This book - "The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB" is very important, scrupulous and unique scientific-research work on the history of the KGB. It is based primarily on significant and top secret archival material. This monograph will become a valuable reference work for professional historians and for those, who are interested in the secret history of the KGB. This book of Professor Christopher Andrew is an outstanding contribution in the study of the history of the Soviet State Security system - great enemy for the democratic world.

With kind regards,

Dr. Levan Z. Urushadze,
Scientific Co-ordinator of the Museum
of the Soviet Occupation of the Georgian
National Museum, a Fellow of the World
Academy of Art and Science (WAAS)

Tbilisi, August 29, 2008

Christopher Andrew uses a ridiculous amount of information to create a vivid picture of Soviet operations, policies and views during the Cold War era.

Andrew has a gift. He takes boring documents and weaves them into a tapestry that is worth reading. This book is an amazing addition to any history or spy buff's library. There is no more definitive or realistic look of Soviet espionage available.

Soviet fears, goals, problems and strengths are all covered without bias. Andrew has no agenda in this book. He is neither an apologist nor an attacker. He is a chronicler.

The portions covering the Majestic 5, a British spy ring that reached deep into British foreign and intelligence agencies, is gripping. The Soviet Union seems almost paralyzed by its own success, unable to trust the very people handing them the keys to the kingdom.

The late chapters dealing with Poland and the Pope John Paul II are also striking. Andrew presents a coherent and engaging tale about people sitting around worrying. That is no small task.

There are many histories of this sort that are boring and dry. Andrew finds a narrative voice that helps push the true story of history forward. This book is good, very good. I highly reccomend it.

A revealing exposition of KGB practices from an insider. The book indicates that Western intelligence was much less developed before than after World War II,when several spies at high positions in US and UK agencies were exposed. The book evokes the idea that political espionage was not very productive. Much political information transferred to the USSR was not believed by political leaders that wanted to stick to their conspiracy theories. Scientific and technological espionage benefitted the military, but not the larger economy. An interesting aspect involves the motivation of these recruits to betray their country and live a double life with great risks. Ideological conviction seemed to have prevailed in the early years, but was surpassed by greed at a later date.

For someone who grew up in the former Soviet Union it is a hell of a read. It is like re-learning Soviet history all over again. Just hope it is true.

Mitrokhin & Andrews' book is just as described: an archive of information. As such, it is packed with information that the authors have tried to organize into something of a dry narrative. That said, this volume and its successor, "The World Was Going Our Way," contain a plethora of details on KGB tactics and experiences from WWII onwards.

What it doesn't contain is a good deal of information about NKVD operations prior to WWII. There are brief descriptions of a handful of operations, and a general outline of the organizations history and structure, but, as the title advertises, this is a work on the KGB and the KGB alone.

Andrews should be commended for making what I'm sure were dry and, at times, likely unreliable reports into a working narrative.

NOTE: The rating above should read four stars rather than three.

Well, this is the real facts, is not a story , is real life, this book is not about the agents some have in their mind from the movie industry's prections of the handsome athletic agent who is " good to the bone". This book shows the truth and explains what happened and why, it might not be too much impressionism but it gives what was going on behind the scene. The truth is always good to know, this is the book on the subject that gets as close as possible. The book can be opened at any page and is still captivating to read.

Quite recently a colleague told me that he resented a newspaper columnist who had referred to a relative of his as a communist spy. My colleague believed his relative had been an innocent victim of McCarthyist red baiting. I knew that his relative was no innocent but a high-level KGB operative. It said so in the Mitrokhin Archive vol. I, "The Sword and the Shield".

One of the tragedies of the Cold War is that many western communist spies, traitors to their own countries and dupes to one of the worst systems humanity has ever known, managed to rebrand themselves as victims of persecution. The paradigm for this view is Miller's "The Crucible", where for
"witches" one should read "spies". Except that there were no witches but there sure were spies. The Rosenbergs were spies and they did help Stalin put together his nuclear weapons. Alger Hiss was a spy. And so on and on. And as we have known or suspected for a long time, many NGOs such as the World Council of Churches and many political parties and publications were also preferred haunts for KGB agents and contacts in its neverending propaganda war.

Volume I of the Mitrokhin files is bulky and a longwinded. The writing is what used to be described as workmanlike in that goes to lenghts to avoid rethoric and even elegance. It just piles on fact upon fact. The facts are fascinating. As noted above, many of us knew that the governing and the chattering classes of the West were filled with spies and fellow travelers, but the sheer magnitude of that presence is impressive. We also knew that the Soviet leadership often did not manage to make the best possible use of the extraordinary intelligence it managed to acquire (remember Sorge's warning about the operation Barbarossa, and how Stalin dismissed him as a stooge to the British?). The book goes in mind-numbing detail on just how often political or personal prejudice stood in the way of taking advantage of the information.

