Espionage and Covert Operations: A Global History

By: Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius

Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Step into the real world of the spy with this detailed and unforgettable tour of the millennia-long history and enduring legacy of espionage and covert operations. While most of us associate this top-secret subject with popular fiction and film, its true story is more fascinating, surprising, and important than you could possibly imagine.

These 24 thrilling lectures survey how world powers have attempted to work in the shadows to gain secret information or subvert enemies behind the scenes. Filled with stories and insights that will change the way you think about world history's most defining events, this course lets you peer inside a subject whose truths most people are unaware of.

Professor Liulevicius introduces you to the inner workings of covert organizations, including the Oprichnina, a feared secret service established by tsar Ivan the Terrible in the 1500s in an effort to cleanse Russia of treasonous activities; the CIA, established in 1947 by President Truman to replace the Office of Secret Services to be in charge of all intelligence collection – and which had an embarrassing early history; and Mossad, Israel's version of the CIA, which won a series of key intelligence victories during the cold war and over terror attacks and hostage crises in the second half of the 20th century.

You'll also meet famous – and infamous – spies, including Sir Francis Walsingham, Mata Hari, and Kim Philby. In this stirring series of lectures, you'll study the psychological motives behind spies, the ethics of cyber warfare and corporate espionage, the question of whether we now live in a surveillance society, and more.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2011 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2011 The Great Courses

Most Enjoyable

I enjoyed this thoroughly! The material is fascinating and the professor does a great job all around. High replay value as well.

A superb overview of espionage

Professor Liulevicius has a number of courses available through the Great Courses series; this is the first one I listened to via Audible, but as an aside I'm so glad those two have partnered to bring GC's excellent material directly to the Audible channel. I enjoy Professor Liulevicius's thorough survey of the material, serious assessment of historical trends and how these affect us today, as well as his occasional humor. He's the kind of professor that makes me want to fly out to Tennessee or wherever he teaches and audit one or more of his classes. I mark a good lecture series as how many notes I make for followup of things to go learn more about or read later, and this probably set a new record. I look forward to more from Professor Liulevecius and the Great Courses series.

fun fun

the seaker was entertaining to listen to and made it easy to follow along with the topic at hand. I'm kinda sad it's over haha

Spy Fun

I like spy thrillers, and getting a behind the scenes view of how real spies operate was fun and interesting for me.

just as cool as I expected

just plane interesting and fun! especially if you're a history fan, you won't regret this purchase

Overall not bad

Covered lots of topics and history…. Could have more inside info if possible… But author seemed to know subject matter v well.

most excellent

informative & entertaining
learned so much, both past & present...
highly recommended
great voice

From uninterested to big fan

Would you listen to Espionage and Covert Operations: A Global History again? Why?

Yes, and I will do it quite soon I think, and will look for the suggested readings in the reference PDF.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Espionage and Covert Operations: A Global History?

Everything was great, but I was really anticipating world war 2 and the cold war since both were famous for their spies, and when that part of the course came, it was as good as I expected.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Oh, whenever he talked about slave spies (during the civil war) I got really moved.

Any additional comments?

I was never a fan of spying, but bought this course only to have a few anecdotes talk about with friends, and to have fun references when doing something creative, but this course really got my attention and now I want to read so much more about spies, be they real or fictional.
My only problem with the course is that is so short that he never details much of the histories, for that you have to look for specific books on the subjects (he recommends a bunch during the lectures and the accompanying PDF).
Still, if you are new to spy history, the is no better start.

It was a good course but not great

I'm glad I listened to it but it wasn't awesome. it was a good overview but very little depth. I would buy it again.

A fun course

What about Professor Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius’s performance did you like?

I found his presentation extremely entertaining. He had a nice voice, and was very relaxed. I really felt like he was telling us a story rather than a lecture.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Too long for all one setting, but it was interesting enough I went through it in just a few days.

Any additional comments?

I listened to this just for fun, and really enjoyed it. The course starts way back in history, all the way to the days of Mesopotamia, and moves forward through time to today. If you are looking for a fun course you'll really enjoy this.