Review, buy War & Espionage: Open Secret: The Autobiography of the Former Director-General of MI5, The Girl in the Picture: The Remarkable Story of Vietnam's Most Famous Casualty, General James Longstreet, Team Yankee, The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory and the American Revolution, Waterloo Recollections: Rare First Hand Accounts, Letters, Reports and Retellings from the Campaign of 1815, The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Kesselring, I flew for the Fuhrer: Story of a German Airman (Cassell Military Paperbacks), Kitchener's Army: The Raising of the New Armies 1914-1916, Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport, I, Pierre Seel, Deported Homosexual, Flying for Freedom: The Flying, Survival and Captivity Experiences of a Czech Pilot in the Second World War, Land Girls at the Old Rectory, SS Peiper: Battle Commander, The Next Moon: The Remarkable True Story of a British Agent Behind the Lines in Wartime France, Lee Miller's War: Photographer and Correspondent with the Allies in Europe 1944-45, The Enemy Within: MI5, Maxwell and the Scargill Affair, The Railway Man, Schindler's Ark (Coronet Books), Three Came Home

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Review Hutchinson / Open Secret: The Autobiography of the Former Director-General of MI5

Open Secret: The Autobiography of the Former Director-General of MI5 (Hutchinson)

Authors

Stella Rimington

Publication date: 2001-09-13
Dewey code: 327.12410092
RRP: ~~£18.99~~
Price: £19.99

Review Open Secret: The Autobiography of the Former Director-General of MI5 / Hutchinson:

You have to admire the cheek of Open Secret's author Stella Rimington. After a career spanning 25 years in MI5, during which she was more than happy for the Official Secrets Acts to be used to the government's advantage, she is now outraged that attempts should have been made to block publication of her memoirs and is calling for the act to be reformed. In an extended preface to Open Secret, Rimington writes of her encounter with Cabinet secretary, Sir Richard Wilson, "By the end of an hour or so of being threatened, bullied and cajoled in the more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger way the Establishment behaves to its recalcitrant sons and, as I now know, daughters, I was very shaken". One wonders what else she expected? The thought of any former director-general of MI5 writing his or her memoirs was bound to have disturbed the security services and, compared to many, Rimington got off lightly. But then, whatever else she might think, Rimington is still very much an Establishment woman. She submitted her manuscript for vetting, took out one or two edgy bits, and as she disarmingly points out, there are no revelations about the inner workings of the intelligence services. When she gets to any contentious issues, such as MI5's role in infiltrating CND and breaking the miners' strike, all she has to say is that MI5 never did anything wrong, that that those who say otherwise are conspiracy theorists and that we'll just have to take her word for it because she's right. The portrait that emerges of a bunch of mildly incompetent bureaucrats who wouldn't say boo to a goose does no favours to Rimington or MI5. The books does have its moments, particularly those describing a woman isolated in an almost exclusively male world, but its real significance lies in the fact it was published at all. If the director-general is allowed to go public, there's precious little to stop the MI5 foot soldiers doing likewise. [+]

And when they do, the skeletons that Rimington has kept firmly locked in the cupboard might start to come tumbling out. -John Crace.

Review Open Secret: The Autobiography of the Former Director-General of MI5 / Hutchinson:

Review The Girl in the Picture: The Remarkable Story of Vietnam's Most Famous Casualty / Simon & Schuster Ltd:

Review General James Longstreet / Simon & Schuster:

Review Team Yankee / Pocket Books:

Review The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory and the American Revolution / Beacon Press:

Review Waterloo Recollections: Rare First Hand Accounts, Letters, Reports and Retellings from the Campaign of 1815 / Leonaur Ltd:

Review The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Kesselring / Greenhill Books:

Review I flew for the Fuhrer: Story of a German Airman (Cassell Military Paperbacks) / Phoenix:

Review Kitchener's Army: The Raising of the New Armies 1914-1916 / Pen & Sword Military:

Review Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport / Bloomsbury Publishing PLC:

Review I, Pierre Seel, Deported Homosexual / Basic Books Inc.,U.S.:

Review Flying for Freedom: The Flying, Survival and Captivity Experiences of a Czech Pilot in the Second World War / Pen & Sword Aviation:

Review Land Girls at the Old Rectory / Old Pond Publishing Ltd:

Review SS Peiper: Battle Commander / Pen & Sword Books Ltd:

Review The Next Moon: The Remarkable True Story of a British Agent Behind the Lines in Wartime France / Viking:

Review Lee Miller's War: Photographer and Correspondent with the Allies in Europe 1944-45 / Thames & Hudson Ltd:

Review The Enemy Within: MI5, Maxwell and the Scargill Affair / Pan Books:

Review The Railway Man / Jonathan Cape:

Review Schindler's Ark (Coronet Books) / Coronet:

Review Three Came Home / Eland Publishing Ltd: