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Red List: MI5 and British Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century
A gripping history of the Security Service and its covert surveillance on British writers and intellectuals in the twentieth century
In the popular imagination, MI5--or the Security Service--is know chiefly as the branch of the British state responsible for chasing down those who pose a threat to the country's national security, from Nazi fifth columnists during the Second World War to Soviet spies during the Cold War and today's domestic extremists. Yet, aided by the release of official documents to the National Archives, David Caute argues in this radical and revelatory history of the Security Service that suspicion often fell on those who posed no threat to national security. Instead, this other history of MI5, ignored in official accounts, was often fueled by the political prejudices of MI5's personnel and involved a huge program of surveillance against anyone who dared question the status quo.
Caute, a prominent historian and expert on the history of the Cold War, tells the story of the massive state operation to track the activities of a range of journalists, academics, scientists, filmmakers, writers, and others who, during the twentieth century, the Security Service perceived as a threat to the national interest. Those who were tracked include such prominent figures as Kingsley Amis, George Orwell, Doris Lessing, John Berger, Benjamin Britten, Eric Hobsbawm, Michael Foot, Harriet Harman, and others.
In the popular imagination, MI5--or the Security Service--is know chiefly as the branch of the British state responsible for chasing down those who pose a threat to the country's national security, from Nazi fifth columnists during the Second World War to Soviet spies during the Cold War and today's domestic extremists. Yet, aided by the release of official documents to the National Archives, David Caute argues in this radical and revelatory history of the Security Service that suspicion often fell on those who posed no threat to national security. Instead, this other history of MI5, ignored in official accounts, was often fueled by the political prejudices of MI5's personnel and involved a huge program of surveillance against anyone who dared question the status quo.
Caute, a prominent historian and expert on the history of the Cold War, tells the story of the massive state operation to track the activities of a range of journalists, academics, scientists, filmmakers, writers, and others who, during the twentieth century, the Security Service perceived as a threat to the national interest. Those who were tracked include such prominent figures as Kingsley Amis, George Orwell, Doris Lessing, John Berger, Benjamin Britten, Eric Hobsbawm, Michael Foot, Harriet Harman, and others.
432 pages, Hardcover
Published May 10, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 10, 2022
For me this is a one star read, but I feel guilty about the first rating for a book being one star, especially if it might be due to my expectations for the content. Once some other people have reviewed it I will re-add my rating.
Most important recommendation: If you are going to read this book, choose physical or ebook over audiobook. As the book is less a commentary on this MI5 surveillance, as I had initially assumed, and instead more of a Cliff Notes of what actual documents are available, there is a lot of reading out of alphanumeric codes to identify individual records, which you will not remember if you want to actually go and look up the records in question.
And actually wanting to look up the records in question is probably the main reason you would want this.
The closest comparison I can think of is - in 2010, Wikileaks dumped huge numbers of diplomatic cables, which were mostly a slog to trudge through, and so in light of that people who had already done some of that work would highlight, organise, and quote specific cables you might be interested in reading on a certain topic. This has a similar energy, just a 15 hour recital of lists of people who were being surveilled and a couple of comments on what they did or what MI5 wrote about them.
Not recommended.
Most important recommendation: If you are going to read this book, choose physical or ebook over audiobook. As the book is less a commentary on this MI5 surveillance, as I had initially assumed, and instead more of a Cliff Notes of what actual documents are available, there is a lot of reading out of alphanumeric codes to identify individual records, which you will not remember if you want to actually go and look up the records in question.
And actually wanting to look up the records in question is probably the main reason you would want this.
The closest comparison I can think of is - in 2010, Wikileaks dumped huge numbers of diplomatic cables, which were mostly a slog to trudge through, and so in light of that people who had already done some of that work would highlight, organise, and quote specific cables you might be interested in reading on a certain topic. This has a similar energy, just a 15 hour recital of lists of people who were being surveilled and a couple of comments on what they did or what MI5 wrote about them.
Not recommended.
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December 1, 2022Reviewed in the November 2022 issue of the Socialist Standard:
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews