What makes someone betray their country, their friends, everything they have been brought up to value? This book will focus on the critical moment in a spy’s life: that split-second when they decide to embrace a double life; to cheat and hide and hurt; to risk disgrace – even death – without any guarantee of being rewarded or even recognised. Each chapter will centre on a different spy, following the path they took that lead, finally, to their treachery. Were they propelled by personal convictions? Blackmailed and left without a choice? Too desperate for money to think about the consequences? It will offer a compelling psychological portrait of these men and women, homing unerringly on the fault-lines and shady corners of their characters, their weaknesses and their strengths, the lies they tell other people, and the lies they always end up telling themselves.
The Anatomy of a Traitor: A History of Espionage and Betrayal
