A fairly sweeping history of the intelligence war between East and West. It's mainly focused, not surprisingly, on intelligence efforts of the US and Soviet Union against each other. The book provides in-depth character studies of key players, which sets it apart from other histories of spies.

An absolutely incredible telling of the history of the intelligence "wars" between Russia and the United States. Starting over a hundred years ago, and continuing still today, the author recounts the who, what, when, and why of the conflict. Very well written, easily readable, intriguing, and at times exciting. If you read this, you will understand why we are at today in our relations with Russia.

This was a great overview in East - West intelligence competitions for most of modern history. This book will prove to be valuable as tensions between nations intensify over time. I would highly recommend this for students of intelligence history.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Simon & Schuster for an advance copy of this history detailing the 100 years or espionage between Russia and the West, and how lesson learned can be turned to the West's new competitor in domination, China.

People have been spying on each other since people lived in caves, or for others the Garden of Eden. Hmm that cave has meat, lets follow them and see where they hunt. What is that that lights up their cave and heats their food, let's steal some. Gossip is another form of espionage or disinformation. Most of these health reports that are relayed on world leaders are mostly, well friends say he/she seems tired, or not sleeping well, or pale. Yes there are reports about certain intelligence agencies testing the waste water from residences and finding out the health of leaders, but mostly it is gossip, tall tales with alcohol chasers. Countries spy on each other for many reasons, to stay ahead, to catch up, to steal technology, or steal a trade deal. Some countries are very good, some start as amateurs, find they have a gift for it, but allow hubris to get in the way. Whatever the source tales of espionage and the search for information is always interesting. Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West by Calder Walton a historian at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard has written a one-volume history that looks at the intelligence war between Russia and the West, and what might be coming with China in the future.

The book begins with a look at Russia planning for its future and seeing a lot of countries as future enemies. An invasion from Britain with American support in the early days following the Revolution did not help. Even paranoid people have enemies, which made the paranoia of Stalin to come a problem. Russia was involved in a Cold War well before the rest of the world even thought about it. Thought late to the game, the United States was remarkably quick in catching up. The book is broken down into chapters dealing with different subjects. Coups, expansion of territories, the growth of American intelligence, signal intelligence, space, traitors and the fall of Russia. There are plenty of stories and lots of facts which really makes for riveting reading.

The book is very well written, and though it is only one-volume, pretty complete. Walton does talk that a real history would be a multi-volume set, and has a web site, that people can visit for not only more information about the book, but also some of the areas and incidents that Walton could not cover. What Walton does write about is quite a lot, and is never dull. This is a real gift, as Walton doesn't lecture, more shares with stories, examples and facts, that keep the reader flipping pages and wanting to know what happens, as if a novel not history. Each page is filled with interesting facts and information, and is never dull. I never realized the importance of signal intelligence and how much true information can be gained by that. Plus Walton's descriptions of what the Russians and Chinese steal from our industries, was surprising. I do love how it is accepted that Russia stole the 2016 election, and yet there does not seem to be any outrage, or complaint.

A very well-written book on spying that takes a lot of the mystique and mystery and peels it away. Coups, assassinations, overturning elections, makes not only a great thriller, but very exciting history. Highly recommended for history fans, espionage fans and thriller readers. Also this would be a great reference for writers, for ideas, story locations, and ways to drop facts either in spy stories, or historical fiction. And of course for Father's Day.