Our writers profile individuals, some of them overlooked, and explore how they shaped the world as we know it.
The singer-turned-spy Josephine Baker played a key, and hitherto unacknowledged, role during the Second World War in the secret contest between Britain and France in the Middle Eas..
During the first two decades of the Cold War, a former university librarian, Thede Palm, led Sweden’s military intelligence. His disregard for his country's official policy of non-..
The industrialist Henry J. Kaiser played a pivotal role in the lightning mobilisation of American industry that took place after Pearl Harbor, a contribution that deserves wider re..
Agent Zo, Elżbieta Zawacka's cover name, was one of the most highly decorated women in Polish history, and one of the most brilliant spies in the history of espionage.
The socialite Lillie Langtry's beauty first gained her fame, but it was her indomitable spirit, resourcefulness, and above all, her business acumen, that enabled her to convert her..
Leo XIII presided over an intellectually and spiritually ambitious papacy that helped steer the Catholic Church from the 19th century into the 20th. His example is an excellent gui..
As Britain’s ambassador to Francisco Franco’s Spain, Sir Samuel Hoare played a difficult hand with remarkable imagination and skill. His deft diplomacy avoided costly strategic err..
The Soviet spy Richard Sorge, arguably one of the most successful intelligence agents in history, was emblematic of the twisted and ruined personalities created by an era of ideolo..
The recent passing of Betty Web, a codebreaker at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, reminds us of the extraordinary role played by female intelligence analysts in defeati..
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