Private Spies by Ronald Payne (1st 1967)

Private Spies by Ronald Payne (1st 1967). A5, Hard cover, 223. Cover slightly worn. Book in good readable condition. Old Library book - withdrawn.

Spying can be a profitable and disruptive business

Espionage isnt just limited to the fictional world of James Bond, or even the more real worlds of MI5 or the Pentagon. From looking at the earliest known stories of private spying, in the silk and pottery industries of old, to the stories of individual spies in modern industries, such as arms and even pharmaceutical companies, Payne shows that far from morally bankrupt, many private spies enter the business often for more complicated, human and tangible reasons.

Even if, of course, their actions are downright unethical, immoral or of course, illegal. And the consequences they wreak are often just as harmful as any leaked state secrets. Sometimes, they even overlap on an international scale. But how do you stop such spies who rarely answer to any higher authority? How can you prevent spies stealing patents and ideas, without enacting Orwellian levels of security?

Through his stories, Payne debates these points and more as he unveils a world murkier than any kind of James Bond story could imagine - men and women who sell and buy company secrets.

Praise for Ronald Payne:

Payne was an outstanding authority on every kind of espionage'  The Guardian

The important things about Robert Payne are his sensitive, astute intelligence, his vast erudition, and his magic power over words  The New York Times

Probably no author of this century has produced so many books at such a relatively high level of scholarship  The Times

Ronald Payne (1911-1983) was the author of many notable works, including The Rise and Fall of Stalin, The Life and Death of Lenin and The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler. Born in England, he was a constant world traveller, a keen observer, but always the biographer, historian, novelist, poet and translator.