What do you think?
Rate this book
The Happy Traitor
The double agent George Blake, who was exposed by his employers MI6 in 1961, was an enigma even to those who knew him best. This biography depicts a charming rogue who considered himself committed to the international ‘anti-Nazi’ cause and was sentenced to 42 years in prison, before an audacious escape allowed him to flee to Russia.
288 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2021
55 people are currently reading
2560 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
Read
October 25, 2024An account of George Blake, largely based on a two-hour interview with him in his old age. It's really mostly worrying away at how and why. The author struggles to reconcile the two sides of Blake--a nice old man, genuine believer that Communism could have made the world better, non violent, whose actions directly and deliberately led to the killing of at least forty British agents at the hands of the KGB and Stasi. It pretty much sounds like Blake simply decided not to see those consequences.
In the end it feels sordid, futile, and kind of depressing. Not the book, which is well written and thoughtful, but the whole damn thing.
In the end it feels sordid, futile, and kind of depressing. Not the book, which is well written and thoughtful, but the whole damn thing.
January 15, 2022
George Blake died in 2020 aged 98. His death prompted this biography as Simon Kuper had promised that their interview would not be published during Blake’s lifetime.
Blake’s is a good story and here it is well told. Blake was born in 1922 to a Dutch mother and Jewish Egyptian father, who died when he was 13, having acquired a British passport through wartime army service. George grew up in Rotterdam and worked for the Dutch resistance for some of WW2 before escaping to England in 1943 where he was headhunted by MI6. After the war he trained at Cambridge as a Russian linguist and was granted permanent British status by his bosses who liked him. They did not realise he was a dedicated anti-Nazi and a British patriot. Whilst a prisoner in North Korea he became more pro-Communist and, once he’d returned to Cold War intelligence duties, he supplied the KGB with information that doomed scores of western agents in the East. He even betrayed the famous spy tunnel that the Americans dug under East Berlin.
Once uncovered as a spy he was sent to Wormwood Scrubs for a draconian 42 years however escaped after a few years and eventually made his way to East Germany. The court case and subsequent escape were on the front pages of the British papers for weeks. It’s an amazing story: a drunken Irish friend and a pair of peace activists managed to get him out. Later of the activists hid Blake under the seat of his camper van with his family in tow. After being dropped off in East Germany, Blake was based in the Soviet Union for the rest of his life.
There are just the bare facts, it’s the detail that is so fascinating and enjoyable. Blake’s story is much more intriguing and interesting than those of the Cambridge ring. Kuper is a great journalist and this account is very compelling and it really does justice to this complex and unusual character.
4/5
More about The Happy Traitor: Spies, Lies and Exile in Russia: The Extraordinary Story of George Blake (2021) by Simon Kuper is superb.
'A deeply human read, wonderfully written, on the foibles of a fascinating, flawed, treacherous and sort of likeable character.' Philippe Sands
Those people who were betrayed were not innocent people. They were no better nor worse than I am. It's all part of the intelligence world. If the man who turned me in came to my house today, I'd invite him to sit down and have a cup of tea.
George Blake was the last remaining Cold War spy. As a Senior Officer in the British Intelligence Service who was double agent for the Soviet Union, his actions had devastating consequences for Britain. Yet he was also one of the least known double agents, and remained unrepentant.
In 1961, Blake was sentenced to forty-two years imprisonment for betraying to the KGB all of the Western operations in which he was involved, and the names of hundreds of British agents working behind the Iron Curtain. This was the longest sentence for espionage ever to have been handed down by a British court.
On the surface, Blake was a charming, intelligent and engaging man, and most importantly, a seemingly committed patriot. Underneath, a ruthlessly efficient mole and key player in the infamous 'Berlin Tunnel' operation. This illuminating biography tracks Blake from humble beginnings as a teenage courier for the Dutch underground during the Second World War, to the sensational prison-break from Wormwood Scrubs that inspired Hitchcock to write screenplay.
Through a combination of personal interviews, research and unique access to Stasi records, journalist Simon Kuper unravels who Blake truly was, what he was capable of, and why he did it.
* * * * * * * * * *
Blake’s is a good story and here it is well told. Blake was born in 1922 to a Dutch mother and Jewish Egyptian father, who died when he was 13, having acquired a British passport through wartime army service. George grew up in Rotterdam and worked for the Dutch resistance for some of WW2 before escaping to England in 1943 where he was headhunted by MI6. After the war he trained at Cambridge as a Russian linguist and was granted permanent British status by his bosses who liked him. They did not realise he was a dedicated anti-Nazi and a British patriot. Whilst a prisoner in North Korea he became more pro-Communist and, once he’d returned to Cold War intelligence duties, he supplied the KGB with information that doomed scores of western agents in the East. He even betrayed the famous spy tunnel that the Americans dug under East Berlin.
Once uncovered as a spy he was sent to Wormwood Scrubs for a draconian 42 years however escaped after a few years and eventually made his way to East Germany. The court case and subsequent escape were on the front pages of the British papers for weeks. It’s an amazing story: a drunken Irish friend and a pair of peace activists managed to get him out. Later of the activists hid Blake under the seat of his camper van with his family in tow. After being dropped off in East Germany, Blake was based in the Soviet Union for the rest of his life.
