In 1917, a band of communist
revolutionaries stormed the Winter Palace of Tsar Nicholas II-a dramatic and
explosive act marking that Vladimir Lenin's communist revolution was now
underway. But Lenin would not be
satisfied with overthrowing the Tsar. His goal was a global revolt that would
topple all Western capitalist regimes-starting with the British Empire.
Russian Roulette tells the
spectacular and harrowing story of the British spies in revolutionary Russia
and their mission to stop Lenin's red tide from washing across the free world.
They were an eccentric cast of characters, led by Mansfield Cumming, a
one-legged, monocle-wearing former sea captain, and included novelist W.
Somerset Maugham, beloved children's author Arthur Ransome, and the dashing,
ice-cool Sidney Reilly, the legendary Ace of Spies and a model for Ian
Fleming's James Bond. Cumming's network would pioneer the field of covert
action and would one day become MI6.
Living in disguise, constantly
switching identities, they infiltrated Soviet commissariats, the Red Army, and
Cheka (the feared secret police), and would come within a whisker of
assassinating Lenin. In a sequence of bold exploits that stretched from Moscow
to the central Asian city of Tashkent, this unlikely band of agents succeeded
in foiling Lenin's plot for global revolution.
“Milton has a rare ability-a
talent for sifting fine pearls from faraway sands and transmuting the merely
arcane into little literary gems.” – Simon Winchester, Boston Globe
“Impressive...[an] entertaining
history of spectacular, often nasty derring-do by real-life secret
agents.” – Publishers Weekly
“A beguiling ride through a
riotous time by a historian and able storyteller who knows his facts and his
audience.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Replete with cloak-and-dagger
details…Milton's vivid presentation…will entertain aficionados of
intelligence.” – Booklist
“With this marvelous,
meticulously researched, and truly groundbreaking account of British spies
working in Lenin’s stripling Soviet Union, Giles Milton – with his best book so
far – reminds us of a time when the spying game was dangerous, fun, and even,
dare one say it, cool – way cooler than the dreary digital mechanics of today’s
NSA.” – Simon Winchester, Author of The Men Who United the States and The Professor and the Madman [Mnemotechnique,
“The rot goes very deep.”]
“Just when it seemed there were
no more rousing espionage stories left to tell, along comes Giles Milton with Russian Roulette. With his customary
panache and originality, he weaves an astonishing account enlivened by a
remarkable cast of characters.” – Laurence Bergreen, Author of Columbus: the Four Voyages and Over
the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
