Regular price: $48.99

Membership details Membership details
  • A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook, free.
  • 1 credit/month after trial – good for any book, any price.
  • Easy exchanges – swap any book you don’t love.
  • Keep your audiobooks, even if you cancel.
  • After your trial, Audible is just $14.95/month.
OR
In Cart

People who bought this also bought...

The Spy and the Traitor audiobook cover art

  • The Spy and the Traitor

  • The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
  • By: Ben Macintyre
  • Narrated by: John Lee
  • Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars 187
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars 174
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars 172

Unfolding the delicious three-way gamesmanship between America, Britain, and the Soviet Union, and culminating in the gripping cinematic beat-by-beat of Oleg Gordievsky's nail-biting escape from Moscow in 1985, Ben Macintyre's latest may be his best yet. Like the greatest novels of John le Carré, it brings listeners deep into a world of treachery and betrayal, where the lines bleed between the personal and the professional, and one man's hatred of communism had the power to change the future of nations. 

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • Absolutely riveting story

  • By Rosemary on 09-25-18
The Sword and the Shield audiobook cover art

  • The Sword and the Shield

  • By: Christopher Andrew, Vasilli Mitrokhin
  • Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
  • Length: 31 hrs and 23 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 239
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 216
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 215

This book reveals the most complete picture ever of the KGB and its operations in the United States and Europe. It is based on an extremely top secret archive which details the full extent of its worldwide network. Christopher Andrew is professor of modern and contemporary history and chair of the history department at Cambridge University, a former visiting professor of national security at Harvard, a frequent guest lecturer at other United States universities, and a regular host of BBC radio and TV programs.

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • Great book on the history of the KGB

  • By Clydene on 05-28-12
Defend the Realm audiobook cover art

  • Defend the Realm

  • The Authorized History of MI5
  • By: Christopher Andrew
  • Narrated by: Robin Sachs
  • Length: 39 hrs and 43 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars 78
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars 50
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars 51

An unprecedented publishing event: to mark the centenary of its foundation, the British Security Service, MI5, has for the first time opened its archives to an independent historian. The book reveals the precise role of the Security Service in 20th-century British history, from its foundation by Captain Kell of the British Army in October 1909, through two world wars, up to and including its present roles in counterespionage and counterterrorism.

  • 4 out of 5 stars

  • A very throrough and impartial history.

  • By Matthew on 12-01-09
The Ghost audiobook cover art

  • The Ghost

  • The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton
  • By: Jefferson Morley
  • Narrated by: John Pruden
  • Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 97
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 87
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 86

In The Ghost, investigative reporter Jefferson Morley tells Angleton's dramatic story, from his friendship with the poet Ezra Pound through the underground gay milieu of mid-century Washington to the Kennedy assassination to the Watergate scandal. From the agency's MKULTRA mind-control experiments to the wars of the Mideast, Angleton wielded far more power than anyone knew.

  • 5 out of 5 stars

  • Flawed Superpatriot

  • By E. Hughes on 11-23-17
Operation Paperclip audiobook cover art

  • Operation Paperclip

  • The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America
  • By: Annie Jacobsen
  • Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
  • Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 552
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars 505
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 504

Drawing on exclusive interviews with dozens of Paperclip family members, colleagues, and interrogators, and with access to German archival documents (including papers made available to her by direct descendants of the Third Reich's ranking members), files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, and lost dossiers discovered at the National Archives and Harvard University, Annie Jacobsen follows more than a dozen German scientists through their postwar lives and into one of the most complex, nefarious, and jealously guarded government secrets of the 20th century.

  • 4 out of 5 stars

  • The Osenberg list

  • By Jean on 08-07-14
Five Families audiobook cover art

  • Five Families

  • The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires
  • By: Selwyn Raab
  • Narrated by: Paul Costanzo
  • Length: 33 hrs and 54 mins
  • Unabridged
  • Overall
    4.5 out of 5 stars 1,031
  • Performance
    4.5 out of 5 stars 928
  • Story
    4.5 out of 5 stars 917

Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo, and Lucchese. For decades these Five Families ruled New York and built the American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) into an underworld empire. Today, the Mafia is an endangered species, battered and beleaguered by aggressive investigators, incompetent leadership, betrayals, and generational changes that produced violent, unreliable leaders and recruits.

  • 4 out of 5 stars

  • 7326451

  • By Mark on 10-13-16

Publisher's Summary

Keith Jeffery’s fascinating and revealing account draws on a wealth of archival materials never before seen by any outsider to unveil the inner workings of the world’s first spy agency. Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service—or MI6—was born a century ago amid rising fears of foreign military powers, especially Germany. The next 40 years saw MI6 taking an increasingly important—and, until now, largely hidden—role in shaping the history of Europe and the world.
©2010 Keith Jeffery (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

More from the same

Narrator

What members say

Average Customer Ratings

Overall

  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    12
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    6

Performance

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    14
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    1

Story

  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    2
Audible.com Reviews
Amazon Reviews
Sort by:
  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Eugene
  • Bonney Lake, WA, United States
  • 05-29-11

How to make the fascinating totally boring!

This is not a book that lends itself to the audio format. It is jammed full of facts with little or no real insights into the personalities of the people involved. Having recently read A Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner, I anticipated a book of comparable interest. I found myself drifting off mentally and losing interest. The narrator adds little with his flat, upper crust OxBridge accent. It may well be an excellent source book for scholars, but for the casual reader seeking to understand the development of the British secret service it is far too involved in the minutia. You rapidly loose the forest as the author examines each tree in detail.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • David
  • Mountlake Terrace, WA, United States
  • 05-16-11

Too Much Irrelevant Detail

I bought this book expecting a history of the often amazing intelligence activities of MI6 during the first half of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, this book pays more attention to political bickering among organizations in the British government about MI6 than it does to what MI6 actually did. The section on the first world war is particularly dull and basically skips everything MI6 did during the war to focus on how MI6 was organized and who controlled it. People wanting to hear interesting stories about espionage should shop elsewhere.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Like reading a budget report

Good for 15 minute sessions when trying to fall asleep. There is no "story" to hold your attention.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Small beginnings

Any additional comments?

I couldn't get through this book. The story was so confined/small during it's early stages it didn't interest me. In fairness, the full story might build and be of interest. But it's early stages seemed too mundane for me to expend the time to hear the whole story.