Calder Walton is one of the world's leading intelligence historians. He is editor-in-chief of the Cambridge History of Espionage and Intelligence, to be published by Cambridge University Press in three volumes, which will be a landmark study in the global history of intelligence. Currently the Assistant-Director of the Applied History Project at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Calder holds a PhD in History from Trinity College Cambridge, where he wrote his first, award winning, and widely acclaimed book, Empire of Secrets: British Intelligence, Cold War, and the Twilight of Empire (Harper Press 2013). While pursuing a PhD and postdoctoral fellowship at Cambridge, Calder was a principal researcher on Christopher Andrew's unprecedented, authorized, centenary history of the British Security Service, Defence of the Realm (Penguin 2009). This research position provided Calder, for six years, with unique access to British intelligence records. Calder is a regular commentator on intelligence and national security matters in news and media outlets both sides of the Atlantic. Calder is also a qualified English barrister and has worked on several high-profile litigation cases involving defence and security matters, providing him with expertise in the legal issues of intelligence.
An engrossing history of the century-long intelligence war between
the US, Britain and Russia... crisp and authoritative
*Financial Times*
Spies has scholarly clout as well as an insider feel... It is
hardly news that the Soviet Union spied a lot. But there are few
accounts as comprehensive as this one, spanning the Bolshevik
revolution to the present day, while weaving in new archival
material, some declassified as recently as 2022
*The Economist*
A pioneering study of espionage from 1917 to the present day...
Walton distinguishes himself from many other writers in the field
of intelligence studies by scrutinising the real impact that
espionage, whether Western or Soviet, had on international
relations
*Literary Review*
Gripping as a spy thriller, accessible and well-researched as the
best history, this is an epic account of the global espionage game
between Russia and America from Lenin to Putin, a world history
through spying
*Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The World: A Family History of
Humanity*
A vivid account of intelligence skulduggery... Walton is incisive
in his analyses... A gripping, authoritative work
*Kirkus, starred review*
4 stars... The book goes from an age when the West saw spying as
ungentlemanly, and was on the back foot, up to today - and warns we
are already in a cold war with China and must act before it's too
late
*Sun*
Spies is therefore not just a book about espionage or even
intelligence, but also an ambitious and impressive account of the
changing nature of information
*Times Literary Supplement*
Walton seems to have rushed to every archive, East and West, just
as the archivist turned the key in the lock so that he could blow
the dust off long-held secrets. His pages crackle with the electric
thrill of discovery... People may debate Walton's judgement on
particular episodes in the cold war, but thanks to his astoundingly
deep research they will do so armed with invaluable new
information
*New York Review of Books*
Walton engagingly charts the complex interactions between the
intelligence services of the United Kingdom, the United States, and
the Soviet Union (and its successor, Russia) over more than a
century... enlivened by original research and sharp writing
*Foreign Affairs, Best Books of 2023*
The big book has no longueurs, and even gains momentum as it turns
to the present day. Mr Putin's invasion of Ukraine serves as a
capstone to Mr. Walton's century long story, though he knows that
the Cold War between Russia and America will not be the story of
the 21st century. Accordingly, he looks to shed light on America's
rivalry with China
*Wall Street Journal*
A masterpiece! The intelligence report on Russia and Ukraine in
February 1922 with which Spies begins could have been written on
the eve of Putin's invasion a hundred years later in February 2023.
A major obstacle to understanding the current crisis, triumphantly
overcome by Calder Walton, is Historical Attention-Span Deficit
Disorder. As Spies vividly demonstrates, we are living through the
latest stage of an Epic Intelligence War Between East and West
which began a century ago and shows no sign of ending.
*Christopher Andrew, author of The Defence of the Realm: The
Authorized History of MI5*
Spies is the book we have all been waiting for. Calder Walton is
one of the leading intelligence historians of his generation, and
his epic account - replete with human drama and tragedy - shows
that Russia's struggle against the west neither began with the Cold
War nor ended with the disintegration of the Soviet Union. This
volume will engross the general reader and policy makers alike, not
least because it provides an unsettling window into the behaviour
of the second challenger, the People's Republic of China.
*Professor Brendan Simms, Cambridge University*
Spies grabs you from the opening page and never lets go. One of our
foremost historians of the East-West intelligence war takes us deep
inside this grand and often spine-chilling struggle, which predated
the Cold War and still rages today. Authoritative, sweeping, chock
full of fresh and riveting details, this is a gem of a book.
*Fredrik Logevall, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Embers of
War*
Calder Walton's deeply researched and artfully crafted book offers
a masterclass in twentieth-century and contemporary history. It is
rich with trenchant analysis, surprising details, cautionary tales,
and unique insight into the 'hundred years war' between American
and Russian intelligence agencies. Spanning the Bolshevik
Revolution to the war in Ukraine, it is essential reading for
anyone trying to understanding the complicated trajectory of
current events
*Fiona Hill, deputy assistant to the U.S. president and senior
director for European and Russia on the U.S. National Security
Council from 2017 to 2019*
Calder Walton has written the definitive compendium of intelligence
operations in the Cold War, and their critical, if hidden,
influence in shaping events and outcomes
*Paul Kolbe, former chief of CIA's Central Eurasian Division*
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