As a Latin American I am a much bigger fan of volume II of the files. But volume I is a good place to start, and to never let us forget that the Cold War was a real war, that it could have been lost, and what it could have like if that had happened.

I have not finished the book yet (in the interest of being honest)...but so far its got some really interesting unheard facts. I heard the author on the NPR and what he said (about the sequel) was some really interesting, amazing facts about the KGB....unfortunately the book is more dense and layered down with codename after codename and I think a lot gets lost as a result. However, the intent was to release EVERYTHING that Mitrokhin smuggled out so thats what they did....if you can sit threw a lot of stuff, there are real nuggets of gold here.

Andrew and Mitrokhin team up to write a pretty interesting history of the KGB, from the Stalin era on. However, it tends to get bogged down in details that were a bit overwhelming. Overall though, a good book and recommended for all those interested in Soviet/Russian history or in Tom Clancy-esque spy novels.

The vastness of this may be overwhelming, but there is a microcosm that incorporates much of what is depicted here. It's the story of the Soviet Cold War propaganda offensive against Denmark. The STASI archives, opened after the Berlin Wall came down, gave detailed plans for the incorporation of Denmark into the East Bloc---and an active 5th column in the country had prepared for it. Similar infiltration had been going on in Norway and Sweden.

All the tricks here and many of the same sources apply in Ole Hasselbalch's "The Silent War"---still only in Danish as "Den stille krig" [2001] May it be translated---because it corroborates Andrew's book and reveals Soviet control where it may have seemed unlikely.

The Mitrokhin Archive and the secret history of the KGB." By Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin Christopher Andrews, a history professor at Cambridge University in Cambridge and Vasili Mitrokhin, who worked for 30 years in the KGB intelligence archives, have collaborated on a fascinating history of Soviet espionage in the West,

Mitrokhin, a man who could tell which way the wind was blowing, copied as much as he was able of the Soviet spy system's archives and smuggled them out of the country when the Soviet state collapsed. He first offered these invaluable files to the United States and was told we were not interested. He then went to the British who welcomed him and eventually gave Vasili and Professor Andrew permission to write "The Sword and the Shield".

It is a big thick book but don't be frightened. If you don't want to read the whole thing use the index and look up spies like Alger Hiss and see what his Soviet employers have to say about him. The book is both fascinating and frightening.

Here is a horrible example. After J.Edgar Hoover, arguably the best FBI Director in US history died, a rumor immediately spread that he was a cross-dressing homosexual, a lie that is now accepted by many as fact. This book traces the origins of that vicious rumor to a certain Susan Rosensteil, reportedly a convicted perjurer, as the one who promoted the lie. Hoover was dead and could not defend himself and those who would defend him found few places in the media to express their views. The authors say the KGB also went after Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson of Washington with the same vicious garbage but he was able to strike down the rumors with ease.

Many of the assertions of this book have been revealed in other books, specifically those books dealing w/ the Venona taps. It is a strong history of the KGB, and at times quite revealing--not only in regards to the activities of the KGB, but also the reactions by Red-leaning Westerners.

The USSR viewed the West as the enemy from day One of its Revolution. Lenin was more concerned about the American Relief workers--who were helping to end the Collectivist induced famine in Russia--being subversives, than he was concerned about the 5 million starving in his own country. Stalin viewed the Russian Civil War as a template to interpret the rest of the world, the West were the "Whites" and they had to be defeated. During the Nazi-Soviet pact, he was more suspicious of Churchill than he was of Hitler, and in fact interpreted rumors of Germany's "Barbarosa" as English Anti-Soviet Propaganda. The USSR infiltrated the U.S. and U.K. governments, while the US and UK barely had spy agencies formed yet alone spies in the USSR. If there is any book that shows who started the Cold War and who didn't want "Peaceful Coexistence" (hint, it was the Commies), it's this book.

This is an excellent resource for parents to buy for their college age children, so that the youngsters have a resource to challenge their Anti-anti-Communist professors who are trying to indoctrinate the new students into the Che Guevarra T-shirt Club and ANSWER. Other good books would be, of course, the Black Book of Communism, a Century of Violence in Soviet Russia, Gulag, the Soviet World of American Communism, and for economic theory challenges to collectivism, Road to Serfdom by Hayek and Socialism by Von Mises. The historical revisisionism that preaches the decency of Communism and the USSR must be defeated. The book covers the span of the KGB from its torture of enemies in the 20s to its infiltration phase in the 30s/40s to its propaganda phase in the 60s/70s(using fake letters to discredit anti-Commie personalities or to incite race-based riots) to its Afghanistan/Poland phase in the 80s.

