by:Chapman Pincer

Their trade is treachery is described as a “bombshell” by Cabinet Secretary Sir Robert Armstrong speaking in the Australian Court during the Peter Wright spybook case in 1986. Now equally explosive in content comes Traitors – the first in depth study of the reasons why so many people are prepared to portray their own countries & kinsfolk in the interest of alien power. Using documented case histories & interviews with traitors, defectors & intelligence officers, Chapman Pincher analyses the motives leading to treachery & finds that they are more complex & subtle than commonly believed. They embrace not only common factors of money, sex & ideology but power, adventure & satisfaction of personality defects & other peculiarities. Every other aspect of treachery is examined, including the effect it has on traitors, their families & friends. The author reveals how traitors manage to survive, how some of them are caught & why some of them confess.

Traitors is an international book dealing with cases from many countries. It comes a t a time when treachery – regarded by many as the most heinous of crimes- has never been so rife. While covering the last few decades it concentrates on the latest cases, including those which are currently affecting world politics. It also tells the inside store of the Peter Wright affair, about which Chapman Pincher knows more than anyone else. The author ends the book by examining the lessons to be learned in protecting society from the traitor who in the nuclear age, can pose such a menace to it.

Chapman Pincher is uniquely qualified to write Traitors after 40 years of close contact with the intelligence world, personal acquaintance with traitors themselves & with intelligence officers dedicated to exposing them. The rarity of these attributes could explain why such a comprehensive study has never been attempted before.

346 p. , 8 leaves of plates : ill. Published by Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd (1987)

good+ condition