My Silent War: The Autobiography of a Spy

Review: My Silent War: The Autobiography of a Spy by Kim Philby — a monster unmasked

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But, most of this is dull reading, like a job application listing work history augmented by a list of people Philby worked with and for, including his brief assessments of their abilities and intelligence. We little lttle of what he accomplished for his overt British employers, and almost nothing about what he did for his covert Soviet employers. And, of course, Philby was tooting his own horn to the extent his Soviet employer This is obviously must reading for anyone interested in this subject.

And, of course, Philby was tooting his own horn to the extent his Soviet employers and censors would allow. I read the edition. The Philip Knightley intro of adds a fair bit of insight that Philby did not offer. I think Philby did provide a more realistic view of the Soviet threat than most USAns ever had, and while that served the Soviet viewpoint, I grew up with the US viewpoint and after my engineering career in the "defense" business I agree with him more than not. However, this is a very small part of this book.

May 30, Serhii Khalymon rated it really liked it. Yes, but not many of us have worked with a government to deprive individuals of their life or liberty. Eighteen young men were parachuted into Eastern Europe and, thanks to Philby, were never heard from again. It's a cold book and I couldn't help thinking that Philby's greatest crime was taking it all too seriously "'He betrayed his country' — yes, perhaps he did, but who among us has not committed treason to something or someone more important than a country?

It's a cold book and I couldn't help thinking that Philby's greatest crime was taking it all too seriously. He takes great joy in pointing out how ineffectual the services were and how most agents spent huge amounts of time receiving generous salaries for doing nothing. Philby demonstrates that he worked hard, driving around Turkey and taking countless photos of the border with the USSR. But perhaps it would have been better if he'd been more like the others? One of the senior G-men I met in Washington claimed to have had a grandpappy who kept a general store at Horse Creek, Missouri.

They were therefore whisky-drinkers, with beer for light refreshment. By contrast, CIA men flaunted cosmopolitan postures. They would discuss absinthe and serve Burgundy above room temperature. This is not just flippancy. It points to a deep social cleavage between the two organisations," This book is worth reading if only to provide a personal perspective on the shadow war during WWII and the early Cold War.

An abundance of official relationships to individuals who are no longer prominent and laying out the organization of early British espionage via acronyms can make reading a little confusing but a guide at the front for the latter does help. Philby begins his espionage career in Spain prior to WWII and the confusion of the war makes it easy for anyone with some connections to This book is worth reading if only to provide a personal perspective on the shadow war during WWII and the early Cold War. Philby begins his espionage career in Spain prior to WWII and the confusion of the war makes it easy for anyone with some connections to get in.

The organization is rife with petty rivalries and incompetents. His characterizations of Hoover FBI , Angleton CIA , and Allen Dulles CIA along with a host of other players and officials provides interesting sketches of individuals and how their personal quirks can affect the functioning of bureaucratic organizations. Philby notes an extreme dislike for Hoover and his organization's use of blackmail of American citizens to maintain his grip on power. Not until his posting to Washington and Burgess' defection does Philby allude to his covert association with the USSR as well as possible knowledge of the activities of Burgess and Maclean.

He spends a fair amount of time discussing his interrogations and his bouts with the media once he came under suspicion but does not provide underlying reasons for his treason other than his motivation was not money.

Jul 04, Ken rated it liked it. I was expecting so much more of this book since Kim Philby was the most notoriously successful spy of the entire Cold War era, and quite possibly the most important secret agent who ever lived. And, it's not that Philby can't write, because he really can, yet his choice of material and his impartial approach seems to render his extraordinary life almost dry and dull.

Kim Philby was a secret lifelong Soviet Communist who became the head of the British secret service, MI6, and betrayed or serious I was expecting so much more of this book since Kim Philby was the most notoriously successful spy of the entire Cold War era, and quite possibly the most important secret agent who ever lived.

Kim Philby was a secret lifelong Soviet Communist who became the head of the British secret service, MI6, and betrayed or seriously compromised nearly all covert activity by every agent operating for the Americans and British, yet managed to remain in place and undetected for almost three decades. However, Philby's book never rises above, 'just the facts', and completely lacks emotional depth. This book should have been a thrill a minute, but comes across almost as flat and passionless as a Wikipedia entry.

