The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War

Name: The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War
Brand: Harper UK
Availability: InStock
Author: Marcia Mitchell
ISBN: 9780008355715

Author: Marcia Mitchell, Thomas Mitchell

Narrator: Harriet Dunlop

Unabridged: 6 hr 59 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: William Collins

Published: 08/20/2019

Categories: Nonfiction, Political Science, Intelligence & Espionage, True Crime, Espionage, History, Wars, Iraq War, Biography & Autobiography, Political Biography, Women

Synopsis

INSPIRATION FOR THE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FEATURING A NEW INTRODUCTION In January 2003, 28-year-old GCHQ translator Katharine Gun received an email from the US National Security Agency that would turn her world upside down. The message requested Katharine’s assistance in co-ordinating an illegal US-UK spy operation which would secure UN authorisation for the Iraq invasion. Horrified, she decided to leak the information to the British press. Katharine’s decision would change her life forever, as she was arrested under the Official Secrets Act whilst becoming a cause célèbre for political activists. is the definitive account of a whistleblower case that reads like a thriller, and will ask you the same question that was asked of Katharine that cold January day – where do your true loyalties lie?

Reviews

Goodreads review by ☘Misericordia☘ on December 17, 2019

Wow! This is quite a mind-blowing story!......more

Goodreads review by James on February 25, 2016

Well-rounded, fascinating, and inspiring. The authors go beyond relating the story of Katharine Gun's whistle-blower leak of an NSA message to their counterpart organization in the UK, the GCHQ, asking Britain to collaborate in illegally bugging the delegates of other UN Security Council members to......more

Goodreads review by Lynn on February 19, 2016

Arm Chair Generals ... those in the US Congress and Executive office anyway, needed to be stopped! I'm glad that Katharine had the guts to say, "Wait a minute ... that's a bald-faced lie." As those were the very same words I was uttering during the whole lead-up to the invasion, although I didn't ha......more

Goodreads review by Julie on July 20, 2009

I was fascinated by this book. Normally I don't read current events books until they've faded into distant memory; but when Katherine Gun was charged and she in turn accused the US and Blair of conspiring to spy on UN members and pressuring them to align with their goal of war against Iraq, I rememb......more

Goodreads review by storytime-reviews on April 10, 2020

This is the true story that the Keira Knightley film, Official Secrets, is based on. When Katharine Gun reads a memo detailing efforts to spy on and blackmail key members of the UN into voting to invade Iraq, she barely hesitates to leak it. Unfortunately, Gun’s leak doesn’t stop the war, however, t......more

Quotes

‘. It is fitting tribute to the courage of Katharine Gun, who blew the whistle on transatlantic dirty tricks at the highest levels of government in London and Washington. ’ Martin Bright, Books of the Year