Audiobooks by Ben Macintyre

Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy From the Bestselling Author of The Spy and the Traitor

"Brought to you by Penguin. The year is 1981. Tehran is in violent turmoil in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. The Soviets are planning to overthrow the Ayatollah’s fledgling Islamist regime. If they do so, one response from America – unknown to the public – would be to use nuclear weapons. Redwood is the story of how at the height of the Cold War, one mysterious double agent, whose intelligence reached the highest levels of British and American governments, cracked open the KGB, revealed the Kremlin’s secret plot and prevented Armageddon. ‘Redwood’ was the MI6 codename for this unsung, hitherto unknown hero of the Cold War, a highly-trained six-foot-four Russian intelligence officer who chose to expose the KGB’s deepest secrets, compelled to swap sides by a shaming secret of his own. Facing exposure, with both the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and his own KGB colleagues closing in, he demanded that MI6 try to smuggle him out of Iran in a high-stakes escape plan. This is the gripping tale of one man’s courage, and its extraordinary unintended consequences that still shape our world today. It’s about a moving friendship between spies on opposite sides of the global conflict; about marriage, loyalty, betrayal and sexual dysfunction; and about how decisions made in secret can have huge, long-term ramifications. Drawing on never-before-seen material from archives in multiple countries, and interviews with the participants including officers from MI6 and MI5, the KGB and CIA, Redwood combines the shadowy world of the Spy and the Traitor with the action of SAS: Rogue Heroes. It lifts the lid on an unknown and highly significant Cold War victory, on the machinations of history's Great Game, and on how espionage really works. Without Redwood, our world would be very different – and might not exist at all. © Ben Macintyre 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026"

Ben Macintyre (Author), Ben Macintyre (Narrator)

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[German] - Der Spion und der Verräter: Die spektakulärste Geheimdienstgeschichte des Kalten Krieges

"Vom KGB-Offizier zum meistgesuchten Doppelagenten der Welt Oleg Gordijewskis Weg in den sowjetischen Geheimdienst war ihm als Sohn zweier KGB-Agenten in die Wiege gelegt. Da er Deutsch konnte, brachte ihn eine seiner ersten Anstellungen nach Berlin, wo er den Bau der Mauer hautnah mitbekam – es sollte sich als eines von vielen Ereignissen erweisen, die seinen Glauben an den Kommunismus zerrütteten. Ganz brach er mit ihm aber erst 1968, als sowjetische Truppen in Prag einmarschierten, und bot sich dem britischen MI6 als Doppelagent an. Schnell wurde er zur wichtigsten Informationsquelle für den Geheimdienst Ihrer Majestät. Seine Identität wurde nicht nur vor den Sowjets geheim gehalten, auch die engsten Verbündeten tappten im Dunkeln. Etwas, was die CIA nicht auf sich sitzen lassen konnte: Sie beauftragte einen ihrer Offiziere mit der Identifizierung des Mannes. Der Offizier hieß Aldrich Ames und sollte noch zu zweifelhaftem Ruhm als sowjetischer Spion gelangen … Ben Macintyres Buch entfaltet ein Dreiecksspiel zwischen den Geheimdiensten der USA, Großbritanniens und der Sowjetunion und gipfelt in Oleg Gordijewskis fesselnder und filmreifer Flucht aus Moskau 1985. Wie ein Roman von John le Carré entführt es den Leser in eine Welt des Verrats und der Täuschung."

Ben Macintyre (Author), Michael A. Grimm (Narrator)

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[German] - Agent Sonja: Kommunistin, Mutter, Topspionin

