The Greatest Spy

John Harte

Language: English

Publisher: Skyhorse

Published: Aug 22, 2025

Description:

Discover the life and daring exploits of the real-life model for the world's most famous spy, James Bond: Sidney Reilly!
When a twenty-year-old Ukrainian arrived in London as a candidate for the position of secret agent in Britain's Secret Intelligence Bureau, the chiefs of what would one day become MI5 were wise to hire him, as he would become Britain's greatest spy, a man known by several names.
His ingenuity and his mastery of the trade, and his audacity and coolness when in danger, were highly praised. To penetrate the Irish Republican Army (IRA), he was given the code name of Sidney Reilly. He was tasked with kidnapping Lenin and Trotsky during the Russian Revolution, and visited the major battlefronts across Soviet Russia during the civil war, sending back proposals to defeat the Reds. He stole Germany's naval plans from Krupp and the harbor plans in Mongolia for Britain's allies, and he posed as a German officer to engage in discussions with the Kaiser and...