Spies in History From the Ancient World to the Silver Screen

Secret agents, spies and intelligence throughout history

"The public appetite for spies, both real and fictional, seems inexhaustible.  But where and when did spying begin, and how has the art and craft of espionage developed over the centuries? Spies in History is a collection of portraits of some of the most famous spies we know, but it also contains some lesser-known and more surprising names. Included are, amongst others, Rahab, the Canaanite woman in the Bible who assists the Israelites before they attack Jericho;  Thomas Phelippes, a brilliant cryptographer and skilled handler of secret agents in the Elizabethan Age; and Noël Coward, the famous playwright  and singer who used his fame to influence American public and political opinion in favour of helping Britain during the Second World War.  A remarkable line-up of distinguished historians, scholars and  writers from around the world examine the evolution of intelligence  and counter-intelligence  from the ancient world via the Cold War to the  age of Putin, Trump and Xi Jinping, to reveal the truth about espionage  and the myths that surround it."
 

Paul Lay, senior editor at Engelsberg Ideas and contributor to The Times, The Telegraph, and Literary Review. British historian and academic. He has been a professor of early modern British history at the University of Leeds since 2012.

Jessica Frazier is a lecturer at Oxford University and the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. She explores philosophical themes of ontology, selfhood and flourishing across cultures. She is the founding editor of the Journal of Hindu Studies, contributes to British media, and her books include Hindu Worldviews: Theories of Self, Ritual and Divinity; Categorisation in Indian Philosophy: Thinking Inside the Box and Reality, Religion, and Passion: Indian and Western Approaches in Hans-Georg Gadamer and Rupa Gosvami.