The Watchers - Stephen Alford

The Watchers
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Autor: Stephen Alford

 Wydawnictwo: Penguin
ISBN: 9780141043654
EAN:
Format: ...
Oprawa: miękka
Stron: 416
Data wydania: 2013-09-01
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The acclaimed and enthralling story of the dark side of Elizabethan rule, from Stephen Alford Elizabeth I's reign is known as a golden age, yet to much of Europe she was a 'Jezebel' and heretic who had to be destroyed. The Watchers is a thrilling portrayal of the secret state that sought to protect the Queen; a shadow world of spies, codebreakers, agent provocateurs and confidence-men who would stop at nothing to defend the realm. Reviews: "Forget Le Carre, Deighton and the rest - this is more enthralling than any modern spy fiction". (Daily Telegraph). "Absorbing and closely documented...Alford vividly evokes this murky world of codes, ciphers, invisible ink, intercepted letters, aliases, disguises, forgeries and instructions to burn after reading ...flowing narrative [and] crisp judments ...engrossing". (Guardian). "[Alford] has brought a dash of le Carre to the 16th century". (The Times (Book of the Week)). "A vivid and staggeringly well-researched portrait of the sinister side of Elizabethan England...This is a spectacular book. It sheds new light on plots that most historians have ceased to explore and brings less famous conspiracies to the attention of the general reading public". (Herald). "Fascinating...If you want to know the inside story of this struggle, the dark heart of calculation and the fight for survival, then this is the book to read. I know no better". (Spectator). About the author: Stephen Alford is the author of the acclaimed biography Burghley: William Cecil at the Court of Elizabeth I and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He taught for fifteen years at Cambridge University, where he was a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of History and a Fellow of King's College. He is now Professor of Early Modern British History in the University of Leeds. Forget Le Carre, Deighton and the rest - this is more enthralling than any modern spy fiction -- Rupert Christiansen Daily Telegraph Absorbing and closely documented ... his accounts of the unmasking of the Throckmorton and Babington plots are full and gripping, and he throws much light on the secret agents who exposed these and similar conspiracies ... Alford vividly evokes this murky world of codes, ciphers, invisible ink, intercepted letters, aliases, disguises, forgeries and instructions to burn after reading ... flowing narrative [and] crisp judments ... engrossing -- Keith Thomas Guardian Alford brings these men, their worlds and the unfortunate victims of their espionage vividly out of the shadows. Their interlocking biographies and adventures combine to produce a portrait of a mid-to-late Elizabethan England that was ruled by Walsingham's maxim: "There is less danger in fearing too much than too little" ... [Alford] has brought a dash of le Carre to the 16th century -- Dan Jones Times Book of the Week Alford paints a vivid and staggeringly well-researched portrait of the sinister side of Elizabethan England ... This is a spectacular book. It sheds new light on plots that most historians have ceased to explore and brings less famous conspiracies to the attention of the general reading public Herald Fascinating ... If you want to know the inside story of this struggle, the dark heart of calculation and the fight for survival, then this is the book to read. I know no better -- Alan Judd Spectator An enthralling account of the murky shadow-world of Elizabethan espionage ... The fascination of Alford's book ... lies in its focus on the worker bees in the intelligence hive. He has delved deep into encrypted archives to discover the lengths to which Elizabethan Englishmen were prepared to go to destroy their queen, or to defend her - and one of the surprises of a story full of dizzying twists is quite how many of them ended up attempting to do both ... In a bravura piece of counterfactual storytelling, Alford describes the moment in an imagined 1586 when one of the many plots to assassinate Elizabeth finally succeeded ... The heart of the Tudor state, as Alfo

Książka "The Watchers"
Stephen Alford