There are just the bare facts, it’s the detail that is so fascinating and enjoyable. Blake’s story is much more intriguing and interesting than those of the Cambridge ring. Kuper is a great journalist and this account is very compelling and it really does justice to this complex and unusual character.
4/5
More about The Happy Traitor: Spies, Lies and Exile in Russia: The Extraordinary Story of George Blake (2021) by Simon Kuper is superb.
'A deeply human read, wonderfully written, on the foibles of a fascinating, flawed, treacherous and sort of likeable character.' Philippe Sands
Those people who were betrayed were not innocent people. They were no better nor worse than I am. It's all part of the intelligence world. If the man who turned me in came to my house today, I'd invite him to sit down and have a cup of tea.
George Blake was the last remaining Cold War spy. As a Senior Officer in the British Intelligence Service who was double agent for the Soviet Union, his actions had devastating consequences for Britain. Yet he was also one of the least known double agents, and remained unrepentant.
In 1961, Blake was sentenced to forty-two years imprisonment for betraying to the KGB all of the Western operations in which he was involved, and the names of hundreds of British agents working behind the Iron Curtain. This was the longest sentence for espionage ever to have been handed down by a British court.
On the surface, Blake was a charming, intelligent and engaging man, and most importantly, a seemingly committed patriot. Underneath, a ruthlessly efficient mole and key player in the infamous 'Berlin Tunnel' operation. This illuminating biography tracks Blake from humble beginnings as a teenage courier for the Dutch underground during the Second World War, to the sensational prison-break from Wormwood Scrubs that inspired Hitchcock to write screenplay.
Through a combination of personal interviews, research and unique access to Stasi records, journalist Simon Kuper unravels who Blake truly was, what he was capable of, and why he did it.
* * * * * * * * * *
March 13, 2021
The title should arguably have a question mark in it, as the book is essentially an examination of the extent to which Blake was indeed happy and/or a traitor. The first of these questions was for me the more interesting. In his interview with Kuper the elderly Blake professes to be content with his major life decisions and to nurse few regrets. Yet I don’t recall him using the word happy at any point, and there is a powerful undercurrent of sadness and longing for the England and Netherlands he is permanently exiled from.
This is not (and is not intended to be) an edge of the seat espionage thriller of the Ben Macintyre type. As those who are familiar with Simon Kuper’s journalism will expect, the style is flat and understated, with a keen eye for absurdity and hypocrisy (both Blake’s and of the societies that dismiss him as a traitor and/or celebrate him as a hero). On balance I think this is a worthwhile addition to a heavily ploughed stretch of historical terrain.
This is not (and is not intended to be) an edge of the seat espionage thriller of the Ben Macintyre type. As those who are familiar with Simon Kuper’s journalism will expect, the style is flat and understated, with a keen eye for absurdity and hypocrisy (both Blake’s and of the societies that dismiss him as a traitor and/or celebrate him as a hero). On balance I think this is a worthwhile addition to a heavily ploughed stretch of historical terrain.
Read
August 28, 2024I have read most of what is available on George Blake since I first became aware of his story in 1990 around the time his autobiography ‘No Other Choice’ was published and I was shocked by the very obvious bias contained in this book.
The author states that he secured an interview with Blake based on a promise that he would only publish it in Dutch and that he later negotiated with a friend of Blake’s Derk Sauer, that he would be allowed to publish it in English after Blake’s death. This is quite novel, the idea that you can negotiate contrary to something already agreed, not with the person you agreed it with but with someone who is merely a friend of theirs. And there the self-serving behaviour begins. There was no legal impediment to him publishing it in English after Blake’s death – he was honour bound not to do so.
The book is full of supposition, contradiction and deliberate slight against Blake, often in ways which are very childish. A picture of Blake in Russia not long after his escape showing him looking physically fit and happy is captioned “Here Blake proudly shows off his diligently exercised body; the Soviets hadn’t given him much else to do”.
At one point in the book, completely out of the blue, the author refers to Blake (who’s hospitality he was enjoying at his dacha outside Moscow) as a “half blind little geriatric”. The author even ascribes credit for the fact that ‘No Other Choice’ is an elegantly written book, to Kim Philby. In my 32 years of following this story never before have I heard Philby get credit and given Blake’s undisputed talent for languages why would anyone even think it?
The book contains two principle contradictory propositions; that Blakes work was unimportant as the Russians failed to utilise it, perhaps afraid of him being a treble agent, and the conflicting proposition that he revealed the identities of hundreds of British spies and caused the deaths of at least 40 (or as some said at the time of his trial 42, matching the 42 year sentence he received). This is the first time I have seen it proposed that Blake’s work was wasted. In practically ever other piece written on the subject he is painted as a person who did untold damage to Britain.
There are two absolutely critical aspects of Blake’s story that the British just don’t get over half a century later.
The first is that it is hypocritical in the extreme to employ a spy to recruit Soviet and East Germans to work against their own states and then condemn him, only for doing what they wanted him to encourage their enemies to do.
