Ben Macintyre

DYSLEXIA-FRIENDLY EDITION THE SUNDAY TIMES NO 1. BESTSELLER 'Astonishing . . . Sheds riveting new light on this breathtaking plan' Daily Mail 'A rollicking read' Max Hastings, Sunday Times 'Brilliant and almost absurdly entertaining' Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker ____________________ April, 1943: a sardine fisherman spots the corpse of a British soldier floating in the sea off the coast of Spain and sets off a train of events that would change the course of the Second World War. Operation Mincemeat was the most successful wartime deception ever attempted. It hoodwinked the Nazi espionage chiefs and saved thousands of lives by deploying a secret agent who was different from any spy before or since: he was dead. His mission: to convince the Germans that instead of attacking Sicily, the Allied armies planned to invade Greece. The brainchild of an eccentric RAF officer and a brilliant Jewish barrister, the great hoax involved an extraordinary cast of characters including a famous forensic pathologist, a gold-prospector, an inventor, a beautiful secret service secretary, a submarine captain, three novelists, an irascible admiral who loved fly-fishing, and a dead Welsh tramp. This is the true story of the most extraordinary deception ever planned by Churchill's spies: an outrageous lie that travelled from a Whitehall basement all the way to Hitler's desk.

THE SUNDAY TIMES NO 1. BESTSELLER'Astonishing . . . Sheds riveting new light on this breathtaking plan' Daily Mail'A rollicking read' Max Hastings, Sunday Times'Brilliant and almost absurdly entertaining' Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker____________________April, 1943: a sardine fisherman spots the corpse of a British soldier floating in the sea off the coast of Spain and sets off a train of events that would change the course of the Second World War. Operation Mincemeat was the most successful wartime deception ever attempted. It hoodwinked the Nazi espionage chiefs and saved thousands of lives by deploying a secret agent who was different from any spy before or since: he was dead. His mission: to convince the Germans that instead of attacking Sicily, the Allied armies planned to invade Greece. The brainchild of an eccentric RAF officer and a brilliant Jewish barrister, the great hoax involved an extraordinary cast of characters including a famous forensic pathologist, a gold-prospector, an inventor, a beautiful secret service secretary, a submarine captain, three novelists, an irascible admiral who loved fly-fishing, and a dead Welsh tramp. This is the true story of the most extraordinary deception ever planned by Churchill's spies: an outrageous lie that travelled from a Whitehall basement all the way to Hitler's desk.

En dramatisk fortelling fra fangeleiren nazistene ikke klarte å holde styr på! Les om tyskernes store flause: Fangeslottet Colditz og krigsfangene som nektet å forbli innesperret. Den globale sensasjonen Ben Macintyre, forfatter av Spion og forræder, er tilbake med en helt annerledes fortelling fra andre verdenskrig: I Fangeslottet Colditz blir de tyske fangemesterne rundlurt. Fluktforsøk, spionasje, galskap og kjærlighet: Pat Reid og hans medfangers påfunn er en uforglemmelig historie!

Tositrilleri natsien legendaarisesta linnavankilasta ja sen vankien hengästyttävän uskaliaista paoista. Natsi-Saksa vangitsi Colditzin linnaan liittoutuneiden upseereita, joiden pelättiin yrittävän pakoa. Pelko ei ollut turha: sadat pakoyritykset tekivät saksalaislinnasta kuuluisan. Bestselleristi Ben Macintyre kertoo mukaansatempaavasti Colditzin vangeista ja vartijoista. Herrasmiesleiri poikkesi monista sodan kauhuista: siellä ei nähty summittaisia teloituksia, ja upseerivangeilla oli omia sotilaspalvelijoita. Muurien sisään syntyi omalaatuinen yhteisö, jossa toivoa ylläpitävään toverihenkeen yhdistyivät rasismi ja brittiläisen luokkayhteiskunnan nokkimisjärjestys.

