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At once historically important and thrilling to read, this is the first account through Soviet eyes of the most famous spy ring the world has ever known: the Cambridge Five. Written by their KGB controller--their protector, confident, and link to Moscow--this book offers unique insight into the true characters and intrigues of the legendary British spies. Illustrated.
- Sales Rank: #379405 in Books
- Published on: 1995-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.25" h x 6.25" w x 1.00" l,
- Binding: Hardcover
From Publishers Weekly
The so-called Cambridge Five-Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt and John Cairncross-comprised what may have been the most notorious spy ring in history. In his richly informative memoir, Modin describes the personal relations among the quintet-and subtly speculates about their homosexual interaction. Modin, who is retired and lives in Moscow, was their KGB desk officer from 1944 to 1955, and arranged the 1951 defections of Maclean and Burgess. He is surprisingly lavish in his praise of Cairncross, who is generally regarded as the least significant of the five, revealing that he was the first to inform Moscow of the Anglo-American atomic bomb project and provided crucial information about the vulnerability of the Germans' main battle tank. Modin also details his friendships with Burgess and Philby (who defected in 1963) during their Russian exile; Maclean, however, avoided all socializing. Of the two who remained in Britain and were never prosecuted, Cairncross now lives in the south of France and Blunt died in 1983. Burgess died in 1965, Maclean in 1983, Philby in 1988. Photos not seen by PW. 25,000 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Modin's predecessors in control of the damaging Cambridge spy ring were executed, but he has survived to ripe retirement and joins the informers of KGB activities. In London during the late 1940s, he collected the "take" from Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt, and John Cairncross; in 1951 he arranged the defection to Russia of Burgess and Donald Maclean. These facts alone guarantee acute interest in Modin's version of events that have been shrouded in mystery for decades. It is further enhanced by Modin's insight into the motivations and personalities of his agents, insight that reflects the experience of a highly capable intelligence operative. The spies' privileged backgrounds, and homosexuality in Burgess and Blunt's case, could hardly be more different from Modin's own provincial origin. Indeed, Modin says he most liked Cairncross, also of working-class pedigree, but he worked smoothly with them all as they devastated British intelligence and Allied diplomacy. A combination of anecdotes and psychological analysis, this reminiscence adds detail rather than changes the basic story of these British traitors and swells the flood of Soviet espionage books bound to rise even further before ebbing. Librarians keeping up (lately with The Philby Files, G. Borovik ) should order. Gilbert Taylor
Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
Modin Pulled Their Strings
By G. Keenan
For a better understanding of Philby and his co conspirators - read "My Cambridge Friends" by Yuri Modin. Modin was his KGB handler and the handler of most of the other Cambridge crew : Cairncross, Burgess, McClean and Blunt. McClain apparently was the most destructive of the 5 for he provided strategic political insight direct to Soviet leadership. Philby, though devastating to western spy networks and the longest serving of the 5 (except perhaps for Blunt), didn't so much alter the course of world politics and power but the way the "game" was played.
Modin even says that in the end, even the Soviets weren't sure they weren't being played by Philby. Not so much that they suspected him of being 2 way, but more so that they weren't convinced of his ethical underpinnings and rationale either. If there was any philosophical or ethical basis for Philby's actions anyway. It may have been just the need of a petty man to feel like he had put one over on his contemporaries to feel bigger. One could say the "five" became Communist agents as college kids during the depression of the 30's out of sympathy for the unemployed masses in the West and in reaction to a worse alternative system, Fascism. Perhaps. But Philby never made that case for himself in his own book. What does seem to be clear is that the British 5 didn't do it for the money like the Soviet's agents in the US turned out in the 80's and 90's. Although the morally directionless Burgess may have taken some of the money for his wastrell ways.
What does come across strongly however is how blind and nearsighted the British Old Boy establishment was and maybe is. Not that the FBI and CIA are much better off. Robert Hansen held a similar position and performed comparable damage on the US side and despite being turned in and identified several times for cause ... was only "discovered" when a Russian defector received a $1M+ payoff from the US to identify the mole. The FBI had never pursued the leads nor ever required him to submit to "routine" lie detector screening.
I highly recommend Modin's book.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
"The Greatest Illusion"
By F. S. L'hoir
Yuri Modin writes a fascinating account of his five Cambridge 'friends.' As a young KGB officer, proficient in English, he had studied all their files, and later under diplomatic cover, he dealt personally with three of them as agents in London from 1948-51. Written in an engaging manner, the book presents the reader with a rare glimpse into the life of a KGB officer on the job, as it were, handling agents in what was then enemy territory. Furthermore, Modin offers his readers candid portraits of Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt, and John Cairncross (the least known of the "five").