One disturbing claim made in the book: Mitrokin suggests that the KGB stored caches of weapons and bombs in the United States in case of domestic revolution. Andrews only gives Mitrokin as the source. What happened to these caches? Were they removed in secret? Did Yeltsin tip off the U.S. to their existence in abandoned warehouses or fields in Detroit, NYC, Memphis, wherever they are? Are they still there? If true, this is very very...not good.

The Sword and the Shield is a very well researched history of Soviet espionage beginning with the founding of the grandfather of the KGB, the Cheka, and ending with the demise of the largest intelligence organization in history. Andrew does well in explaining not only the great successes and failures of the KGB, but also how it became the ultimate symbol of Communist Russia and tool of the totalitarian state. Detailing its persecution of Soviet dissidents as well as its espionage operations worldwide (especially against the U.S and its interests) this book provides interesting, exciting, and often surprising insight into the operations of the infamous KGB.I would give it 5 stars if only there were less spelling and gramatical errors. Otherwise, a good read and recommendedfor anyone wishing to learn more about the rise and fall of the Soviet state.

Vasili Mitrokhin just died at the age of 81 on January 23, 2004. His efforts exemplify why mafia-gang thugocracies, such as the KGB in the USSR, face an increasing decline in their individual spheres of dominance. Between the unblinkered analysis of men like Mitrokhin and the information explosion, the bad guys can't so easily get away with the big lie.

This book, released in 1999, has received all the plaudis and criticisms of those pro and con; but, think about how it overlays today with the Islamic Jihadists of Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the various iterations of the PLO and Hezzbollah? It's concurrent with all the spies, the secret infiltrators of our civil society, the disinformation campaigns, the complicity of a naive and blinkered media and academia, the anti-semitism, and the abundant anti-Americanism with its inherent rejection of the intellectual writings of the founding fathers, and of our constitutional republic.

All the horrors that one imagined the communists of perpetrating are shown here, and more. Only brave and commited patriots like Ronald Reagan, the greatest president of the 20th century, and Vasili Mitrokhin have stood athwart the doorway of democracy and defended it against the barbarian hordes of the red menace. It's bewildering to understand the intransigence of those who would aver that Mitrokhin's archive is the result of a government forgery. Only in the delusional mind of a Noam Chomsky or one like him would you find such drivel.

This is a book, and a subject, that needs more exposure. Perhaps Katie Couric, Bryant Gumbel, or Peter "comrade" Jennings will take up the cudgel...? ....don't hold your breathe!

The book reveals much of what we already knew and suspected but I think the best has been removed. Well, golly gee, the KGB not only spies on us but actually lies about us, a common trait that goes back to Lenin, Dzerzinsky and Stalin.

However, what would be the more interesting inquiry and research is to find out what American publishers, reporters and media first broke these stories and on a regular basis? This will ID many of our ignorant or in some cases complicit press, media and defenders of the First Amendment freedoms except when it comes to conservatives.

The book outlines in detail just how and why such rumors, innuendoes and schemes were created and for what purposes. After all, the whole world now knows except Red China and North Korea that Communism is a failure, ruled by a Elite of sheep. The time is now to expose the people who placed such rumors within our media it may even include Labor Leaders, Congressmen, and some real rich boys!

Wow, what a grand idea, following lies to find the truth? Use to be the Creed of American journalists. It is about time we have the proof of just which media we can avoid in the future based upon their prior incompetence to find and publish such falsehood.

I highly recommend this book and for all you so called Journalists who freely mention these falsehoods in your column shame on you. One way to make it up to the American People is to reveal your sources since they have now embarrassed you into revelations. Too much to ask for your responsibility?

Well, maybe after all that is why you are trusted by the American People after Used Car Salesman. Now for those your responsible Journalists looking for a vendetta you should read and follow every lead.

Gee, I wonder if the New York Times or Washington Post are worried or will just pan the book.

First off, I have to disagree with those readers who warn against reading this book first if you are new to the topic. I'm relatively new to the topic, and the book (along with Weinstein and Vassiliev's "The Haunted Wood") was a terrific, information-packed introduction to it. In fact, Andrew includes so much KGB history that I can hardly imagine what he wrote in his OTHER several-hundred-page-long history of the KGB (which in consequence I think I can excuse myself from reading). Every page is full of fascinating details about the history of intelligence and its connection with better-known "public" history. Particularly valuable is the exposure of Kremlin paranoia (reaching its apogee under the short reign of Andropov, who believed against all evidence that Reagan was enthusiastically pursuing a nuclear first-strike option) and CIA conspiracy-theorizing (the oft-recounted but well-worth-repeating story of Angleton's foolish and destructive belief in Golitsyn's disinformation-theory about the Sino-Soviet split). Contrary to what some reviewers assert, Andrew relies quite extensively on Mitrokhin's archive, as a cursory examination of the book's endnotes will confirm. In short, this is a terrifically useful primer on 20th-century intelligence theory from the Kremlin's standpoint.