The second is that Blake was a traitor. Blake never betrayed Britain because, in his own words, “To betray, first you have to belong. I never belonged”. Kuper recently referred to Blake in the Financial Times as a “Briton raised in the Netherlands” but Blake was only considered British by virtue of the fact that his father had been granted British citizenship after serving in the British Army despite never even having lived in Britain. The link is made even more tenuous by the fact that Blake didn’t have much of a relationship with his father as, quite unusually, they never had a common language in which to communicate, his father speaking French and English and Blake (while his father was alive) speaking neither of these languages. His father was Jewish and was born in Constantinople and first served in the French Foreign Legion. Blake only lived in the Netherlands until his father died when he was twelve and then moved to live with his Aunt and her husband Henri Curiel (who was a politically active Communist) in Constantinople. Blake’s longest spell on British soil was the five years he spent locked up in Wormwood Scrubs. His Britishness was never asserted until it suited the narrative.
Towards the end of their interview the author asked Blake if there was anything he could send him from the West and Blake mentioned that if it were possible he would appreciate some Dutch herring or cheese. Despite admitting to having enjoyed their talk (not to mention getting a book out of it) and being charmed by Blake, the author later decided to renege on his promise. In the context of Blakes success working against British interests, this would seem to be a petty gesture of revenge.
It's a shame that the book wasn’t more credible as it contained previously unearthed content such as that from the Stasi archives which I would be interested in. I would recommend that anyone considering reading this book first read the other books on the subject by Blake himself, Pat Pottle and Michael Randle and Sean Bourke, so that you have some first hand knowledge of the story in advance of reading this.
The author states that he secured an interview with Blake based on a promise that he would only publish it in Dutch and that he later negotiated with a friend of Blake’s Derk Sauer, that he would be allowed to publish it in English after Blake’s death. This is quite novel, the idea that you can negotiate contrary to something already agreed, not with the person you agreed it with but with someone who is merely a friend of theirs. And there the self-serving behaviour begins. There was no legal impediment to him publishing it in English after Blake’s death – he was honour bound not to do so.
The book is full of supposition, contradiction and deliberate slight against Blake, often in ways which are very childish. A picture of Blake in Russia not long after his escape showing him looking physically fit and happy is captioned “Here Blake proudly shows off his diligently exercised body; the Soviets hadn’t given him much else to do”.
At one point in the book, completely out of the blue, the author refers to Blake (who’s hospitality he was enjoying at his dacha outside Moscow) as a “half blind little geriatric”. The author even ascribes credit for the fact that ‘No Other Choice’ is an elegantly written book, to Kim Philby. In my 32 years of following this story never before have I heard Philby get credit and given Blake’s undisputed talent for languages why would anyone even think it?
The book contains two principle contradictory propositions; that Blakes work was unimportant as the Russians failed to utilise it, perhaps afraid of him being a treble agent, and the conflicting proposition that he revealed the identities of hundreds of British spies and caused the deaths of at least 40 (or as some said at the time of his trial 42, matching the 42 year sentence he received). This is the first time I have seen it proposed that Blake’s work was wasted. In practically ever other piece written on the subject he is painted as a person who did untold damage to Britain.
There are two absolutely critical aspects of Blake’s story that the British just don’t get over half a century later.
The first is that it is hypocritical in the extreme to employ a spy to recruit Soviet and East Germans to work against their own states and then condemn him, only for doing what they wanted him to encourage their enemies to do.
The second is that Blake was a traitor. Blake never betrayed Britain because, in his own words, “To betray, first you have to belong. I never belonged”. Kuper recently referred to Blake in the Financial Times as a “Briton raised in the Netherlands” but Blake was only considered British by virtue of the fact that his father had been granted British citizenship after serving in the British Army despite never even having lived in Britain. The link is made even more tenuous by the fact that Blake didn’t have much of a relationship with his father as, quite unusually, they never had a common language in which to communicate, his father speaking French and English and Blake (while his father was alive) speaking neither of these languages. His father was Jewish and was born in Constantinople and first served in the French Foreign Legion. Blake only lived in the Netherlands until his father died when he was twelve and then moved to live with his Aunt and her husband Henri Curiel (who was a politically active Communist) in Constantinople. Blake’s longest spell on British soil was the five years he spent locked up in Wormwood Scrubs. His Britishness was never asserted until it suited the narrative.
Towards the end of their interview the author asked Blake if there was anything he could send him from the West and Blake mentioned that if it were possible he would appreciate some Dutch herring or cheese. Despite admitting to having enjoyed their talk (not to mention getting a book out of it) and being charmed by Blake, the author later decided to renege on his promise. In the context of Blakes success working against British interests, this would seem to be a petty gesture of revenge.
It's a shame that the book wasn’t more credible as it contained previously unearthed content such as that from the Stasi archives which I would be interested in. I would recommend that anyone considering reading this book first read the other books on the subject by Blake himself, Pat Pottle and Michael Randle and Sean Bourke, so that you have some first hand knowledge of the story in advance of reading this.
March 11, 2021
Viel me toch wat tegen. Het verhaal over de ontsnapping van spion Blake (Nederlandse wortels) uit een Britse gevangenis was gedetailleerd en spannend. De inhoud van zijn spionagewerk bleef daarentegen oppervlakkig. Wel veel ruimte voor Blake's verblijf in Rusland. De zeer uitvoerige literatuurlijst voegde weinig toe.
January 27, 2023
This book reminded me a lot of The Spy and the Traitor by Ben MacIntyre, but to me it was less impressive. That doesn't have anything to do with Kupers writing style for me, but I think that George Blake is just a bit "boring" (which is frequently hinted at in this book), especially for a double agent. Don't get me wrong, the book contained a lot of interesting aspects, especially the linguistic, political, and religious ones, but the rest was a bit "bland". It was illuminating to read about the reasons behind Blake's spying for the KGB and to gain a very small insight into his head.
