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The Sword and the Shield
The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB
Contributors
By Vasili Mitrokhin
Formats and Prices
- On Sale
- Aug 29, 2000
- Page Count
- 736 pages
- Publisher
- Basic Books
- ISBN-13
- 9780465003129
Price
$29.99Format
Format:
- Trade Paperback $29.99
- ebook $19.99
Buy from Other Retailers:
“The Sword and the Shield will stand as an indispensable reference work on Soviet espionage for years to come.” ―Washington Post
Based on an unprecedented, top-secret archive described by the FBI as “the most complete and extensive intelligence ever achieved from any source,” The Sword and the Shield gives us by far the most complete picture we have ever had of the KGB and its operations in the United States and Europe.
Vasili Mitrokhin worked for almost thirty years in the foreign intelligence archives of the KGB. In 1972 he was made responsible for moving these entire archives, including all the files on the KGB’s deep-cover operatives, to new headquarters just outside Moscow. Mitrokhin spent over a decade making notes and transcripts of these highly classified files which he smuggled daily out of the archives and kept beneath his dacha floor. Christopher Andrew has had exclusive access to both Mitrokhin and his archive. Supplementing this treasure trove of KGB secrets with extensive research in other archives, and published and unpublished sources, he has written an extraordinary book which forces us to acknowledge that there was indeed an enemy—and that he was very much in our midst.
Genre:
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A New York Times Bestseller
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“Deliciously erudite.”New York Times
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“The Sword and the Shield will stand as an indispensable reference work on Soviet espionage for years to come.”Washington Post
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“A sweeping, densely documented history of the KGB ... Thanks to Comrade Mitrokhin, the KGB and most of those who spied for it have been stripped naked.”New York Times Book Review
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“Stranger than fiction ... Afficionados of espionage will be rummaging through this enormously detailed book for years.”New Republic
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“This book is astounding ... Every page brims with the plots for a dozen movies and Robert Ludlum thrillers. Thanks to what they have done, no history of the last half of the Cold War can be written the same way again.”Los Angeles Times Book Review
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“The most important book ever written on the subject ... A monumental volume.”Washington Times
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