{"title":"Books by Rory Cormac","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781838955649","title":"How To Stage A Coup","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A compelling history of the dark arts of statecraft... Fascinating' Jonathan Rugman\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Rich in anecdote and detail.' \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eToday's world is in flux. Competition between the great powers is back on the agenda and governments around the world are turning to secret statecraft and the hidden hand to navigate these uncertain waters. From poisonings to electoral interference, subversion to cyber sabotage, states increasingly operate in the shadows, while social media has created new avenues for disinformation on a mass scale.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is covert action: perhaps the most sensitive - and controversial - of all state activity. However, for all its supposed secrecy, it has become surprisingly prominent - and it is something that has the power to affect all of us. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn an enthralling and urgent narrative packed with real-world examples, Rory Cormac reveals how such activity is shaping the world and argues that understanding why and how states wield these dark arts has never been more important.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128022696114,"sku":"9781838955649","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781838955649_c2ba1de1-db91-4851-bf74-fc7dc8937e51.jpg?v=1786028389"},{"product_id":"9781786499141","title":"Spying and the Crown","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eDaily Mail \u003c\/i\u003eBook of the Year and \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ea \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e Best Book of 2021\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Monumental.. Authoritative and highly readable.' Ben Macintyre, \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A fascinating history of royal espionage.' \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Excellent... Compelling' \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor the first time, \u003ci\u003eSpying and the Crown\u003c\/i\u003e uncovers the remarkable relationship between the Royal Family and the intelligence community, from the reign of Queen Victoria to the death of Princess Diana. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn an enthralling narrative, Richard J. Aldrich and Rory Cormac show how the British secret services grew out of persistent attempts to assassinate Victoria and then operated on a private and informal basis, drawing on close personal relationships between senior spies, the aristocracy, and the monarchy. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBased on original research and new evidence, \u003ci\u003eSpying and the Crown\u003c\/i\u003e presents the British monarchy in an entirely new light and reveals how far their majesties still call the shots in a hidden world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePreviously published as \u003ci\u003eThe Secret Royals\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43205464981682,"sku":"9781786499141","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781786499141.jpg?v=1786025371"},{"product_id":"9780748678570","title":"Spying on the World","description":"Reproduces and contextualises the intelligence documents that influenced crucial UK Government decisions\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese 20 case studies reveal the declassified papers of the JIC, shining a light on the workings of Whitehall's secret world and the vital, previously unknown, role played by intelligence in pivotal events across the 20th and 21st centuries.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor more than half a century, the Joint Intelligence Committee or 'JIC' has been a central component of the British Government's secret machinery. It represents the highest authority in the world of intelligence and acts as a broker between the spy and the policy-maker. From WWII to the War in Iraq, and from the Falklands to the IRA, it has been involved in almost every key foreign policy decision.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56296670298485,"sku":"9780748678570","price":33.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780748678570_02a0b99f-1670-4132-a44b-7b21fe236d9b.jpg?v=1786014703"},{"product_id":"9780007555475","title":"The Black Door","description":"The Black Door explores the evolving relationship between successive British prime ministers and the intelligence agencies, from Asquith’s Secret Service Bureau to Cameron’s National Security Council.Intelligence can do a prime minister’s dirty work. For more than a century, secret wars have been waged directly from Number 10. They have staved off conflict, defeats and British decline through fancy footwork, often deceiving friend and foe alike. Yet as the birth of the modern British secret service in 1909, prime ministers were strangers to the secret world – sometimes with disastrous consequences. During the Second World War, Winston Churchill oversaw a remarkable revolution in the exploitation of intelligence, bringing it into the centre of government. Chruchill’s wartime regime also formed a school of intelligence for future prime ministers, and its secret legacy has endured. Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and David Cameron all became great enthusiasts for spies and special forces. Although Britain’s political leaders have often feigned ignorance about what one prime minister called this ‘strange underworld’, some of the most daring and controversial intelligence operations can be traced straight back to Number 10.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56307168018805,"sku":"9780007555475","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780007555475_983b0459-cc62-4733-8fce-f80ed5a31910.jpg?v=1785658720"},{"product_id":"9780198917007","title":"Fakers","description":"Intrigue, espionage, and deception. The truth behind 8,000 once top-secret files, so explosive their authors never dreamed they would be released.Fakers reveals the rise and fall of the mavericks running Britain's Cold War forgery empire. Their secret mission was audacious: to disrupt and discredit adversaries across the world using phantom groups, fake sources, and counterfeit documents.The leader was a remarkable character, wrestling with personal and professional dilemmas: Hans Welser. An Austrian refugee and one-time MI5 suspect interned behind barbed wire, Welser was a great survivor who rose to become special operations adviser to the Foreign Office, working hand in glove with MI6. His second in command was an eccentric, hard drinking, and high-flying journalist-turned-propagandist called John Rayner. Brought out of semi-retirement, for one final posting. Their team of bowler-hatted refugees, voluble ex-journalists, trailblazing women, and licentious literary sorts navigated loyalty and betrayal \u0026amp;#8212 both professionally and romantically \u0026amp;#8212 from the diplomats' attic, in the most sensitive part of the Foreign Office's secret propaganda department. The newly declassified files expose an array of plots, some comically absurd and others dangerously controversial. The forgery empire impersonated everything from hippies and ghosts to Islamists and ballet composers in their campaign to smear hostile politicians, stir tensions among adversaries, and even stymie the career of a contentious British historian. All took place against a high stakes backdrop \u0026amp;#8212 both overseas as states competed beneath the looming threat of nuclear war and in the corridors of power at home where grey-suited bureaucrats circled, keen to shut down the team for good. With timely insight into how propaganda works and how to respond to disinformation, Fakers is a thrilling journey into a secret world where nothing was as it seemed.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56367813689717,"sku":"9780198917007","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780198917007_6bdbeb8e-74f5-4bff-aafb-76b4e9ab32f6.jpg?v=1786012960"},{"product_id":"disrupt-and-deny","title":"Disrupt and Deny","description":"Disrupt and Deny is the untold story behind Britain's secret scheming against both enemies and friends from 1945 to the present day. British leaders use spies and Special Forces to interfere in the affairs of others discreetly and deniably. Since 1945, MI6 has spread misinformation designed to divide and discredit targets from the Middle East to Eastern Europe and Northern Ireland. It has instigated whispering campaigns and planted false evidence on officials working behind the Iron Curtain, tried to foment revolution in Albania, blown up ships to prevent the passage of refugees to Israel, and secretly funnelled aid to insurgents in Afghanistan and dissidents in Poland. MI6 has launched cultural and economic warfare against Iceland and Czechoslovakia. It has tried to instigate coups in Congo, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and elsewhere. Through bribery and blackmail, Britain has rigged elections as colonies moved to independence. Britain has fought secret wars in Yemen, Indonesia, and Oman - and discreetly used Special Forces to eliminate enemies from colonial Malaya to Libya during the Arab Spring. This is covert action: a vital, though controversial, tool of statecraft and perhaps the most sensitive of all government activity. If used wisely, it can play an important role in pursuing national interests in a dangerous world. If used poorly, it can cause political scandal - or worse. In Disrupt and Deny, Rory Cormac tells the remarkable true story of Britain's secret scheming against its enemies, as well as its friends; of intrigue and manoeuvring within the darkest corridors of Whitehall, where officials fought to maintain control of this most sensitive and seductive work; and, above all, of Britain's attempt to use smoke and mirrors to mask decline. He reveals hitherto secret operations, the slush funds that paid for them, and the battles in Whitehall that shaped them.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57466683785589,"sku":"9780198784609","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780198784609.jpg?v=1785654742"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-rory-cormac.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}