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The Private Life of Kim Philby: The Moscow Years
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About The Private Life Of Kim Philby: The Moscow Years
Product description Much has been written about British spy Kim Philby, but little is known about the last 25 years of his life after he defected to Moscow in 1963. Now his Russian widow Rufina ends her isolation & tells the truth about her 18 years of marriage to Philby. Philby, recruited as a Soviet spy when he was young, thought he would be rewarded with a senior KGB post, but once he had been debriefed, he found himself isolated & shunned by a KGB who suspected him of being a mole. His phone was tapped, his movements monitored, his apartment turned into a virtual prison. Rufina rescued him, nursed him back to health & helped persuade the KGB to end his isolation. Photos. From Publishers Weekly Notorious Cambridge spy Kim Philby, the former head of Britain's Soviet counterintelligence who defected to the USSR in 1963, spent his last 25 years there. In her ambivalent, equivocal memoir, his fifth wife, who married him in 1971, portrays him as "fundamentally honourable and honest," a great father and loving son-in-law, "full of joie de vivre," who "literally glowed with happiness" but, on the other hand, as self-destructive, solitary, alcoholic, as a chronic insomniac and a troubled soul plagued by doubts. Except for disclosing that her husband did "an occasional job for the KGB" during his Moscow years, her chronicle of marital domesticity sheds little light on Philby's political activities behind the Iron Curtain. Somewhat more revealing is the apologetic reminiscence by retired KGB Colonel Lyubimov, a friend of Philby's, presenting the Cambridge spymaster as a burned-out operative who failed to grasp that he was no longer a valued asset for Moscow. Included also are two hitherto unpublished autobiographical chapters by Philby himself. His chillingly matter-of-fact account of his recruitment by Soviet intelligence--and how he in turn helped recruit his Cambridge colleagues Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess--offers glimpses of a calculating, ruthless individual, in sharp contrast to the kind, gentle person evoked by his wife. Ex-CIA officer Peake's useful, scholarly bibliographical essay coolly reassesses the Philby saga by sifting the myths and distortions in a slew of books and articles. Also included are Philby's 1977 lecture to his KGB colleagues and an article he wrote on whether an agent should confess when caught (both never before published). 16 pages of photos. (May) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal When Kim Philby crossed the Soviet border in January 1963, the 20th century's greatest spy disappeared from view, never to be seen again in the West, where he had done more damage than any spy before him. Although a spate of books has appeared about the life of this amazing man in the West, only now do we have some insights into Philby's existence in the Soviet Union until his death in 1988. The book is actually several shorter works combined. The bulk of the volume consists of an account by Philby's Russian wife, Rufina, of their 18-year marriage, revealing the new life this complicated Englishman led. Also included are several chapters of an uncompleted second volume of Philby's memoirs (his 1968 My Silent War caused a sensation in the West). Finally, there is the text of a 1977 lecture Philby gave to the KGB, as well as an excellent bibliographical essay by Peake surveying the extensive literature on Philby and his career. For students of Philby and 20th-century espionage, this is a remarkable contribution that helps fill a significant gap in our knowledge of this most famous spy and his life. For most collections. -Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus Reviews This text on a fabled espionage case proves to be, like spying itself, occasionally hair- raising and frequently boring, with scant material about three decades of one man's treachery. Kim Philby, highly placed in the British Secret Service, became the most famous under
