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|title=The Double Cross System

|sort=Double Cross System, The

|publisher=Vintage

|date=June 2013

|summary=Leave reading West's introduction to the end and dive straight into Masterman's formal (but highly readable) report into the activities overseen by the XX Committee for intriguing insights into some of the real successes of WW2 ~ and some of the ideas that came to nothing. West's introduction makes much more sense reading it after you have some idea of what he's talking about. A fascinating historical document that still resonates with what might just be still going on today. Recommended.

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This ''Vintage'' re-issue of Masterman's account of the work of the Twenty Committee is subtitled the ''classic account of World War Two Spy-Masters''. That's a somewhat misleading tease. The book isn't really about the spy-masters, very little information is given about those recruiting, turning, running and protecting the spies. More information - but again relatively little - is given about the spies themselves.

For more reality of the Second World War we'd recommend [[A Magnificent Disaster: The Failure of the Market Garden, the Arnhem Operation, September 1944 by David Bennett]] which shows what can happen when the intelligence is either wrong or not believed. For fictional spying you still can't beat John Le Carre - start at the beginning with [[Call for the Dead by John le Carre]]

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