The Secret History of MI6
1909-1949

A really long, fairly monotonous read. The author was hired by MI6 to go through their archives and write an official history of the organization--at least the parts that could be made available to the general public. To paraphrase Mr. Jeffrey early on in the book--a large portion of intelligence wo......more

From the beginning historian Keith Jeffery advises readers that The Secret History of MI6; 1909-1949 was directly commissioned by MI6. He was limited in time he could cover and in the records he could cite. He is only allowed to write about the first forty years of the agency, and could not refer to......more

This was an unsatisfying book. The author, an academic historian, was purportedly given unrestricted access to records through the second world war and used them primarily to reconstruct the changing administrative structure of the agency and its relations with other elements in the government. Impo......more

I would have skipped less of this shit if James Joyce had written it. What an unexpected trudge this was.......more

Aw, shoot. I have to abandon this at the end of WWII, about 16%/133pgs in. It's very, very dry. This is an official history-- the author had unfettered access to MI6's files from 1909 to 1949. Yet the history is remarkably hampered. The preface lets you know that: 1) the records are very spotty, 2) d......more