July 24, 2021
Solidly researched, comprehensive and insightful, this is an illuminating and informative biography of double agent George Blake. Author Simon Kuper is a journalist, so it’s not surprising that he takes a more journalistic approach to his subject rather than writing a more scholarly cradle-to-grave biography, but it’s no less worthwhile for that. Kuper spent some time with Blake and these interviews are completely fascinating, adding to a more rounded portrait of an ultimately inscrutable man. Engaging, accessible and a really enjoyable read.
March 26, 2021
Zeer interessant verhaal maar niet echt lekker opgeschreven. Honderden voetnoten maken het niet fijn leesbaar.
August 30, 2021
The lives of many Cold War spies are fascinating - on the one hand, you have eccentric and unique people, highly intelligent and politically aware, who possess vast knowledge of multiple cultures and languages, are proficient in psychological manipulation and are usually morally confused. You get stories of intrigue, difficult life choices and tragic consequences, family dilemmas, cosmopolitan atmosphere, suspense and fear of being found out. On the other hand, the lives of these people reflect the story of a dramatic century, which follow, influence and are influenced by historical events.
This story is no different, and is made even more poignant by the fact that the author managed to interview Blake, the spy in the center of the book before he died. The whole story is wonderful, and Kuper does a good job in telling it. it was new for me to read what Blake had to say about his decisions and actions in hindsight, so many years after the fact. It explained things, but mainly shed light on his personality and way of looking at things, and about the state of mind of people involved in intelligence work at the time. I loved the focus Kuper put on the question of whether espionage is at all worth it. Whether it has any real impact on history and how things turn out.
A satisfying read.
This story is no different, and is made even more poignant by the fact that the author managed to interview Blake, the spy in the center of the book before he died. The whole story is wonderful, and Kuper does a good job in telling it. it was new for me to read what Blake had to say about his decisions and actions in hindsight, so many years after the fact. It explained things, but mainly shed light on his personality and way of looking at things, and about the state of mind of people involved in intelligence work at the time. I loved the focus Kuper put on the question of whether espionage is at all worth it. Whether it has any real impact on history and how things turn out.
A satisfying read.
January 12, 2023
A well-written, pacey read by a journalist who was probably the last person to interview Blake, and moreover could chat with him in his native Dutch.
Kuper doesn't dwell on the aspects of Blake's life explored in other biographies, for instance covering his 1943 naval service in four paragraphs and getting to his 1961 trial and conviction in the first 100 pages (out of 220). Instead he tries to understand the man, and arguably in the process is captivated by his legendary charm and erudition - something he recognises himself.
There is an ethical question here. Kuper promised Blake the book would be published only in Dutch, to spare his family's feelings. This English edition was released after Blake's death by agreement with his close friend, Moscow-based Sauer.
The narrative doesn't shy away from the damage Blake did, the deaths he was probably responsible for (while questioning how big an impact his work ultimately had) or his eventual disillusion. Unlike the Cambridge spies his very rootlessness enabled him to settle and adapt in almost any environment.
The book is well produced and some of the photos (from Blake's archive) have not, to my knowledge, been seen before. It's a pity they are embedded in text, which reduces the quality, and not extracted to a plate section.
Overall, a useful addition to the library.
Kuper doesn't dwell on the aspects of Blake's life explored in other biographies, for instance covering his 1943 naval service in four paragraphs and getting to his 1961 trial and conviction in the first 100 pages (out of 220). Instead he tries to understand the man, and arguably in the process is captivated by his legendary charm and erudition - something he recognises himself.
There is an ethical question here. Kuper promised Blake the book would be published only in Dutch, to spare his family's feelings. This English edition was released after Blake's death by agreement with his close friend, Moscow-based Sauer.
The narrative doesn't shy away from the damage Blake did, the deaths he was probably responsible for (while questioning how big an impact his work ultimately had) or his eventual disillusion. Unlike the Cambridge spies his very rootlessness enabled him to settle and adapt in almost any environment.
The book is well produced and some of the photos (from Blake's archive) have not, to my knowledge, been seen before. It's a pity they are embedded in text, which reduces the quality, and not extracted to a plate section.
Overall, a useful addition to the library.
December 2, 2021
I always enjoy a true story about spies during the Cold War and am fascinated with trying to understand the motives for all the treason and betrayal of family and country. George Blake was not one of the Cambridge Spy Ring but he was an interesting character nonetheless and this was a well written account of his life.
May 24, 2024
Kuper’s book about Blake retells his story while also comparing his actions with the statements he brings forward during their interview. He tries to maintain distance throughout the book but in my opinion I would have liked him to dig deeper into certain aspects.
May 16, 2023
Well researched life story of a very unpleasant and uncaring egotistical person.
February 18, 2021
A well told tale exploring the complex character and motivations of one of the KGB’s most valuable double agents. “Without [strong] attachment to [any one particular] country by birth, by growing up, by tradition, by education”, but rather having had each of those shaped by different countries, Blake became the quintessential ‘global citizen’ and learnt to adapt wherever fate took him, including Wormwood Scrubs. He found jovial happiness anywhere - no doubt much to the chagrin of the forty or more British agents whose life he destroyed.
