ESPIONAGE

The Espionage series is a multi-volume history of intelligence, spying, and covert operations from the ancient world to the modern age. Each book is a complete, standalone work covering a different era — no need to read them in order. Together, they tell the full story of the world's second oldest profession.

The First Spies

A History of Ancient Espionage from the Pharaohs to Sun Tzu

From the series: ESPIONAGE

The First Spies (Part of the “ESPIONAGE” series).
The oldest weapon in the human arsenal is not the spear or the sword — it is information.

Thousands of years before the first modern intelligence agency opened its doors, the pharaohs were sending scouts into the Sinai, Assyrian kings were reading intercepted letters from vassal states, and Chinese...

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Women Spies

A Global History of Female Espionage

From the series: ESPIONAGE

Every civilisation discovered the same secret. None learned to defend against it.

In 1488, a woman named Josine Hellebout received a professional salary from the city of Ypres — for military intelligence work. Her existence remained unknown until a single researcher found the evidence in municipal archives in 2022. She is not an exception....

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