John le Carre based his Smiley character on Kim Philby, and I think that the fictionalized account provides more realism than Philby's own autobiography. And this is most unfortunate since Kim Philby was a writer of exceptional quality, and I'm mystified that he chose to tell the story of his most exceptional life with such a dearth of excitement. Jul 04, Murray rated it it was ok.

My Silent War: The Autobiography of a Spy

I hated the first three-quarters if this book and nearly abandoned it. Nothing worse than boring and confusing, with very little to take away. I had heard of Philby before and was expecting a much more interesting story with a lot of intrigue and adventure. I would have probably been better off reading a book about Philby rather than his autobiography The last 50 pages were more interesting and also the only thing that prevented me from giving this true spy story only one star.

I would have like I hated the first three-quarters if this book and nearly abandoned it. I would have liked to have learned more about the global and historical implications of Philby's espionage. He is, after all, considered one of the greatest spies of all time. But, by the end of this book, I barely can tell why. Jan 25, Charles rated it did not like it.

While the writing is good and the book is fascinating, I can't give more than one star to Philby because he's one of the most despicable human beings ever to draw breath. Thousands died due to his treachery and he tells the whole tale as if he's having tea and crumpets with you in the English fog. This first hand source is an exciting read for Cold War enthusiasts, although should be entered into advisedly. Written by Philby himself from his flat in Moscow - not long after his "defection". I say defection, but in actual fact he'd been a committed member of the Soviet secret service since young adulthood and therefore describes himself as a straightforward "penetration agent" rather than a double agent.

Written, as it is, from the perspective of an extant and ascendant Soviet Union, it does This first hand source is an exciting read for Cold War enthusiasts, although should be entered into advisedly. Written, as it is, from the perspective of an extant and ascendant Soviet Union, it doesn't contain any juicy exposition on the methods and mentalities of communist espionage. In fact, its almost possible to forget Philby is a working for the Soviets at all - although he discretely references his Soviet "colleagues" from time to time.

The purpose of the book is plainly to embarrass the British and American secret services as much as possible, not to enlighten the reader as to the inner life of an arch-traitor. Most of this book discusses the ins and outs of the formation of M16 under the pressures of WWII and is an interesting and informative document on that subject, irrespective of the significance of Kim Philby in the Cold War imagination.

For those ardent communist historians and ideologues, there are some nice moments of left wing exposition, mostly confined to the introduction. Especially a particularly lucid paragraph about why he endured in his secret, yet total, commitment to communism "even when it became clear things were going badly wrong" in the Soviet Union, and his view that the USSR was the "inner fortress of the movement" and must be defended at all costs. All in all, not one for the casual reader seeking a bracing spy story, but will be of considerable interest to those with prior knowledge seeking a genuine if carefully delineated first hand account.

Nov 10, Tone rated it liked it Shelves: While academically interesting, this is a dry read. Either he left out the most interesting stuff, or real tradecraft isn't all that interesting in of itself. I suspect the latter. I liked how he dismissed people as they left his autobiography. There will be a line like, "Henry and I never crossed paths again.

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He was killed when the submarine transporting him to Morocco was sunk by the Germans. Aug 26, Joseph rated it liked it. Self-serving and sometimes frustratingly vague, Philby's memoir is still valuable for its author's style and humor. For all his supposed disdain for the West, Philby remains unmistakably English, with a biting wit and scabarous sarcasm that can only be the result of British privilege and an Oxbridge education.

One of the best things about this autobiography, aside from all the detail, is his vivid character descriptions: Jun 19, James Warfe rated it liked it. Philby only partially opens the door on his exciting life's story. Given the vintage it has since been superseded by more in depth and cutting summaries of his life and that of Burgess and McLean. Oct 11, Lena Donan rated it liked it Shelves: Aug 13, Rich rated it really liked it. Worth reading for the final 2 chapters, on Philby's "escape" - amazing insight into the contrasting lifestyle of a spy.