May 15, 2022
A very enjoyable biography based on one of Blake's last interviews. Kuper grapples with Blake's inherent likeability (and relatability to a fellow with a similar religious, national and cosmopolitan background) with the realities that his information passing to USSR led to at least 40 deaths.
Interesting in particular was his assessment that maybe, on a more global level, Blake's actions had very little impact. A reflection on whether espionage during the Cold War really mattered or whether economics ultimately would have ensured history followed the same path regardless of any double agents.
Interesting in particular was his assessment that maybe, on a more global level, Blake's actions had very little impact. A reflection on whether espionage during the Cold War really mattered or whether economics ultimately would have ensured history followed the same path regardless of any double agents.
January 26, 2022
I love learning new Cold War facts, and this was a fun one! I love reading about the spies in this period but I will admit it can be a little dry...
But! I have fond memories of this book so it’s okay I guess.
But! I have fond memories of this book so it’s okay I guess.
February 19, 2021
Anything Kuper writes is worth reading and the story of George Blake is a story worth trying to tell.
Read
August 31, 2023George Blake, who died last year aged 98, is less well known than his fellow spies educated at Cambridge. He was not recruited by his peer group, he operated alone, he was not part of the Establishment and perhaps, as a result, he was treated more harshly than his fellow traitors.
An MI6 officer, apparently recruited by the Russians after being captured in 1950 during the Korean War, he was himself betrayed by a defector, Michael Goleniewski, in 1961. Sentenced to 42 years in prison, he escaped from Wormwood Scrubs in 1966 with the help of two peaceniks and an Irish petty criminal and spent over 50 years in Russian exile.
Simon Kuper, a Financial Times journalist, was given a three-hour interview in 2012 on the understanding that it would only appear in the Netherlands and that any book based on it would only appear after Blake’s death.
This is the result, supplemented by reading in the secondary literature, as well as newly discovered material on Blake’s wartime career in the Dutch Resistance, good use of Stasi files, interviews with a Dutch radio journalist and a documentary made in 2015.
Born in Rotterdam in 1922 and brought up there and by a Communist uncle in Cairo, Blake was caught between various identities: his father, a Levantine Jew from Constantinople, had acquired British citizenship. Kuper clearly established a good relationship with Blake and their shared background – part Dutch, part Jewish, part British – helps him understand Blake’s own ambivalent attitude to Britain and how Russia offered the homeland that his mixed heritage had denied him.
Read the full review at HistoryToday.com.
Andrew Lownie is the author of Stalin’s Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess (Hodder & Stoughton, 2016).
An MI6 officer, apparently recruited by the Russians after being captured in 1950 during the Korean War, he was himself betrayed by a defector, Michael Goleniewski, in 1961. Sentenced to 42 years in prison, he escaped from Wormwood Scrubs in 1966 with the help of two peaceniks and an Irish petty criminal and spent over 50 years in Russian exile.
Simon Kuper, a Financial Times journalist, was given a three-hour interview in 2012 on the understanding that it would only appear in the Netherlands and that any book based on it would only appear after Blake’s death.
This is the result, supplemented by reading in the secondary literature, as well as newly discovered material on Blake’s wartime career in the Dutch Resistance, good use of Stasi files, interviews with a Dutch radio journalist and a documentary made in 2015.
Born in Rotterdam in 1922 and brought up there and by a Communist uncle in Cairo, Blake was caught between various identities: his father, a Levantine Jew from Constantinople, had acquired British citizenship. Kuper clearly established a good relationship with Blake and their shared background – part Dutch, part Jewish, part British – helps him understand Blake’s own ambivalent attitude to Britain and how Russia offered the homeland that his mixed heritage had denied him.
Read the full review at HistoryToday.com.
Andrew Lownie is the author of Stalin’s Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess (Hodder & Stoughton, 2016).
August 15, 2021
Spies, Lies and Exile by Simon Kuper
I very much looked forward to this book and I was not disappointed. Mr. Kuper has honed his clear writing style as a journalist and George Blake is a spy of very interesting background. I have previously read The Many Sides of George Blake by E.H. Cookridge, The Greatest Traitor by Roger Hermiston as well as George Blake’s, No Other Choice. All of these are quite good but Mr. Kuper’s book is by far the best as he proposes convincing why Blake spied for the Soviets. He suggests he was influenced by his religion as well as the convictions of his cousin in Egypt Henri Curiel with whom he lived for a brief period during WW II. Both Henri and George felt a duty to assist the common man vs. the crippling powers of capitalistic governments.
I have not seen the British version of the book but only the American version and the Preface is quite interesting. He suggests spying is a valuable way to discover the intentions of both sides. Perhaps only partially joking he suggests their might be spies posing as waiters at Mar-A-Lago. Not sure if he meant communists or Democrats.
One point that struck me was Blake was a man without a single country but rather one who adapted well to wherever he was. For this reason, he succeeded in living the longest period of his life happily in Russia. (1966-2020)
One last point of note, like Blake, Kuper is Dutch and was successful in meeting Blake in Russia and having a long conversation about his like in Dutch which seemed to allow Blake to be less guarded.
I think this make a very good addition to anyone who is interested in the people involved with espionage during the Cold War.
