EMPIRE OF SECRETS: British Intelligence, the Cold War and the Twilight of Empire, by Calder Walton. HarperPress, 2013, 411 pp., $35 (hardcover)
"Empire of Secrets" is, as Calder Walton himself writes, "the first book devoted to British intelligence during the twilight of empire that has been based on declassified intelligence reports." "The full story can never perhaps be known," he quotes Sir David Petrie, head of MI5 during the Second World War, "but if it could be, it could perhaps claim acceptance as truth mainly on the grounds that it seems stranger than fiction." The book bears Sir David out, but only in the context of others.
A decade ago, two books appeared at opposite poles of the discourse over Britain's empire, its demise and legacy. One, by historian Niall Ferguson, was cheerleader for the imperial enterprise, subtitled "How Britain Made the Modern World." As well as chronicling what he saw as its achievements Ferguson posited that with empire, Britain founded global "liberal" capitalism, withdrawing altruistically from its territories when the fruit was ripe.