That said, I have a serious criticism to make. Andrew writes well, and seems in consequence to think that he can send his manuscripts straight to the typesetter, entirely dispensing with the services of a copyeditor. The inevitable result is a book full of gross and obvious spelling and punctuation errors--really dumb stuff, like failing to capitalize names and the first words of sentences, and so on. Hardly a page goes by without some such blemish. There are, in fact, systematic groups of typos, doubtless mostly computer-generated, such as the consistent misspelling of German names and words (the current German Chancellor appears as Gerhard Schrider, with a hat over the "i"), and there are more subtle problems, like the following sentence:

"It would have been wholly out of character had the Centre failed to interpret President Kennedy's assassination. . .as anything less than conspiracy."

Obviously, you'd have to tweak one end of this sentence or the other to make it mean what Andrew wants it to mean. The point is that a good editor would have caught this and corrected it. The problem is worth dilating on, since it's so widespread these days (at least it seems so to me) and so easily fixed.

Still, errors and all, this is a first-rate book.

The book summarises and gives context to a remarkable set of documents: the notes smuggled out of the KGB over 12 years by a trusted archivist, Vasili Mitrokhin. The courage that this entailed on the part of a man who had seen through the tawdriness and oppression of the totalitarian state he served is almost beyond comprehension. The notes that he made are an invaluable historical record of the clandestine actions of a brutal regime, and expose thousands who served that cause. The book comprises both fascinating history and devastating political analysis. For example, anyone who still harbours illusions about the murderousness and sadism of Leninism should read the chapter dealing with the conduct of the Cheka in the Civil War, and the authors' exposure of the myth that the nascent Bolshevik state faced a determined effort by the western democracies to crush it. The authors also stress the essential point that our side, the liberal democratic side, was qualitatively different in its conduct of espionage from our totalitarian adversaries: we confronted an aggressive external threat, while they harried, incarcerated and in many cases murdered their own subjects. Much the most revealing and shocking part of the book is its account of the 'active measures' (i.e. persecution and fabrication) undertaken against the courageous men and women who opposed the Sviet regime from within. All credit to Mitrokhin for his valour, and to Andrews for fashioning such a readable and authoritative narrative from the source material.

THe history of the K.G.B. is revealed at last. From their backing of international terrorisn to their intelligence operations this book is a must read.

Anyone who is seriously interested in how to conduct government is the most responsible way should read this book. In addition, those who love spy stories, histories, and novels will be rewarded with many new details and perspectives on Soviet and Russian foreign intelligence activities since the Russian Revolution at the beginning of the 20th century.

This book surprised me in several ways. First, I did not expect to learn that the KGB did not have a lot of important successes that were not already known publicly. Second, the KGB's effectiveness was more related to Western mistakes than to KGB brilliance. Third, the Soviet perceptions of the United States and Britain seem to have come from Fantasyland. The Soviet state made very poor use of terrific foreign intelligence because its leaders were such poor thinkers and the system did not encourage free discussion. Fourth, helping the dissidents inside the Soviet Union could have helped undo Communism much sooner.

What makes this book unique is the combination of having had access to almost all of the foreign intelligence archives of the KGB for 12 years and having those archives interpreted by someone in the KGB who was interested in the need to reform Soviet socialism. By having Christpher Andrew join Vasili Mitrokhin in authoring this book, you do get a Western overlay but the fundamental Russian perspective is still there.

I found the "big picture" aspects of the book far more rewarding than the specific examples. The rise of fascism clearly was Moscow's greatest resource in getting information from the West. The most effective spies (like Kim Philby and the other Magnficent Five in Britain) were as much motivated by anti-fascism as they were by helping the U.S.S.R. Although some are always willing to sell out for money or sex, idealism is the most dangerous motivation for traitors.

Interestingly, leaks from the United States about the atomic and hydrogen bombs related again to idealism -- concern about avoiding a world in which those bombs might be used. How might future offensive and defensive technology breakthroughs create similar actions? It's a chilling thought.

At the same time, the failure of the Soviet system eventually limited its ability to gain new traitors. The human rights abuses of the Soviets made Communism seem as dangerous to many idealists as fascism had earlier. Stalin doomed the Soviet system as much as its structural flaws did.

On the other hand, Lenin was just as committed to controlling through secret police and intelligence gathering as Stalin was. Clearly, the Communist hand at the tiller in Moscow would have slipped much sooner if severe repression and fear had not been used.

