The Secret History of MI6 1909-1949 (Penguin Press), by Keith Jeffery

There never was a James Bond, but Her Majesty’s Secret Service numbered some fascinating agents in its ranks, including the historian Hugh Trevor-Roper and authors Malcolm Muggeridge and Graham Greene. Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming, worked with the service during World War II. Keith Jeffery, a history professor at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, has compiled a detailed and thorough account of the agency since its inception as a one-man operation through the early years of the Cold War, when it ran thousands of agents around the world. Written in clear albeit dry prose, The Secret History reveals that the strengths and weaknesses of this often-furtive agency came down to the personalities involved.