Russian roulette
Subtitle: how British spies thwarted Lenin's plot for global revolution
By: Giles Milton
Edition: First U.S. edition.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 378
ISBN-13: 9781620405680
Subjects: British Espionage; Influence; Foreign relations; History
Description: "In 1917, a band of communist revolutionaries stormed the Winter Palace of Tsar Nicholas II, a dramatic and explosive act marking that Vladimir Lenin's communist revolution was now underway. But Lenin would not be satisfied with overthrowing the Tsar. His goal was a global revolt that would topple all Western capitalist regimes starting with the British Empire. This book tells the story of the British spies in revolutionary Russia and their mission to stop Lenin's red tide from washing across the free world. They were an eccentric cast of characters, led by Mansfield Cumming, a one-legged, monocle-wearing former sea captain, and included novelist W. Somerset Maugham, beloved children's author Arthur Ransome, and the dashing, ice-cool Sidney Reilly, the legendary Ace of Spies and a model for Ian Fleming's James Bond. Cumming's network would pioneer the field of covert action and would one day become Britain's Military Intelligence 6 (MI -6) -- From book jacket.
Notes: Originally published: London, England : Sceptre, 2013.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 343-364) and index.
Table of contents: title: The villain; title: Shooting in the Dark. Murder in the dark ; The Chief ; The perfect spy ; Know thy enemy.; title: Masters of Disguise. The man with three names ; A double life ; Mission to Tashkent ; Going underground ; Vanishing trick ; The plot thickens ; A deadly game ; Toxic threat .; title: The Professional Spy. Master of disguise ; The lethal M device ; Agent in danger ; Dirty tricks ; Army of God ; Winner takes all.