The Faber Book of Treachery

Following "The Faber Book of Espionage", Nigel West presents an anthology of writings on the subject of treachery. Divided loyalties are at the heart of the human dilemma confronting those convicted or charged with treachery. Some traitors were ideological converts who simply wrote autobiographical accounts of their experiences, thereby exposing corruption and totalitarianism. Others deliberately set out to inflict maximum damage in order to destabilize an odious system or organization. Some so-called traitors include German patriots who fled the Nazis, or Soviet intelligence personnel who defected to the West. Did P.G. Wodehouse betray his country? Was the KGB defector Anatoli Golitsyn a geniune political dissident, or merely a shrewd opportunist? Why were the anti-Hitler plotters shunned in post-war Germany? All the authors gathered in this anthology were either guilty of treason or have been the subject of an accusation. One was hanged, several committed suicide, some were imprisoned, and most were obliged to assume new identities. Their books did not merely make a difference - in some cases they changed history.