I also wondered how many of the problems that Western democracies had with the KGB could have been eliminated by having focused on proper security earlier. The shocking lapses of the British foreign service prior to World War II and in the Roosevelt administration clearly allowed a disproportionate share of the Soviet gains through foreign intelligence.

It would also be very interesting to read about how Western democracies could have countered these foreign intelligence operations sooner. Philby was essentially unmasked much earlier, and the same was true of Alger Hiss.

To me, though, the most frightening element of the book is the adoption of the new Russian intelligence operation of a visible connection to the heroes and history of the KGB and its successors. That represents a serious risk to creating a reestablishment of a Russia dominated by the secret police. That development could only lead into directions that are not good for Russians . . . or anyone else. The stories in this book about how KGB agents loyally served Stalin's slaughter, even as 90 percent of them lost their lives, are absolutely frightening. That could happen again! How can we avoid it?

What are the lessons here about secrecy? I suggest that you think about how secrecy affects your work and personal life. Where does secrecy help? Where does it hurt? What are the ethical implications of employing secrecy?

Use truth to help people make good decisions . . . always!

Having read the "Sword and the Shield" thoroughly, I feel that it begs as many questions as it seeks to answer. The book is a worthy undertaking at the outset, but it's poorly edited and far too long to hold the interest of anyone other than the avid student of Kremlinology or espionage fanatics looking for an encyclopedic chronology series of events in Soviet history.

There are many problems and oversights within the book's content. Nowhere does Mitrokhin even explain what the acronym "KGB" actually stands for! The same phrase "one of the most successful (il)legals ... X" keeps cropping up repeatedly. There is no analysis of why, immediately after the war, defections suddenly (if Mitrokhin is right) started on a grand scale. Why were there no defections up to this point given that the NKVD (forerunner to the MGB/KGB) knew the reality of Stalinist USSR long before the war?

The credibility of some of the information is clearly suspect. Mitrokhin constantly refers to Soviet conspiracy theory and paranoia about Western countries' (especially the UK's) intentions towards the USSR coloring the judgment of the Centre and Politburo's decisions. If this is the case, and it was as widespread as he claims, then surely it is reasonable to suggest that his own views and interpretations, drawn from official archives, must be colored by this ideological "fog" too. There is no corroboration of a lot of his claims, made even more worrying by snide remarks about the failings of "communism", Soviet ideology and their frequently "absurd" claims. Frankly, Mitrokhin can hardly be taken as completely subjective in this regard and does not come to the argument with clean hands. He is, after all, a traitor in some people's eyes, with a political and personal ax to grind, and some of his arguments do not follow through. For example, on the Soviet dissident's trials, he dismisses the Centre's paranoia of a Zionist plot and Western agitprop being behind much of the refusniks motives - yet fails to note that key refusnik, Sharanksy, once emigrated to Israel, subsequently became of the leading Zionist propagandists with very harsh views on the Palestinians.

In all, it's an interesting read, but buy the paperback and read it within the context of a possibly embittered man making claims than cannot be verified completely. Given the developments in post-Perestroika CIS/Russia, whether a lot of what he claimed is now really nothing more than speculation hardly matters.

This book is probably the most popular book on the KGB now. I got it from my local library and read it. Like the previous reviewer said, don't let this be your first book or for that matter the only book you read on the topic of the KGB. It is a multi-faceted book that doesn't have to be read cover-to-cover to follow. I skipped around a lot. It is engrossing and a page turner at times, yet dry and boring on some matters. While V. Mitrokhin makes light of Soviet disinformation, deception, and lies, I don't quite go along with his perspectives (which is obviously somewhat influence by disinformation) on a few minor points... Mitrokin's revelations are however interesting. All in all, the Sword and the Shield is an intriguing book worth a read (assuming your interested in the the KGB Soviet police state.)

I recommend those interested in the KGB consider reading The State Within a State: The KGB and Its Hold on Russia--Past, Present, and Future by Yevgenia Albats.

