Product Description

Recruited by the KGB at Cambridge in the 1930s, Kim Philby made his way into the British Secret Intelligence Service. As a liaison officer in Washington for the CIA and FBI he revealed everything he'd learned to his Moscow bosses. This biography by his wife reveals the man behind the treachery.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3825288 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08-03
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The name of Kim Philby--along with Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, Anthony Blunt and George Blake--is synonymous with treachery: a spy, at the very heart of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), working for the Soviet Union. Plenty has been written about Philby, but very little about the years he spent in Moscow after he was unmasked and fled to his masters. This book redresses that balance.

About half of the book is a very personal account by Rufina Philby, his Russian wife for the last 18 years of his life. This tells little about Philby the spy, but a great deal about Philby the man: an Englishman to the last, exiled from his native land, increasingly lonely, unwilling to leave their apartment, utterly devoted to and dependent on his wife, 20 years younger than him, who struggled throughout their marriage to keep him from the bottle. It is a picture of a tormented man, frustrated by the KGB's reluctance to give him serious work to do; and also a remarkable inside view on the everyday difficulties of life in the Soviet Union. Senior KGB operatives were a regular part of their life, even accompanying them on holiday.

The book also contains two chapters of the unfinished second volume of Philby's autobiography, a lecture he gave to KGB officers, and an article entitled "Should Agents Confess?" In addition, there is a fascinating personal assessment of Philby by one of closest KGB colleagues. Finally, for readers confused by all the conflicting accounts of Philby's life and work, there is an extremely detailed and valuable critique of the many books, as well as a thoroughly annotated bibliography and chronology.

So how did Philby appear in his Moscow days? "To the occasional old friend who saw him, he remained the happy, even helpful, congenial rogue with his seedy charm intact," says editor Hayden Peake. And to Philby's favourite KGB student Michael Bogdanov, who writes the foreword to Rufina Philby's memoir, Philby's hallmark was an essentially British integrity; aged 20 "Philby swore to be true to the ideals of Communism, an oath he never betrayed." --David V. Barrett

About the Author
Rufina Philby was married to Kim Philby up to his death in Moscow in 1988 where she continues to live.

Customer Reviews

A NEW ANGLE ON A FAMOUS SUBJECT
This is an extraordinary addition to other material on Kim Philby, the most well-known of the so-called 'Cambridge Spies'. Written by his widow, who was married to him for 18 years and shared his life in Moscow, the book is a candid, humorous, and startling account of Philby as a man, rather than as a spy. Unlike Philby's own book, My Silent War, which is dry and reticent, this is an intimate portrait, documenting the Philbys' bizarre life under KGB surveillance, social and political restrictions, and Kim's personal troubles with alcoholism. Including additional writings from Philby himself and former KGB friends, the book sheds an interesting light on life in the Soviet Union under the Communist regime, as well as on the personality and motivations of this most famous secret agent. It is also a moving testament to the Philby's love story. Whether you think Philby was a monster or a hero, this is essential reading.

L'Envoi on the Life of a Spy
This book represents an important contribution to the scholarship on Harold Adrian Russell Philby for various reasons, one of the most important being that it consists of several books in one.

First, there is his widow Rufina's account, which gives us a loving (but never maudlin) glimpse into their Moscow life and travels around the Soviet Union during the last twenty years of his life. Rufina does not hide the fact that they were under constant surveillance by the KGB; nor is she reticent about the difficulties of daily life in the Soviet Union.

Next, there are two unpublished chapters from Philby's autobiography, which not only recount his childhood but also provide insight into his recruitment, including his relationship with his first Soviet mentors "Otto" and "Theo" and his early association in espionage not only with Burgess but also with Maclean (It is often claimed that Philby was not really acquainted with Maclean at Cambridge). Philby also relates how Burgess "badgered" his way into Soviet espionage, because he did not like to be left out of anything that his friends were doing [p. 230]. These unpublished chapters are especially important because the editor has included in parentheses Kim Philby's original words, which he then emended, in the typescript. The reader can therefore follow his processes of thought and revisions as he wrote his manuscript.

There is also a series of fascinating photos: of Philby at his portable typewriter; of his comfortable book-lined Moscow apartment, complete with Burgess' wing-back armchair and Tommy Harris' antique Spanish table. One also sees the Piranese engraving of the Antonine column in Rome, sent to him anonymously by Anthony Blunt in the 1970s (the subject providing a clue to the name of the sender). In one photo, which shows Philby in his last years, drinking tea next to a samovar, he has lost that hunted and haunted look that marks his photo-portraits during the Beirut years. A final photo, which shows Kim Philby in his coffin, prompts one to wonder whether he had any idea that the system for which he had devoted thirty years of his life would outlive him by only three years.

Finally, there is ex-CIA officer Hayden Peake's insightful commentary on the literature written about Kim Philby and Peake's annotated bibliography, which has 157 entries. His chronology of the spy's life from his birth in 1912 to his death in 1988 is outstanding.

The reader who is looking for the sensational revelations that the words "Private Life" of the title might suggest will be severely disappointed. For the serious reader, who is interested in the history of the twentieth century, this book is treasure trove.

much more than a bio-- the last word on the master spy
the memoirs of the master spys fourth wife reveal much about philbys hidden years afer his defection ot moscow. but there is much more here for the spy buff-- meticulous research by cia vet hayden peake, hitherto unpublished material by philb himself, including a deeply personal autobiographical fragment and a top secret lecture to the kgb, plus frank perspectives from two of his closest kgb associates on a man coming to terms with the reality of defection and isolation , his battles with drink, his failed suicide and finally with his wifes help the long road back.