Nov 07, Joseph Pfeffer rated it really liked it. Truth may not be stranger than fiction. In the case of My Silent War, it is both more outrageous and less plausible. Kim Philby was the master double agent of all time. For a good fifteen years, he was at the heart of the British-American espionage effort against the Soviet Union. He rose to the top of the MI6-SIS, whichever you want to call it, network, and was the main point man in dealing with the Byzantine complexities and constant backbiting between the FBI and the CIA and other American sp Truth may not be stranger than fiction.

Philby was urbane, witty, a close observer of everything that went on around him, and the ultimate old line British upper class scion. Nothing about him suggested that he was anything but a privileged insider in the Anglo-American diplomatic establishment. Yet the entire time he was a Soviet double agent, with access to the most inner secrets of the West during the cold war. He funneled more information to the designated enemy more than any spy in history, yet never lost his legendary British cool, even long after his role was at last unearthed.

In the mid-sixties he escaped to Russia, where he lived out his life as an honored foreigner and wrote his memoirs. For all his machinations, Philby may be remembered best as a writer. He started his career, and his ineffable style, as a journalist, editing a Nazi paper in Austria, then covering the Spanish Civil War thanks to the generous contributions of Generalissimo Franco.

All the while, he was a tireless worker for the other side. In his journalistic career, which he pursued both before and after he became a spy, he developed a writing style nearly equal to his friend Graham Greene, superior to John Le Carre, who based his entire output on Philby and his Cambridge Five. As a writer, Philby projects his personality to perfection.

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He is literary without overwriting, witty in a way that only a subtly snobbish Englishman of the upper class can be, and a devastating nailer of character. His method in introducing the many intelligence officers with whom he worked on both sides of the Atlantic is to give a couple of brief summary descriptive strokes that establish uniqueness, then put the person into interaction with others to add depth and complexity. No novelist has done it better.

One almost has the impression that Philby created his own bizarre character in order to be able to write about him and the impossible adventures in which he was involved. For all that, something is missing at the heart of My Silent War. We know what Kim Philby was like in public, but we have no idea who Kim Philby was.

What drove him to take his collegiate infatuation with the Soviet Union and turn it into a lifetime of treachery?

What made this quintessential Brahman dedicate his life to the workers' paradise which seemed so alien to his personality and background? How did he justify his actions as he maneuvered himself through the highest circles of British and American government, employing strategies that would be the model of double agent behavior for generations to come. Even last year, the film version of John Le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, based upon Philby's autobiography and quite inferior to it, garnered critical praise.

Perhaps we will never know what drove the inner Kim Philby as opposed to the outer one the world knows so well. But on one level it doesn't matter. He gave us some of the best autobiographical prose of the twentieth century.

In the end, that is what makes him immortal. Nov 12, Phoenix rated it liked it Shelves: Definitely worth reading if for only understanding the twisted and convoluted pathways the mind of a traitor can take. Philby was a loathsome,narcissistic, arrogant and self centered neurotic, who harboured precious little love for anyone or anything other than himself.

Throughout his book, he delivers tirades of scathing and disparaging remarks against the likes of J. Still "Harold" his true name was never on par with their stature. A surprising and most disappointing touch was the fawning introduction be Graham Greene, and wonders about his sanity and loyalty after reading his contribution. Nevertheless the book makes for good reading and the story is captivating.

It is essential to fight of the little jabs of distaste that Philby inspires as one traverses the pages. He considers himself the ultimate spy, the maleversion of Mata Hari personified. Constantly boasting of his prowess against the rival powers whom he has betrayed. His father was not much better and the fruit, as it can be seen, never fell far from the tree. He whines and moans over the apparent injustice he suffers at the hands of his courteous and controlled interrogators, and the reader wonders how he would have faired in present day conditions.

Toward the end of the story, once he has been unmasked, for all intents and purposes, the adjectives, "nasty," "ugly," pop up frequently, indicating the manifestation of sociopathic tendencies and a failure to see his own failures, preferring rather to place blame upon the rest of society. Very few people, other than Philby himself, escape his bile and wrath. Unfortunately Kim Philby did not live to see his communist dream crumble to ashes, rather he wasted away in his humble Moscow abode, unloved, unwanted and rejected.

Disrespected and rejected by his friends, colleagues and nation Kim Philby passed in the night without great ado just another wasted life filled with treason and bitterness, and perhaps that was his greatest punishment of all.

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