China, then returned to CIA Headquarters as Chief of the Counter Terrorism Centre. In this role he played a key part in tracking down Carlos the Jackal, and when he was posted to Paris as Station Chief he participated in his arrest in the Sudan. Holm's work in Paris proved highly controversial when a French source became a double agent and compromised the CIA station, resulting in Holm's expulsion from France and his forced resignation from the Bureau. Two months later he was invited back to receive an official Medal of Commendation. Working under 13 different heads of the CIA in theatres of operations across the world, Dick Holm's memoir is the eventful life of one of the CIA's most celebrated officers and diplomats.</p>

The American Agent: My Life in the CIA

Holm, Richard L.

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Books by St Ermins

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the St Ermins publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Secret History of SOE: The Special Operations Executive 1940-1945

The Mighty and the Meek

Secret Classrooms

The American Agent: My Life in the CIA