Spies chose to spy for many reasons, in Blake’s case, I think it felt justified to me.
I very much looked forward to this book and I was not disappointed. Mr. Kuper has honed his clear writing style as a journalist and George Blake is a spy of very interesting background. I have previously read The Many Sides of George Blake by E.H. Cookridge, The Greatest Traitor by Roger Hermiston as well as George Blake’s, No Other Choice. All of these are quite good but Mr. Kuper’s book is by far the best as he proposes convincing why Blake spied for the Soviets. He suggests he was influenced by his religion as well as the convictions of his cousin in Egypt Henri Curiel with whom he lived for a brief period during WW II. Both Henri and George felt a duty to assist the common man vs. the crippling powers of capitalistic governments.
I have not seen the British version of the book but only the American version and the Preface is quite interesting. He suggests spying is a valuable way to discover the intentions of both sides. Perhaps only partially joking he suggests their might be spies posing as waiters at Mar-A-Lago. Not sure if he meant communists or Democrats.
One point that struck me was Blake was a man without a single country but rather one who adapted well to wherever he was. For this reason, he succeeded in living the longest period of his life happily in Russia. (1966-2020)
One last point of note, like Blake, Kuper is Dutch and was successful in meeting Blake in Russia and having a long conversation about his like in Dutch which seemed to allow Blake to be less guarded.
I think this make a very good addition to anyone who is interested in the people involved with espionage during the Cold War.
Spies chose to spy for many reasons, in Blake’s case, I think it felt justified to me.
January 11, 2022
This was a fairly solid read - but I do wish the author's judgement/opinions didn't shine through quite so strongly. This would have been a far more enjoyable book if he would step back from the light a bit. (Also, I am probably spoilt by McIntyre's excellent books in the same genre)
The book is divided in to 18 short chapters, covering Blake's life from his adolescence in Cairo to his ripe old age in Moscow. It does a good job of touching all the highlights of Blake's eventful life, collating sources from multiple languages. For much of the book I was simply awestruck by how eventful the man's life had been. IT reads like a Bollywood movie in more places than one.
On the other hand, you won't learn anything new if you already knew the stories. To be fair, I agree with the author that Blake is a rather unknown figure in the Anglophone world, so most readers would probably enjoy the thrill of Blake's adventures as much as I did.
That said, I often found myself wishing the author had delved deeper in to Blake's motives and philosophy at each stage of his life. I wish he had managed to interview people who knew Blake, and I wish he had asked Blake himself more about his experiences and philosophies and the changes he underwent.
Overall, this was an enjoyable, fast-paced book - but not especially memorable (or illuminating).
The book is divided in to 18 short chapters, covering Blake's life from his adolescence in Cairo to his ripe old age in Moscow. It does a good job of touching all the highlights of Blake's eventful life, collating sources from multiple languages. For much of the book I was simply awestruck by how eventful the man's life had been. IT reads like a Bollywood movie in more places than one.
On the other hand, you won't learn anything new if you already knew the stories. To be fair, I agree with the author that Blake is a rather unknown figure in the Anglophone world, so most readers would probably enjoy the thrill of Blake's adventures as much as I did.
That said, I often found myself wishing the author had delved deeper in to Blake's motives and philosophy at each stage of his life. I wish he had managed to interview people who knew Blake, and I wish he had asked Blake himself more about his experiences and philosophies and the changes he underwent.
Overall, this was an enjoyable, fast-paced book - but not especially memorable (or illuminating).
December 3, 2021
A short biography of George Blake, the Dutch-English spy who betrayed, amongst other things, the tunnel under Berlin and the identity of scores of spies during the heights of the Cold War. This book is not particularly detailed or novel, and it seems to have originated from the fact that the author, who also has the dual Dutch-English background, managed to meet and interview George Blake in Moscow. I can't say I found the snippets from that interview particularly revealing - by then George Blake was in his 90s and he had had half a century to perfect his narrative, plus the interviewer's insistence on leading questions of the type "weren't you feeling guilty about this"? irritated me. And even in these transcripts it's clear how easily and charmingly Blake manages to evade probing questions. So all in all not particularly illuminating.
I think that the Dutch connection between the interviewer and interviewee was interesting in the sense that it made me more aware of George Blake's religious background (rather Calvinistic, a certain amount of somber Determinism). It also amused me to read about George Blake and another Dutchman in Moscow celebrating Sinterklaas, the Dutch celebration of St. Nicholas on December 6th. It's amazing which childhood traditions people hold on to!
I think that the Dutch connection between the interviewer and interviewee was interesting in the sense that it made me more aware of George Blake's religious background (rather Calvinistic, a certain amount of somber Determinism). It also amused me to read about George Blake and another Dutchman in Moscow celebrating Sinterklaas, the Dutch celebration of St. Nicholas on December 6th. It's amazing which childhood traditions people hold on to!
June 2, 2021
Boy, this book was literally hot off the presses, as the subject, George Blake/Gyorgi Bekhter, only died December 26, 2020.
I was torn between a three star or a four star rating--I dozed off reading some passages. But as you can see I ended up giving it four stars. For, as author Simon Kuper explains, George Blake was a likeable guy.