El verdadero relato de la prisi n m s famosa de la historia En un imponente castillo g tico situado en la cima de una colina, en el coraz n de la Alemania nazi, un variopinto grupo de oficia les aliados pas la segunda guerra mundial intentando escapar de sus captores nazis. Durante cuatro a os estos prisioneros pusieron a prueba los muros de Colditz con ingeniosos intentos de fuga que se convertir an en leyenda. Pero, como demuestra Macintyre, la verdadera historia fue a n m s sorprendente. Los reclusos representaban una sociedad en miniatura, llena de h roes y traidores, con conflictos de clases y alianzas secretas, y toda la gama de la alegr a y la desesperaci n humanas. Los nombres m s famosos de Colditz comparten espacio con personajes menos conocidos, desde los elitistas miembros del Club Bullingdon hasta el paracaidista estadounidense reconocido como el agente secreto menos exitoso de su pa s. Combinando la intriga de la poca y agudos retratos psicol gicos de sus exitosos relatos de esp as de la vida real, Macintyre ha insuflado nueva vida a uno de los mejores episodios de guerra jam s contados. Profundamente investigado, lleno de incre bles historias humanas, y con la maestr a narrativa de Macintyre, este es el libro definitivo sobre el castillo de Colditz.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The "entertaining and] often-moving account" (The Wall Street Journal) of the remarkable POWs whose relentlessly creative attempts to escape a notorious Nazi prison embodied the spirit of resistance against fascism, from the author of The Spy and the Traitor"Macintyre has a knack for finding the most fascinating story lines in history."--David Grann, author of The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend. But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape. Its population represented a society in miniature, full of heroes and traitors, class conflicts and secret alliances, and the full range of human joy and despair. In Macintyre's telling, Colditz's most famous names--like the indomitable Pat Reid--share glory with lesser known but equally remarkable characters like Indian doctor Birendranath Mazumdar whose ill treatment, hunger strike, and eventual escape read like fiction; Florimond Duke, America's oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent; and Christopher Clayton Hutton, the brilliant inventor employed by British intelligence to manufacture covert escape aids for POWs. Prisoners of the Castle traces the war's arc from within Colditz's stone walls, where the stakes rose as Hitler's war machine faltered and the men feared that liberation would not come soon enough to spare them a grisly fate at the hands of the Nazis. Bringing together the wartime intrigue of his acclaimed Operation Mincemeat and keen psychological portraits of his bestselling true-life spy stories, Macintyre has breathed new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told.

På toppen av en kulle i den lilla staden Colditz några mil utanför Leipzig reser sig ett medeltida slott. Under andra världskriget utgjorde det Nazitysklands fängelse för särskilt fientliga och rymningsbenägna krigsfångar. Innanför slottets murar satt en brokig skara brittiska och amerikanska officerare och smidde planer för hur de skulle kunna ta sig därifrån. Det är historien om dessa män som den bästsäljande författaren Ben Macintyre berättar. Hans enastående talang för att lyfta fram spänning och dramatik ur historiska skeenden har läsarna tidigare mött i Spion och förrädare och Agent Sonya. Med ett digert källmaterial som grund presenterar Macintyre hittills okända delar av historien om Colditz och skildrar fångarnas villkor liksom det ena förbluffande uppfinningsrika flyktförsöket efter det andra. Vi får en bild av livet i slottet, där fångarna byggde upp ett slags mikrosamhälle, med hierarkier och hemliga allianser, hjältar och förrädare. Här berörs teman som människans vägran att låta sig kuvas men också klasskamp, snobberi, homosexualitet, ensamhet, galenskap och fars.

En dramatisk fortelling fra fangeleiren nazistene ikke klarte å holde styr på! Les om tyskernes store flause: Fangeslottet Colditz og krigsfangene som nektet å forbli innesperret. Den globale sensasjonen Ben Macintyre, forfatter av Spion og forræder, er tilbake med en helt annerledes fortelling fra andre verdenskrig: I Fangeslottet Colditz blir de tyske fangemesterne rundlurt. Fluktforsøk, spionasje, galskap og kjærlighet: Pat Reid og hans medfangers påfunn er en uforglemmelig historie!

