KGB

The first and best authoritative history of the KGB, from its origins after the Russian Revolution, to the crumbling of the Soviet bloc in the Gorbachev era. With chapters on 'Stalin and Spy-mania', the Cambridge spy ring, the Cold War, the 'Decline and Fall of Detente' this also explores operations against Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, Fidel Castro, Bulgarian assassination squads and the disintegration of the Soviet bloc.

Christopher Andrew is an academic and expert in the history of security and intelligence agencies. Co-author Oleg Gordievsky, arguably the world's most important spy since WW2, had unique access to top-secret documents and inteligence during his 23 years in the KGB. Christopher Andrew, an expert in the history of security and intelligence agencies

First published in 1990, this remains the definitive account of the Soviet Union's secret intelligence service, and will be fascinating for any reader interested in discovering how Putin's Russia was formed.



Christopher Andrew is an Emeritus Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Cambridge, with an interest in international relations and particularly the history of the intelligence services. His twelve books include a number of studies on the use and abuse of secret intelligence in modern history.

Oleg Gordievsky was a colonel of the KGB who became resident-designate and bureau chief in London. Gordievsky was a double agent, providing information to MI6 from 1974 to 1985. After being recalled to Moscow under suspicion, he was exfiltrated from the Soviet Union in July 1985 under a plan code-named Operation Pimlico. He died in March 2025.