And of all the Cold War-era true-espionage books I´ve read over the past few years (someone at the North Side branch of the Des Moines Public Library seems to like this particular niche genre) Blake´s double-agent career seemed remarkably mundane. Well, I suppose exposing upwards of 200 uncover operatives isn´t mundane by any means. But except for his escape from London´s Wormwood Scrubs prison, the man was a desk jockey.
The common thread among the British Cold War double agents is they were all idealists who viewed Communism as the panacea par excellence to heal the societal ills caused by the rise of Industrial Capitalism. But of the great British turncoats, Kim Philby, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, Blake was the only one who made himself comfortable in the old Soviet Union. And even he saw the cracks in the facade.
I was torn between a three star or a four star rating--I dozed off reading some passages. But as you can see I ended up giving it four stars. For, as author Simon Kuper explains, George Blake was a likeable guy.
And of all the Cold War-era true-espionage books I´ve read over the past few years (someone at the North Side branch of the Des Moines Public Library seems to like this particular niche genre) Blake´s double-agent career seemed remarkably mundane. Well, I suppose exposing upwards of 200 uncover operatives isn´t mundane by any means. But except for his escape from London´s Wormwood Scrubs prison, the man was a desk jockey.
The common thread among the British Cold War double agents is they were all idealists who viewed Communism as the panacea par excellence to heal the societal ills caused by the rise of Industrial Capitalism. But of the great British turncoats, Kim Philby, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, Blake was the only one who made himself comfortable in the old Soviet Union. And even he saw the cracks in the facade.
April 2, 2023
Part interview, part narrative history, this is a very readable, if light, tone on a man sentenced to a de facto life term (although he would’ve outlived it by some 15 years) for treason against a country he never really called home.
Like Philby, Blake is a charming man. Like Philby he escaped and lived out his days in Moscow, a pensioner to the KGB and never fully accepted by his adopted homeland. Unlike Philby, however, he adapted to his surroundings, learned Russian and came to accept his new life.
Does he regret? No of course not. Does he accept any responsibility for potentially causing the deaths of scores of agents and other actors in the Cold War? Of course he doesn’t (and loses out on some herring as a result). His escape from The Scrubs is the stuff of legend, as well as institutional incompetence, but you’ve got to imagine a reasonable appeal would’ve seen him released by the 80s.
Putin publicly praised him and Russian TV eulogised his efforts for world peace “unseen by others” but to many he is either unknown, comparative to Philby, Burgess and Maclean, or a cowardly traitor; faithful to a brutal dictatorial regime that he really should’ve opposed.
Like Philby, Blake is a charming man. Like Philby he escaped and lived out his days in Moscow, a pensioner to the KGB and never fully accepted by his adopted homeland. Unlike Philby, however, he adapted to his surroundings, learned Russian and came to accept his new life.
Does he regret? No of course not. Does he accept any responsibility for potentially causing the deaths of scores of agents and other actors in the Cold War? Of course he doesn’t (and loses out on some herring as a result). His escape from The Scrubs is the stuff of legend, as well as institutional incompetence, but you’ve got to imagine a reasonable appeal would’ve seen him released by the 80s.
Putin publicly praised him and Russian TV eulogised his efforts for world peace “unseen by others” but to many he is either unknown, comparative to Philby, Burgess and Maclean, or a cowardly traitor; faithful to a brutal dictatorial regime that he really should’ve opposed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2021
Well-paced and consistently thoughtful. Although I admire Le Carré I have no particular interest in spies, actual or fictional. However, I felt that Simon Kuper's short book, based on one of the last interviews given by George Blake plus a synthesis of previous books about him, shed light not only on an unusual character but also on the Cold War and the doubtful use of secret intelligence during that troubled time. George Blake remains a highly contradictory figure: a principled man with a dislike of physical violence who showed no remorse for the many deaths he probably caused; a half-Jew who mostly read the Bible and the Koran; a social misfit who could happily adapt to very varied circumstances and milieus; a conscientious communist who wasn't appalled by the grim reality of life behind the Iron Curtain. Kuper makes a good case for this elusive man to be as worthy of interest as the high-born traitors who have attracted much more attention simply due to their upper-crust credentials.
August 13, 2025
“Spies, Lies, and Exile: The Extraordinary Story Of Russian Double Agent George Blake” (Simon Kuper, 2021) is the biography of arguably the most notorious spy of the twentieth century. In the 1950s, George Blake was a mole in MI6 who revealed hundreds of British Secret Service agents and the Berlin Tunnel intelligence gathering operation to the KGB. Roughly forty of the agents identified by Blake were likely executed. This book spans Blake’s boyhood, early adulthood, his conversion to Communism, his activities as a double-agent, his arrest, trial, subsequent escape from prison in Britain, and, finally, his retirement and eventual death (December 2020) in the Soviet Union. Simon Kuper, a British author and journalist, examines George Blake on the basis of his research and personal interview in May 2012, in Blake’s residence near Moscow. This book is an interesting analysis of the multiple personal and social factors that motivated Blake’s betrayal of MI6 and his support of the Soviet Union. I recommend this book.
January 20, 2022
I read this on the strength of the author's previous work, having recently finished Kuper's book about Barcelona, his previous writings on football and his columns in the Financial Times. I've also developed a latent interest in the Cold War, perhaps because in my daily life, I report so much on what's been billed as the New Cold War, between the US and China. But the characters of the era fascinate me - none more than the agents and double agents, most of whom appear to be complex characters.
