An Instance of Treason

This is the only complete, authoritative account of the most brilliantly successful espionage operation of the twentieth century: the notorious Communist spy ring headed by Dr. Richard Sorge, whose cover was that of senior German journalist in Tokyo during Worl War II. Ozaki Hotsumi, the second-ranking member of the ring, was also a prominent journalist, a leading authority on China, and a consultant to the Konoye cabinet. When this book was first published in July 1964, the Soviet Union had never acknowledged the existence of Sorge. Two months later, perhaps in response to the book's publication, Sorge was acclaimed as one of the Soviet Union's most illustrious spies and was made a posthumous 'Hero of the Soviet Union'. In an extensive reprise prepared for this new edition, the author analyzes this development in depth, as well as much other significant information that has come to light since the book's original publication.