Ben Macintyre, maestro de la literatura de espionaje, consigue ofrecernos una imagen real de la actuaci n de los servicios secretos durante la Guerra Fr a. Esta es la historia, por primera vez contada en toda su verdad, de Oleg Gordievski, que lleg a ser un alto mando de la KGB sovi tica a la vez que actuaba como informador del MI6 brit nico: el hombre que con sus advertencias a los gobiernos brit nico y norteamericano consigui evitar que en 1985 se desencadenase un holocausto at mico y ayud a acelerar el fin de la Guerra Fr a. Ben Macintyre, maestro de la literatura de espionaje, consigue en esta ocasi n, gracias a disponer de una informaci n privilegiada, ofrecernos una imagen real de la actuaci n de los servicios secretos durante la Guerra Fr a. Pero su libro es tambi n la historia de un hombre que vivi en un constante riesgo de muerte y tuvo que tomar las decisiones m s dif ciles; un hombre cuyo odio por el comunismo tuvo el poder de cambiar el futuro de las naciones para protagonizar una historia con la que Macintyre consigue emocionarnos.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - The "entertaining and] often-moving account" (The Wall Street Journal) of the remarkable POWs whose relentlessly creative attempts to escape a notorious Nazi prison embodied the spirit of resistance against fascism, from the author of The Spy and the Traitor"Macintyre has a knack for finding the most fascinating story lines in history."--David Grann, author of The Wager and Killers of the Flower Moon In this gripping narrative, Ben Macintyre tackles one of the most famous prison stories in history and makes it utterly his own. During World War II, the German army used the towering Colditz Castle to hold the most defiant Allied prisoners. For four years, these prisoners of the castle tested its walls and its guards with ingenious escape attempts that would become legend. But as Macintyre shows, the story of Colditz was about much more than escape. Its population represented a society in miniature, full of heroes and traitors, class conflicts and secret alliances, and the full range of human joy and despair. In Macintyre's telling, Colditz's most famous names--like the indomitable Pat Reid--share glory with lesser known but equally remarkable characters like Indian doctor Birendranath Mazumdar whose ill treatment, hunger strike, and eventual escape read like fiction; Florimond Duke, America's oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent; and Christopher Clayton Hutton, the brilliant inventor employed by British intelligence to manufacture covert escape aids for POWs. Prisoners of the Castle traces the war's arc from within Colditz's stone walls, where the stakes rose as Hitler's war machine faltered and the men feared that liberation would not come soon enough to spare them a grisly fate at the hands of the Nazis. Bringing together the wartime intrigue of his acclaimed Operation Mincemeat and keen psychological portraits of his bestselling true-life spy stories, Macintyre has breathed new life into one of the greatest war stories ever told.

Brought to you by Penguin. In a forbidding Gothic castle on a hilltop in the heart of Nazi Germany, an unlikely band of British officers spent the Second World War plotting daring escapes from their Nazi captors. Or so the story of Colditz has gone, unchallenged for 70 years. But that tale contains only part of the truth. The astonishing inside story, revealed for the first time by bestselling historian Ben Macintyre, is a tale of the indomitable human spirit, but also one of class conflict, homosexuality, espionage, insanity and farce. Through an astonishing range of material, Macintyre reveals a remarkable cast of characters, wider than previously seen and hitherto hidden from history, taking in prisoners and captors who were living cheek-by-jowl in a thrilling game of cat and mouse. From the Indian doctor whose hunger strike and eventual escape reads like a thriller, to America's oldest paratrooper and least successful secret agent, the soldier-prisoners of Colditz were astonishingly imaginative in their escape attempts; but there were many other ways to survive while awaiting their unknown fate. Deeply researched and full of incredible colour, this is the definitive book on one of the greatest war stories ever told.© Ben MacIntyre 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Ingen anade vad Mrs Burton, hemmafru i det idylliska Oxfordshire, ägnade dagarna åt. Hennes riktiga namn var Ursula Kuczynski, men har gått till historien under sitt kodnamn: Sonya. Hon var tysk judinna och tidigt en hängiven kommunist, hon blev sedermera överste i röda armén och en förstklassigt tränad spion. Hennes verksamhet sträckte sig över hela världen. Från Schweiz planerade hon ett mordförsök på Hitler, hon spionerade på japanerna i Manchuriet och hjälpte Sovjetunionen att bygga sitt första kärnvapen. Ensam eller i grupp genomförde agent Sonya några av de farligaste spionaktionerna under 1900-talet. Agent Sonya är en fängslande levnadsteckning över en kvinnas liv, ett liv som följde Sovjetkommunismens uppgång och fall och satte avtryck i historien. Författaren har åstadkommit en i det närmaste osannolik, dokumentär berättelse om en kvinna med många roller: älskarinna, mamma, soldat och spion. Detta är hennes historia. Ben Macintyre är en av Storbritanniens mest erkända historiker och författare till miljonsäljande titlar som En spion bland vänner, SAS och Spion och förrädare.