For those who know little about the history of the KGB's machinations abroad, both evil and farcical, this is an excellent starter. Andrews writes clearly and forcefully in a manner which overcomes the deadening effects of the acronyms scattered across each page. But for those who familiar with the KGB and its role abroad, this is surprisingly thin fare. Andrews quotes from a huge number of books and other texts, mentioning Mitrokhin in passing when his archive can add to our knowledge of a particular episode. Apart from revealing the existence of the so-called "granny spy" Melita Norwood and some interesting material on what the KGB was up to in Poland in the 1970s and 1980s, there is not much new here. I note that Andrews and Mitrokhin intend to use other parts of the archive to write a second book. I only wish they had produced one thumping work, full of juicy details, rather than decided to spin out the material

While not everything in the book is news, the fact that virtually ALL the names (minor and major), dates and actions since 1917 are present makes this book a very valuable treasure indeed. Yes, folks, it's all true - the Rosenbergs were in fact guilty of espionage, Alger Hiss was in fact a Communist agent, the vicious innuendos that have been launched against J. Edgar Hoover since his death did in fact have their origin in Moscow - and the Soviet archives made public since 1991 back it all up. Andrew does sometimes go into tedious detail, but this may be necessary for those without a rudimentary understanding of the history of Soviet espionage. (The section on the Cambridge Five is especially illuminating - I would also recommend "Degenerate Moderns" by E. Michael Jones to anyone who wishes to further study that subject.)

I especially agreed with Andrew's conclusion in that the collapse of the Soviet empire has revealed the traditional faultline between East and West that has existed since the division of the Roman Empire in the fourth century A.D., which culminated in 1054 with the Eastern Schism that shattered the unity of the Christian Church. The cultural and political differences between East and West have been almost 1700 years in the making and sadly will not disappear overnight.

My only complaint about the book is the surprisingly large number of typographical errors, particlularly in regard to foreign names; however, this is of minor importance and does not diminish the book's effectiveness. Hopefully that minor problem will be corrected in subsequent printings.

From this book we learn of one of the most incredible stories to yet emerge from the history of the Cold War; the tale of this Russian defector who had laboriously hand-scribed an astonishing archive detailing the history of hundreds of thousands of secret KGB files. One is breathlessly swept along by two elements in this true story; first, by the tale of the defector himself, who calmly, deliberately and systematically copied the records of so many cases of surveillance, mistreatment, harassment, torture, and murder by KGB agents over the decades at great personal risk to himself and his family, and second, by the tales of horror these files contain.

The defector himself worked for decades as the chief archivist for the foreign intelligence division of the KGB. Part of his duties was to extensively check and then seal each of the hundreds of thousands of cases on file, which gave him unhindered access to all of the secrets of the decades of KGB activity. Of course, one has to ask oneself the most important question; why? Apparently the defector had long ago become badly disillusioned by the nature of the Soviet government and its ritualistic suppression of human rights, especially by its record of systematic silencing of both domestic and international dissidents. Faced with a series of decisions about what to do, he eventually drifted into copying the records as a quiet act of protest, soon the records, smuggled out in his clothing, pockets, inside his socks,shoes, or his underwear, soon grew to fantastic proportions.

The tales of KGB abuse and excess are horrifying to read about, staggering the imagination both in terms of the extent they reached, and also in terms of the absolute lunacy of much of it. It extended from assassination attempts to infiltration of civil rights leader's entourages, from tales of murder and mayhem in the days of the Bolsheviks to stories of deep-cover agents still active when the book was published, from secretly booby-trapped arm caches to hate mail and bomb campaigns in the United States. As amazing as the laundry list of misdeeds may be, what is so incredible is that most of it was so singularly unsuccessful in both conception and execution, illustrating just how culturally inept the KGB was, and how badly misconceived most of this mayhem was.

This is a fascinating book, written in a very readable and entertaining fashion. The difficulties in writing it and the risks associated with smugglingit out of the Soviet Union read like something out of a John LeCarre novel. Yet because of its considerable length and its subject matter, it is a slow and time-consuming read. I enjoyed reading it, and recommend it for anyone interested in just how energetic and devilishly inspired yet motley cast of KGB characters were over a period of almost eighty years.

This is a large body of work containing an enormous amount of information. The reason for the 4 stars is that I just don't feel that all the information from the KGB files can be taken without any skepticism at all. This is not really harsh criticism just an acknowledgement that with the flood of documents coming from the former Soviet Union and it's Republics, some prudent skepticism is called for. It also is not a comment on Mr. Mitrokhin, truth versus deception, disinformation, and lies, was part of the daily life in the Soviet Union. It is possible all his information is uncorrupted, but a bit of a jaundiced view is reasonably called for.

The book is interesting and loaded with information. I don't suggest this as a first book about the KGB because it reads more like a textbook; it is very meticulous to the point tedious in detail at times. If the subject is one you have some familiarity with, this volume could serve as an excellent reference work. If this were the first book you were to read on the topic, reaching the end would be challenging.

Vasily Nikitich Mitrokhin oversaw 300,000 files on an exhaustive list of prominent names in American History. If there was a person who had access to a library of information, Mr. Mitrokhin certainly qualifies. His willingness to remove information on a daily basis for years on end is both a testament to his courage, and an amazing period of luck.

The work is excellent in depth and breadth of material covered. It is not light reading as the subjects that are covered, or sometimes mentioned briefly, have been the topic of entire books. If you are willing to make the effort and devote the time, your knowledge of this particular man's cache of information will greatly expand your knowledge of what some of the KGB's activities were. With the passing of time a more complete picture will emerge of this opponent of The Cold War. It certainly is not the final word on the matter, but an excellent piece of the story.

Well worth reading if given the time.

A lot of detail, and all of it good information. Unfortunately it should not be presented in audio format without a rewrite. It gets difficult when listening to the tape while navigating traffic and having to navigate the acronyms of the various spy agencies.

Though I am interested in geopolitics, this is not an easy read. The sheer weight of names, faces, events tends to drag one down. I suppose if I wanted fast-paced espionage, I should read a novel. I did find some parts of this book, particularly the revelations about KGB infiltration into the highest reaches of the White House at certain points in time, interesting. Frankly, I am surprised at the level of ineptness of the intelligence services on both sides. The end game of the fall of Communism was covered in fairly short order - I expect this will be the subject of the next volume by the authors, though if it is very much like this one, I doubt I will be reading it.

A well documented piece, tends to be repetative and tedious in places. I enjoyed it greatly and most importantly learned a lot about the former Soviet Union's mind set towards the west. I recommend it.

Though not all the revelations in this book aren't exactly new, they don't have to be. What Andrews does is lay out some new details on some old spys and spymasters. More often than not, the details of the individuals that worked for the KGB and it's brothers during the Cold War often resembled Maxwell Smart rather than James Bond.

That the foreign spies who worked for Warsaw Pact intelligence services, and the agents who ran them, were often deeply flawed human beings is no surprise. However, the details provided by Mitrohkin definitely show a side of the KGB that takes much of the mystery off of its reputation.

This is not to say the KGB had huge successes and was not a threat - quite the contrary. The portrayal of Yuri Andropov as a paranoid addicted to conspiracy theories is especially frightening considering his rise to the pinnacle of power in the old USSR.

The book ultimately succeeds in laying out the case that the old Soviet Union, and the KGB, died due to its own contradictions. For all the information gathered by the KGB, much if not most of it was squandered due to bureaucratic ineptitude and a sychophantic corps of analysis that, regardless of the information provided to it at great costs, told the decision-makers what they wanted to hear.

We had a right to be scared during the so-called "Red Scare" as the Left likes to call KGB infiltration into almost all walks of American life. Most interesting to me was the character assassination of KGB nemesis J. Edgar Hoover who was described as a sexual pervert by a woman with a long record of spreading false news stories. Her calumnies were immediately accepted as true by many in the American media some of whom had wittingly or unwittingly been suborned by the KGB. It's also shocking to note that when these false charges were made there were very few who stood up for the late FBI Director and they apparently had a problem getting their defense heard by the public. This book can be heavy going to those unfamiliar with the world of espionage. Readers might look in the extensive index and seek out at first the names of spies whose names are well known such as Alger Hiss. From there the reader might be able to start at the beginning and really delve into what is revealed. This is not a book to be taken from the public library on a two week loan. It should be purchased and become part of the library of anyone who wants to know the truth about foreign spies in the USA

Reading The Triumph and the Glory, novelist Steven Edward Rustad's first book in his highly-touted Cold War series, got me interested in the topic so I picked up a copy of The Sword and the Shield. Pretty heavy reading, folks, but interesting, at times even borders on fascinating. This one though, is going to appeal mainly to the spy buffs and their crowd, it is necessary to be somehwat familiar with cold war era history and the processes of espionage to truly get the most from this book. I don't know if the Mitrokhin Archive is real or not, there seems to be some controversy here, it remains to be seen whether there is a factual basis for this book ot whether this is, ironically, misinformation put together by someone with his own agenda (like making money)

Sometimes one picks up a book, thinks it looks interesting, and decides to buy it and read it, only to find out that you wish you hadn't. This is the way I feel about this book. I think this book is absolute blasphemy, and think it never should have come into existence!

This book paints a devasting portrait of Western intelligence services. Were it not for Stalin's insane paranoia, it is likely that the world would be a very different and much less democratic place than it is today. This book is superb; it is probable that not all of Mitrokhin's revelations have been published and ongoing investigations of Western services and personnel are underway as a result of what he brought out of Moscow Centre. Other critical reviews of this book on this site are "protesting too much." A must read for anyone who has ever wondered about the billions we spend on intelligence and its effectiveness.

I beleave that what you read here has happened in the USA allso

A very realistic insight of the hidden world that spies live in. I am huge Bond fan, and reading this book not only supports Bond's authenticity, but reveals its true nature of being a spy.

The Sword and the Shield purports to reveal evidence of the massive campaign of espionage and disinformation by the KGB against the west (and their own people). It's a good read of the activities that were employed against us and generally lays to rest the USSR's long heralded claims of pacificism and tolerance. Yet for all their aggressiveness, it is not hard to see why the Cold War ended in a western victory and not a Soviet. The key to any victory is to know your enemy and for all their great abiliies to collect intelligence on us, their weakness showed up that the Soviets were unable to adjust their worldview to understand us. The best example I can think of was the Soviet instistence in having their agents relay to them the signs of British and American agents working against the Soviets during WW2. When hearing there weren't any, the Soviets chose to doubt their agents! Talk about a "Don't confuse me with the facts" mentality. The Soviets seemed to reason that since they were doing it, then we must be doing the same. While the Soviets were able to employ a good many highly skilled and deicated agents, the dictatorship they worked for was uninterested in hearing anything than what they'd already imagined. When this mentality is extrapolated to the rest of the country and government ministries it becomes clear why the Soviet Union no longer exists as a political entity today and this book highlights it.

This was the most in depth book about the KGB and their secrets i have ever read! Better than Khrushchev Remebers, better than Breaking With Moscow, better than Solo!!! A great look into KGB espionage.

In a well-known scene in the movie "Casablanca," the corrupt prefect de police (played by Claude Raines) exclaims, as he announces the closing of Rick's Cafe, "I'm shocked, absolutely shocked, to find out that gambling is going on in here!" (At which point, the croupier brings him a fistful of money -- "Your winnings, M'sieur" -- which Louis stuffs in his pocket.) By the same token, as interesting as it is to read the fascinating details, should we really be "absolutely shocked" to find out that Soviet Russia spied on western countries, recruited local nationals as agents or spread misinformation through the media, academia, etc.? When will we get the other side of the coin in the form of an archive detailing the CIA's activities in Latin America, Europe and Africa? One suspects we will find out that "our" side did just about the same as the other side did: "Spy vs. Spy," for those who remember the Mad magazine comic strip. Now that the Cold War is over, shouldn't ALL the archives be opened? Or only those belonging to the losers?

A very interesting insight into the methods used by one society to disrupt another. But the book and its publicity comes with the self-righteous feel of the victor. Perhaps when an American comes forward with similarly credible information we will get a fuller picture of the role intelligence agencies had in the Cold War era.

As a former agent for Mr. Chang I must tell you that there is much more that happened.

This book is causing a sensation throughout Europe, and especially in England, where today MI 5 is being shaken by its revelations. Some of the characters in the book have been identified, including a former secretary who had been passing secrets to the Soviets for 40 years, according to the Times' articles, and a disgraced former Scotland Yard detective actiong as a Romeo Agent. Anyone who spied for the former Soviet Union between the revolution and 1992 is potentially in danger,according to experts who have reviewed the book. One of Mitrokhin's reasons for collaborating with Christopher Andrew, noted British espionage expert, in telling this story of espionage and perfidy is to to warn others who just might be tempted. This book can shake governments.

If you read the news stories about this book you heard the most interesting stuff in it by far.

The book reveals much of what we already knew and suspected but I think the best has been removed. Well, golly gee, the KGB not only spies on us but actually lies about us, a common trait that goes back to Lenin, Dzerzinsky and Stalin. However, what would be the more interesting inquiry and research is to find out what American publishers, reporters and media first broke these stories and on a regular basis??? This will ID many of our ignorant or in some cases complicit press, media and defenders of the First Amendment freedoms except when it comes to conservatives. The book outlines in detail just how and why such rumors, innuendoes and schemes were created and for what purposes. After all, the whole world now knows except Red China and North Korea that Communism is a failure, ruled by a Elite of sheep. The time is now to expose the people who placed such rumors within our media it may even include Labor Leaders, Congressmen, and some real rich boys! I am not calling for a Joe McCarthy type of nonsense, but all of these articles can be traced to several sources and it will be nice to have them explain how and why they published them without confirmation. Wow, what a grand idea, following lies to find the truth? Use to be the Creed of American journalists until Clinton was elected with help of our bozo press. It is about time we have the proof of just which media we can avoid in the future based upon their prior incompetence to find and publish such falsehood. I highly recommend this book and for all you so called Journalists who freely mention these falsehoods in your column shame on you. One way to make it up to the American People is to reveal your sources since they have now embarrassed you into revelations. Too much to ask for your responsibility...??? Well, maybe after all that is why you are trusted by the American People after politicians and Used Car Salesman, says it all and about time. Now for those your responsible Journalists looking for a vendetta you should read and follow every lead. Gee, I wonder if the New York Times or Washington Post are worried or will just pan the book. Let's wait and read???