Modin's depiction of Guy Burgess is especially welcome, since a curtain of what can only be taken as official silence seems to have descended on the life of the incorrigible spy (One is still eagerly awaiting Andrew Lownie's promised biography, "Stalin's Englishman: the Double Life of Guy Burgess," which was supposed to be published in 2000 [H. Peake, "Private Life of K. Philby," NY 1999-2000, p. 359]). Although Modin's account contains some of the canonical elements of Burgess lore ("I never could fathom why he looked like a tramp at close quarters, even though his clothes came from the best tailor in London" [152]), the author nevertheless gives readers a quick look at the "consummate" secret agent, with a computer-like mind and ideas that "danced like quicksilver" (156-7). Modin also relates several amusing anecdotes, including one in which Burgess, who had bought a used gold Rolls Royce with KGB funds, like a demented Mr. Toad, took Modin on the wild ride of his life.
If Guy Burgess frightened Modin out of his wits because of his maniacal driving, John Cairncross frightened the author even more because of incompetence behind the wheel, flooding the engine of his KGB-issued Vauxhall in the middle of a London intersection, prompting a bobbie to come to their rescue (with Modin fearing imminent arrest and experiencing the "first real cold sweat of [his] career as a secret agent" [171]). Modin contrasts the always-punctual and professional Anthony Blunt with the always-tardy and distracted Cairncross. Modin, in fact, depicts a more affable Blunt than is evident from his customary cold-as-ice persona. According to the author, Blunt was candid in his dislike of Soviet Imperialism, and he also confided that he could never defect to the Soviet Union because would not be free to pursue his passion for art history. Modin also relates how, in 1951, he made contact with the then-retired Blunt, in order to offer financial aid to Philby, who, undergoing a protracted grilling by MI5, was down on his luck.
One gets the impression that Yuri Modin not only respected his agents professionally but also liked them personally. Paradoxically, he envisions them as patriots, who were passionate in their love for England. Products of the 1930s, they were, in Modin's estimation, "naive" . . . "Don Quixote figures who spent their lives tilting at windmills, while history was inexorably destroying their ideal." According to Modin, his Cambridge `friends' traded the customary "illusions of humanity," such as money and love, in order "to follow the greatest illusion of all[:] . . . politics" (273).
Modin's view of the Cambridge Spies might be biased and even rather romantic--he is even mistaken in some details that did not involve him personally--but "My Five Cambridge Friends, " which adds many missing pieces to the massive, and still-incomplete, jigsaw puzzle, never ceases to inform or to entertain.
39 of 42 people found the following review helpful.
Disappointing, reveals little new information
By A Customer
This book reveals remarkably little information that is unavailable elsewhere concerning the Cambridge Spy Ring, Philby, Burgess, McLean, Blunt and Cairncross. In fact, even the cover page alleging Modin was the controller for all five is misleading, as Modin admits he was never the controller for Philby and McLean, and in fact, only met McLean for a few minutes several years after he defected.
This book contains numerous contradictions. Modin states that the KGB files on the Five were destroyed in 1953, after McLean and Burgess defected, yet he mentions he has reviewed those files since the fall of the Soviet Union. He makes a strong point about his predecessor's negligence for meeting the agents in London pubs (lack of privacy, etc...) and claims he never ever met any of his agents in pubs. However, he later in the book mentions that he met Blunt in a pub when the art historian/spy was in the process of retiring from active duty for the KGB. Additionally, Modin and/or his editors repeatedly confuse MI5 and MI6, such that some statements he makes are difficult to comprehend because of the uncertainty of which branch of the British intelligence service is being referenced.
Modin discusses remarkably few technical details about his roll as the controller of the spy ring, mentioning only his precautions in going to a meet. He also mentions a few details about his friendships with Burgess and Philby after they defected to Moscow, but essentially, that is all the insider information that he shares. Modin does not reveal even the topics that he or Philby tought as instructors at the KGB academy. I got the very strong impression that either Modin has lost most of his memory, or has remained deliberately vague out of loyalty to the former KGB and Soviet Union.
A better set of books on this topic would be KGB: The Inside Story by Andrew and Gordievsky; Mask of Treachery by Costello; The Master Spy by Knightly; and Spycatcher by Wright.
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