George Blake was no different, and Kuper does very well to draw out the formative experiences that shaped his life. Born to a Dutch Calvinist background, raised in part by a Jewish Egyptian family, a spy for both the UK and USSR, but his only lasting beliefs appeared to have been about self-determination - very Calvinistic to the end.
I enjoyed the book, but listened to an audio version in which the narrator adopted the accent of whichever character was speaking. Particularly nauseating was his awful Irish accent for Blake's jailbreak accomplice, but equally so the German and Russian efforts. Kuper, however, is an impressive writer and this book shows great flexibility. Good narrative journalism is an artform, and Kuper does it very well.
George Blake was no different, and Kuper does very well to draw out the formative experiences that shaped his life. Born to a Dutch Calvinist background, raised in part by a Jewish Egyptian family, a spy for both the UK and USSR, but his only lasting beliefs appeared to have been about self-determination - very Calvinistic to the end.
I enjoyed the book, but listened to an audio version in which the narrator adopted the accent of whichever character was speaking. Particularly nauseating was his awful Irish accent for Blake's jailbreak accomplice, but equally so the German and Russian efforts. Kuper, however, is an impressive writer and this book shows great flexibility. Good narrative journalism is an artform, and Kuper does it very well.
March 25, 2022
A well cited biography which provides an insight into George Blake's life from start to finish; how he came to adopt Britain as his nation, and then how he came to spy on it for the kgb. Simon Kuyper details his life thereafter very well also. It is splendidly detailed.
It left me with moral questions that I have to ask myself because Blake comes across as a decent man. Someone who, in his youth, was not entirely in control of his destiny. The world was in upheaval around him and had it not, he might have been a very good man. He is not like his Cambridge toff peers (I always felt that Philby was despisable), Blake comes from humbler beginnings.
Am I being taken in by the charm of an old man who has blood on his hands? Is he a proxy murderer? Are all spies? Or is he a good soldier with a side? What is the difference?
It left me with moral questions that I have to ask myself because Blake comes across as a decent man. Someone who, in his youth, was not entirely in control of his destiny. The world was in upheaval around him and had it not, he might have been a very good man. He is not like his Cambridge toff peers (I always felt that Philby was despisable), Blake comes from humbler beginnings.
Am I being taken in by the charm of an old man who has blood on his hands? Is he a proxy murderer? Are all spies? Or is he a good soldier with a side? What is the difference?
May 1, 2021
I knew of the author through his football titles but he clearly demonstrated his versatility in this fascinating and well researched biography of one of the forgotten spies of the 60s, George Blake.
Sharing his Dutch heritage with the author, Blake opened up to Kuper providing an in-depth account of his spying and why he became a traitor.
In reality he did not see himself as British and was a communist ideologue.
I was shocked by his apparent naivety and lack of perception- or was it concern - about the consequences of his treachery.
The book is fast paced and revealing, particularly about his escape from Wormwood Scrubs.
A good and interesting read.
Sharing his Dutch heritage with the author, Blake opened up to Kuper providing an in-depth account of his spying and why he became a traitor.
In reality he did not see himself as British and was a communist ideologue.
I was shocked by his apparent naivety and lack of perception- or was it concern - about the consequences of his treachery.
The book is fast paced and revealing, particularly about his escape from Wormwood Scrubs.
A good and interesting read.
September 17, 2021
The British traitor George Blake provided more secret information to the Soviets than the better-known Cambridge Five. Unlike those turncoats, Blake had no upper-class breeding, being half-Jewish and raised in the Netherlands. But he passed vast amounts of sensitive info to his handlers, compromising the Berlin Tunnel, for example, from the beginning. He also embarrassed the London government by staging a thrilling jailbreak from Wormwood Scrubs. Like Burgess, McLean, and Philby, on defecting he found the worker's paradise a decrepit society incapable of manufacturing feminine hygiene products or a decent flush toilet. Kuper's prose is competent but without flair.
October 24, 2021
Interessante roman waarin de menselijke kant van Blake, een spion met veel bloed aan zijn handen, wordt getoond.
Het blijft zowel verbazingwekkend als compleet logisch hoe lakoniek Blake doet wat hij doet, zonder zich echt rekenschap te willen geven van de consequenties van zijn handelen.
Als hij dat wel had gedaan was verder leven niet mogelijk, ook zou dat wellicht de spanning van het spionage werk teveel hebben opgevoerd.
Ook de schrijver kan zich niet aan de charme van hem onttrekken, net als vele personages die beschreven worden. Daardoor blijft hij glad als een aal de pagina’s doorzwemmen en blijft het toch gissen naar wie hij echt was.
Interessant is het ondertussen wel.
Het blijft zowel verbazingwekkend als compleet logisch hoe lakoniek Blake doet wat hij doet, zonder zich echt rekenschap te willen geven van de consequenties van zijn handelen.
Als hij dat wel had gedaan was verder leven niet mogelijk, ook zou dat wellicht de spanning van het spionage werk teveel hebben opgevoerd.
Ook de schrijver kan zich niet aan de charme van hem onttrekken, net als vele personages die beschreven worden. Daardoor blijft hij glad als een aal de pagina’s doorzwemmen en blijft het toch gissen naar wie hij echt was.
Interessant is het ondertussen wel.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews