At 142 pages before one reaches the back matter, this slender volume is more an essay than a book. Thus, one cannot realistically expect that the author, Jefferson Adams, will devote as much attention to the topics covered as one would expect from a longer work. One can also expect that some topics that merit attention will be passed over altogether.
After a brief introduction, the book is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter discusses the origins and activities of some of the key Western and Soviet-bloc intelligence organizations of the Cold War era, as well as the Israeli Mossad. The next chapter recounts some of the early post–World War II espionage developments—such as the discovery and uprooting of the vast Soviet espionage effort in the United States and elsewhere, thanks to the Venona decryption project and the cases of Kim Philby and the other members of the Cambridge...