Basil Thomson

Odd People (eBook, ePUB)

Hunting Spies in the First World War

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

First World War espionage was a fascinating and dangerous affair, spawning widespread paranoia in its clandestine wake. The hysteria of the age, stoked by those within the British establishment who sought to manipulate popular panic, meant there was no shortage of suspects. Exaggerated claims were rife: some 80,000 Germans were supposedly hidden all over Britain, just waiting for an impending (and imagined) invasion. No one could be trusted... Against this backdrop, as head of Scotland Yard's Criminal Investigation Department, it was Basil Thomson's responsibility to hunt, arrest and interrogate the potential German spies identified by the nascent British intelligence services. Thomson's story is an extraordinary compendium of sleuthing and secrets from a real-life Sherlock Holmes, following the trails of the many specimens he tracked, including the famous dancer, courtesan and spy, Mata Hari. Yet his activities gained him enemies, as did his criticism of British intelligence, his ambition to control MI5 and his efforts to root out left-wing revolutionaries - which would ultimately prove to be the undoing of his career. Odd People is the insightful and wittily observed account of Thomson's incomparably exciting job, offering us a rare glimpse into the dizzying world of spies and the mind of the detective charged with foiling their elaborate plots. The Dialogue Espionage Classics series began in 2010 with the purpose of bringing back classic out-of-print spy stories that should never be forgotten. From the Great War to the Cold War, from the French Resistance to the Cambridge Five, from Special Operations to Bletchley Park, this fascinating spy history series includes some of the best military, espionage and adventure stories ever told.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Biteback Publishing
• Seitenzahl: 336
• Erscheinungstermin: 8. Januar 2015
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781849548625
• Artikelnr.: 42136338

Autorenporträt

Basil Thomson: Basil Thomson was Assistant Commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, which made him the head of the Criminal Investigation Department at New Scotland Yard. As head of CID, Thomson was involved in the arrests of suspected spies, suffragettes, Indian revolutionaries and Irish rebels.

Inhaltsangabe

Introduction
Preface
1. The detective in real life
2. The imaginative liar
3. The lure of something for nothing
4. The first days
5. The Special Branch
6. War crimes
7. The Germans and the Irish
8. The Casement case
9. Strange sideshows
10. The German spy
11. Muller and others
12. The hireling spy
13. The last executions
14. Some Americans
15. Women spies
16. Curious visitors
17. The end of Rasputin
18. Recruits for the enemy
19. The decline of morale
20. The bogus princess
21. Footnotes to the peace conference
22. The royal unemployed
23. Unrest at home
24. Our communists
25. The return to sanity