Author Description

Exploding the myths that surround Anthony Blunt this book reveals that he was not the fourth man but the first: the "managing director" of a network of spies that penetrated the very highest echelons of the American as well as the British establishments. By using newly discovered and top-secret British and American reports and cross-checking them with more than 300 interviews with Blunt's contemporaries John Costello presents a damning case against counter-intelligence. It proves how Blunt lied fom day one to MI5 and its interrogators. It shows how at an early age he learnt to exploit homosexual blackmail and how he forged the ring of Cambridge spies that would change the course of history. New light is thrown on the manoeuverings that started World War II and much of its aftermath and demonstrates the extent to which the bitter legacy of Anthony Blunt continues to haunt Anglo-American relations today.