Finished: A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal (Macintyre) Wow, a true story about the infamous British MI6 agent, Kim Philby, who was, for thirty years, secretly a spy for Russia! Born into the British elite, Kim Philby's head and his loyalties were turned by communism while he attended Cambridge. It was an ideology he never wavered from, even at the expense of lifelong friends, wives, children, and his own country. He was responsible for systematically getting his own fellow MI6 agents to talk about their own assets and various operations in Russia, and then tipping off his bosses in Russia, invariably leading to the botching of the operations and the deaths of countless British intelligence agents. He charmed everyone he met, and befriended two men in particular, Nicholas Elliott, who would make his way up the ranks in MI6, and James Jesus Angleton, an American who would eventually go on to lead the CIA. Both of these men were outstanding agents, and both of them fell for the charm and camaraderie supplied by Kim Philby. They told Philby everything, as the agents, unable to tell their wives or families where they really worked, often unburdened themselves with each other over great amounts of alcohol at various posh British clubs. Throughout the entire World War II Philby passed any intelligence that he acquired as a British agent on to his superiors in Russia. At the time, he could rationalize that England and Russia were on the same side against Hitler. Once the war was over, though, and the Cold War years started, and particularly during Stalin's years, there was nothing he could do to rationalize his loyalties, and he didn't think to. He was staunchly a communist with his heart in Russia. When Philby was recruited at Cambridge, so were four other university students that he knew. They came to be known as the Cambridge Five. They all went on to very high level positions in secret intelligence. Philby rose so high and was so favorably thought of in Britain's MI6, that he was at one point made the chief over their Russian intelligence division! He had to maintain a balance of not failing in that job while at the same time making sure none of their planned operations succeeded. Eventually he was promoted to be the MI6 representative in America at the CIA!! Finally, in 1951, two of his former friends from the Cambridge Five were identified as Russian spies by a defector from Russia. Being in the know, he was able to tip them off and they made their escape to  Russia right before the MI6 came down on them. The fact that they were friendly with Philby, however, put the spotlight on him and he was subjected to a long interrogation. The CIA (except for Angleton) were convinced he was guilty, and the MI5 side of the British intelligence was as well. They couldn't prove anything. With Nicholas Elliot and his other MI6 buddies loudly proclaiming his innocence and how absurd the idea was that Philby would in any way be involved as a Russian spy, all the MI6 ended up doing was asking him to step down. Philby did this, and remained in England...but was out of work and bored. It took several years of being tailed and bugged, but Philby maintained radio silence with Russia and eventually Elliott was able to convince MI6 to rehire Philby. At that time, the Middle East was becoming a hotbed, so Philby was assigned to a lower level position in Beirut, while Elliott was made chief of a couple of other offices in different cities before being made the chief in Beirut. After the coast was clear, his Russian superiors made contact with him again, and Philby was back to his spying for Russia. Finally, in 1963 when yet another high level KGB agent defected to England, there came more definitive proof (even though his name was never uttered) that Kim Philby was, in fact, a Russian spy. Elliott's boss at MI6 called him in to inform him, and Elliott was crushed. Philby was his friend, his mentor, his hero, and he'd betrayed him all these years. Elliott insisted on being the one to confront Philby to get him to break and tell the truth. He thought he could succeed where so many had failed back in 1951. Meanwhile, Philby pretty much figured out that the noose was tightening around his neck with the latest defection. When called to meet with Elliott in a hotel room for tea, he said "Ahh, I always knew it would be you." And with that, they began a conversation where Elliott offered Philby full immunity and no prison if he'd give up all his operations and the names of all other known Russian spies. Philby finally confessed, but gave very few details in some flimsy papers. He agreed to meet back with Elliott the next day and then promptly got in touch with his Russian handler. Russia agreed that it was time to extract Philby and bring him home, but it would take a few days. Philby stalled, insisting that Elliott come to dinner to make sure the wife didn't think anything was amiss. They then had yet another session where Philby brought more papers with more information. Elliott informed his bosses that they were on their way to the full confession and turned the job over to his higher ups. Elliott left for his next assignment, but incredulously, no tail or watch at all was put on Philby! Philby was able to be extracted from Beirut by his handler within a couple of days, and was taken to Russia where he lived out the rest of his days. Some say that the MI6 couldn't afford another scandal after the defection of the other two Cambridge spies to Russia years before, and the recent uncovering of yet another Russian spy high up in their ranks, who was tried in England and basically sentenced to the rest of his life in prison. They say that not putting a guard on Philby was their way of leaving him to be extracted by Russia to become their problem. The truth of that will never be known. Meanwhile, James Angleton at the CIA was beside himself! He worshiped Philby more than Elliott did and from that moment on, nearly ruined the CIA by "seeing" moles at every turn. He was eventually retired from the CIA. Though it didn't read like fiction (which it wasn't, lol), the book still held my interest! I'd never heard of any of these people or of this betrayal, so it was fascinating to read.