"Ursula Kuczynski wuchs in einer großbürgerlichen jüdischen Familie in Berlin-Schlachtensee auf. In New York bewegte sie sich in den besten Kreisen. Sie hatte Affären, war mehrmals verheiratet und hatte Kinder. Doch ihre große, wahre Liebe galt dem Kommunismus. Ihm diente sie als Saboteurin, Bombenbauerin und Geheimagentin. Ihr Codename: »Agent Sonja«. 1923, Ursula ist gerade einmal sechzehn Jahre alt, wird sie bei einer 1.-Mai-Demonstration von einem Polizisten niedergeknüppelt. Es ist nur ein Grund mehr für sie, der Kommunistischen Partei beizutreten und deren Ideen in die Welt hinauszutragen. Mit Anfang zwanzig begleitet sie ihren ersten Ehemann nach Shanghai, wo sie Richard Sorge kennenlernt. Der Meisterspion wirbt sie für den russischen Geheimdienst an und sorgt dafür, dass sie in Moskau eine Ausbildung zur Agentin absolviert. Von dort aus geht es für sie in die Mandschurei und anschließend in die Schweiz, wo sie ein Bombenattentat auf Hitler plant. In den 50er Jahren wird sie in der DDR unter dem Namen Ruth Werner zur Erfolgsautorin. Den größten Dienst erweist sie der Sowjetunion aber, indem sie zwischen 1943 und 1949 Informationen über das britische Atomprogramm an Moskau weitergibt – eine der gefährlichsten Spionageaktionen des 20. Jahrhunderts. Spannend und temporeich wie einen Thriller erzählt der Spionageexperte und Bestseller-Autor Ben Macintyre das unglaubliche, aber wahre Leben einer Spionin, die den Lauf der Weltgeschichte maßgeblich verändert hat."

Ben Macintyre (Author), Henrike Tönnes (Narrator)

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For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond

"Bloomsbury presents For Your Eyes Only, written and read by Ben Macintyre The official history of Ian Fleming and James Bond by the bestselling author of Operation Mincemeat 'Marvellously entertaining and informative' Spectator 'Thrilling' Sunday Times 'An entertaining mix of history, espionage, biography, and post-war sociology' Literary Review ‘I am going to write the spy story to end all spy stories.' One morning in February 1952, a journalist called Ian Fleming sat down at his desk and set about creating a fictional secret agent. James Bond was born and would go on to become one of the most successful, enduring and lucrative creations in literature. But Bond's world of glamour and romance, gadgets and cocktails, espionage and villainy wasn't entirely drawn from imagination: Fleming's background and his experiences as an intelligence officer during the Second World War were all formative parts in the creation of the world's most famous spy. Packed with astonishing detail and written in Macintyre's inimitable style, For Your Eyes Only is the most enlightening, enlivening book on the creator of the spy who not only lived twice, but proved to be immortal. C 2008 Ben Macintyre P 2025 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"

Ben Macintyre (Author), Ben Macintyre (Narrator)

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The Last Word: Tales from the Tip of the Mother Tongue

"Bloomsbury presents The Last Word, written and read by Ben Macintyre 'A sprinkling of delightful nuggets about the uses and abuses of the English Language' Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year '[There are] myriad delights in Ben Macintyre's musings on language' The Times, Books of the Year Do you know your geek-speak from your geek-chic? Ever wanted to put Humpty Dumpty together again? Can you distinguish Spanglish from Chinglish? We adapt words from other languages, from slang, from developments in science, literature and art. Learn the advantages of having your own signature word; why the lifts in the House of Commons have posh accents; and discover the discreet art of the loophemism. Witty and utterly delightful, The Last Word will tease, tickle and tantalise those who enjoy all things lexical. C 2009 Ben Macintyre P 2025 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"

Ben Macintyre (Author), Ben Macintyre (Narrator)

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Forgotten Fatherland: The search for Elisabeth Nietzsche

"Bloomsbury presents Forgotten Fatherland, written and read by Ben Macintyre 'Startling, dark and absorbing' Independent 'Excellent travel writing: vivid, sympathetic, humorous' Guardian 'Fascinating, provocative and highly eccentric' New York Times In 1886 Elisabeth Nietzsche, the philosopher Friedrich's bigoted, imperious sister, founded a 'racially pure' colony in Paraguay together with a band of blond-haired fellow Germans. Over a century later, Ben Macintyre sought out the survivors of Nueva Germania to discover the remains of this bizarre colony. Forgotten Fatherland vividly recounts his arduous adventure locating the survivors, while also tracing the colorful history of Elisabeth's return to Europe, where she inspired the mythical cult of her brother's philosophy and later became a mentor to Hitler. Brilliantly researched and mordantly funny, this is an illuminating portrait of a forgotten people and of a woman whose deep influence on the twentieth century can only now be fully understood. C 1992 Ben Macintyre P 2025 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"

