A Spy Among Friends
Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal
by Ben Macintyre
Recommended by Marc Andreessen and John Sipher
Check price on AmazonProof-backed recommendation
Amazon availability
Should I read this?
Recommended by 3 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, History, and Nonfiction.
Master storyteller Ben Macintyre’s most ambitious work to date brings to life thetwentieth century’s greatest spy story.Kim Philby was the greatest spy in history, a brilliant and charming man who rose to head Britain’s counterintelligence against the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War—while he was secretly working for the enemy. And no...
Looking for Kindle, hardcover, paperback, or audiobook editions?
Check formats, pricing, and current availability directly.
Why recommended
Recommended by 3 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, History, and Nonfiction.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
John Sipher
“@parisianballad @TheEconomist The book was pretty good. | A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by @BenMacintyre1 True, chilling saga of straight up, profoundly deep treason and betrayal. Sociopaths in high positions of power and influence. Hair curling.”
View sources (2) ▾80%
Appears In
Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider Accidental Presidents by Jared Cohen. Recommended by 10 sources.
“Accidental Presidents offers eight narrative portraits of men who succeeded to the U.S. presidency without election, using anecdote-rich scenes and readable context to show how personality and circumstance interact with office power. It’s strongest as a set of self-contained stories that make succession stakes concrete for non-specialist readers; it does not prioritize dense archival argument or exhaustive methodology, so expect some interpretive generalizations and repeated themes across cases. Use it for fast historical orientation rather than scholarly deep-dives.”
Similar books
How recommendation signals are reviewed
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.