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'A master at setting the pulse racing' Daily Mail'A fine feat of storytelling . . . will surely become the last word on the subject' Telegraph_____________________________FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SAS: ROGUE HEROESColditz Castle: a forbidding Gothic tower on a hill in Nazi Germany. You may have heard about the prisoners and their daring and desperate attempts to escape, but that's only part of the real story. In Colditz: Prisoners of the Castle, bestselling historian Ben Macintyre takes us inside the walls of the most infamous prison in history to meet the real men behind the legends. Heroes and bullies, lovers and spies, captors and prisoners living cheek-by-jowl for years in a thrilling game of cat and mouse - and all determined to escape by any means necessary. Deeply researched and full of incredible stories, this is a tale of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances - and will change how you think about Colditz forever._____________________________'Like watching a black-and-white photograph being colourised' Spectator'Every Ben Macintyre book is a treat' The Tablet

Eversti Oleg Gordijevski oli uransa huipulla omistettuaan koko elämänsä KGB:lle. 46-vuotiaana hänet ylennettiin Neuvostoliiton suurlähetystön johtoon Lontooseen. Enää pitäisi käydä Moskovassa virallistamassa nimitys. Gordijevski käveli rauhallisesti lentokentän turvatarkastuksen läpi, mutta tyynen ulkokuoren alla kalvoi pelko. Kutsussa Moskovaan oli ollut jotain outoa, ja Gordijevskilla oli hyvä syy olla huolissaan: Neuvostoliiton uskollinen palvelija oli toiminut jo vuosia kaksoisagenttina Britannian hyväksi. Jos hän oli paljastunut, Moskovassa odotti varma kuolema. Vakooja ja petturi on päätähuimaava tositarina petoksesta, rohkeudesta ja luopumisen tuskasta. Yksikään vakooja ei onnistunut tunkeutumaan yhtä syvälle KGB:n ytimeen ja välittämään yhtä tärkeitä tietoja lännelle kuin Oleg Gordijevski - nämä tiedot muuttivat koko kylmän sodan suunnan. Hinta oli kuitenkin kova. Vakooja ja petturi voitti vuonna 2019 CWA:n Kultaisen tikarin parhaasta rikostietokirjasta.

Tosielämän trillerien mestari kertoo 1900-luvun pelottomimmasta naisvakoojasta. Oxfordin lähettyvillä asui elegantti nainen vuonna 1942. Hän vaikutti tavalliselta perheenäidiltä, mutta oli vannoutunut kommunisti ja korkea-arvoinen neuvostovakooja. Koodinimi Sonjan tehtävä oli varastaa Britannian ydinasesalaisuudet. Agentti Sonja on tosielämän jännityskertomus Ursula Kuczinskistä. Vakoojana hän oli mukana Hitlerin salamurhajuonessa, rakensi pommeja ja vakoili Mantšuriassa. Hänen kannoillaan olivat natsit, kiinalaiset, japanilaiset, FBI ja MI6. Päiväkirjojen, kirjeiden ja arkistolöytöjen avulla MacIntyre luo kuvan vaarallisesta naisesta, joka viritti kylmän sodan sytytyslangan.