Ben Macintyre (Author), Ben Macintyre (Narrator)

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The Siege: The Remarkable Story of the Greatest SAS Hostage Drama, from the Bestselling Author of The Spy and the Traitor

"Brought to you by Penguin. THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER On April 30, 1980, six heavily armed gunmen burst into the Iranian embassy on Princes Gate, overlooking Hyde Park in London. There they took 26 hostages, including embassy staff, visitors, and three British citizens. A tense six-day siege ensued as millions gathered around screens across the country to witness the longest news flash in British television history, in which police negotiators and psychiatrists sought a bloodless end to the standoff, while the SAS – hitherto an organisation shrouded in secrecy – laid plans for a daring rescue mission: Operation Nimrod. Drawing on unpublished source material, exclusive interviews with the SAS, and testimony from witnesses including hostages, negotiators, intelligence officers and the on-site psychiatrist, bestselling historian Ben Macintyre takes readers on a gripping journey from the years and weeks of build-up on both sides, to the minute-by-minute account of the siege and rescue. Recreating the dramatic conversations between negotiators and hostages, the cutting-edge intelligence work happening behind-the-scenes, and the media frenzy around this moment of international significance, The Siege is the remarkable story of what really happened on those fateful six days, and the first full account of a moment that forever changed the way the nation thought about the SAS – and itself. ‘Unforgettable’ Independent ‘Fresh and gripping’ Telegraph 'The pre-eminent historian of the secret world . . . His books have set the gold standard for accurate historical reporting, but read like heart-pounding thrillers' Mick Herron ‘Macintyre does true-life espionage better than anyone else’ John Preston © Ben Macintyre 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024"

Ben Macintyre (Author), Ben Macintyre (Narrator)

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A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal

"Bloomsbury presents A Spy Among Friends written and read by Ben Macintyre. THE SUNDAY TIMES No. 1 BESTSELLER WITH AN AFTERWORD BY JOHN LE CARRÉ 'Riveting, astounding . . . An unputdownable postwar thriller' Observer 'Irresistibly readable' Sunday Times 'Worthy of John le Carré at his best' Guardian 'Hugely engrossing . . . Both authoritative and enthralling' William Boyd Kim Philby was the most notorious British defector and Soviet mole in history. Agent, double agent, traitor and enigma, he betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians in the early years of the Cold War. In the aftermath of the Second World War, Philby, Nicholas Elliott and James Jesus Angleton were rising stars in the intelligence world and shared every secret. Elliott and Angleton thought they knew Philby better than anyone – and then discovered they had not known him at all. This is a story of loyalty, trust and treachery, of male friendships forged, and then systematically betrayed. With access to newly released MI5 files and previously unseen papers, A Spy Among Friends unlocks what was perhaps the last great secret of the Cold War. C 2014 Ben Macintyre"

Ben Macintyre (Author), Ben Macintyre (Narrator)

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Operation Mincemeat: The True Spy Story that Changed the Course of World War II

"Bloomsbury presents Operation Mincemeat written and read by Ben Macintyre. THE SUNDAY TIMES NO 1. BESTSELLER 'Astonishing . . . Sheds riveting new light on this breathtaking plan' Daily Mail 'A rollicking read' Max Hastings, Sunday Times 'Brilliant and almost absurdly entertaining' Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker April, 1943: a sardine fisherman spots the corpse of a British soldier floating in the sea off the coast of Spain and sets off a train of events that would change the course of the Second World War. Operation Mincemeat was the most successful wartime deception ever attempted. It hoodwinked the Nazi espionage chiefs and saved thousands of lives by deploying a secret agent who was different from any spy before or since: he was dead. His mission: to convince the Germans that instead of attacking Sicily, the Allied armies planned to invade Greece. The brainchild of an eccentric RAF officer and a brilliant Jewish barrister, the great hoax involved an extraordinary cast of characters including a famous forensic pathologist, a gold-prospector, an inventor, a beautiful secret service secretary, a submarine captain, three novelists, an irascible admiral who loved fly-fishing, and a dead Welsh tramp. This is the true story of the most extraordinary deception ever planned by Churchill's spies: an outrageous lie that travelled from a Whitehall basement all the way to Hitler's desk."

Ben Macintyre (Author), Ben Macintyre (Narrator)

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Agent Zigzag: The True Wartime Story of Eddie Chapman: Lover, Traitor, Hero, Spy

"Bloomsbury presents Agent Zigzag written and read by Ben Macintyre. SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD 'Engrossing as any thriller' Daily Telegraph 'Superb. Meticulously researched, splendidly told, immensely entertaining' John le Carré 'This is the most amazing book, full of fascinating and hair-raising true life adventures . . . It would be impossible to recommend it too highly' Mail on Sunday One December night in 1942, a Nazi parachutist landed in a Cambridgeshire field. His mission: to sabotage the British war effort. His name was Eddie Chapman, but he would shortly become MI5's Agent Zigzag. Dashing and suave, courageous and unpredictable, Chapman was by turns a traitor, a hero, a villain and a man of conscience. But, as his spymasters and many lovers often wondered, who was the real Eddie Chapman? Ben Macintyre weaves together diaries, letters, memories and top-secret MI5 files to create an exhilarating account of Britain's most sensational double agent. C 2007 Ben Macintyre"

Ben Macintyre (Author), Ben Macintyre (Narrator)

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Double Cross: The True Story of The D-Day Spies

"Bloomsbury presents Double Cross written and read by Ben Macintyre. 'Addictive and deeply moving' Independent 'Utterly gripping' Anthony Beevor, Daily Telegraph 'Enthralling . . . A reminder that heroism can be found in the most unlikely places' Evening Standard 'I have seldom enjoyed a spy story more than this one' Max Hastings, Sunday Times D-Day, 6 June 1944, the turning point of the Second World War, was a victory of arms. But it was also a triumph for a different kind of operation: one of deceit . . . At the heart of the deception was the 'Double Cross System', a team of double agents whose bravery, treachery, greed and inspiration succeeded in convincing the Nazis that Calais and Norway, not Normandy, were the targets of the 150,000-strong Allied invasion force. Under the direction of an eccentric but brilliant intelligence officer in tartan trousers, working from a smoky lair in St James's, these spies would weave a web of deception so intricate that it ensnared Hitler's army and helped to carry thousands of troops across the Channel in safety. These double agents were, variously, brave, treacherous, fickle, greedy and inspired. They were not conventional warriors, but their masterpiece of deceit saved countless lives. Their codenames were Bronx, Brutus, Treasure, Tricycle and Garbo. And this is their story. P 2024 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC C 2012 Ben Macintyre"

Ben Macintyre (Author), Ben Macintyre (Narrator)

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[French] - Colditz: La forteresse d'Hitler: La forteresse d'Hitler

"Sur les hauteurs d’une colline, au coeur de l'Allemagne nazie, se dresse un imposant château gothique, magnifique et monstrueux. Dans ce colossal labyrinthe de pierre sont parqués les « ennemis n°1 » d’Hitler, 200 officiers haut gradés aux multiples nationalités. Tout au long de leur longue et éprouvante captivité dans l’enceinte ultrasécurisée de Colditz, ces « incorrigibles » n’auront qu’une seule obsession : s’évader. Dans un jeu haletant du chat et de la souris, où la tension ne cesse de monter à mesure que la machine de guerre nazie s’affaiblit, ces prisonniers mettent leurs geôliers à l'épreuve par de redoutables et rocambolesques tentatives d'évasion. Au fil de portraits psychologiques précis et captivants, l’historien à succès Ben Macintyre dépeint une société en miniature, pleine de héros et de traîtres, de conflits de classes et d'alliances secrètes, et insuffle une nouvelle vie à l'une des plus grandes histoires de guerre jamais racontées."

Ben Macintyre (Author), Stephane Cornicard (Narrator)

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Audiobooks by Ben Macintyre

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