Thursday, September 22, 2016

Top ten books on corruption

John Sweeney is a writer and broadcaster, currently working for BBC Newsnight. His latest book is Cold.

One of Sweeney's ten top books on corruption, as shared at the Guardian:
Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene

In this satire on the fantasy land of the intelligence agencies, specifically MI6 (for whom Greene worked), the urge to make a bit of money on the side in a corrupt and seedy pre-Castro Cuba entraps the hero. He ends up constructing a web of deceit that envelops him and others to their cost. It’s the under-told story that too many James Bonds are on the take.
Read about the other entries on the list.

Our Man in Havana also made Francesca Kay's top ten list of books about the Cold War, Jesse Armstrong's top ten list of comic war novels, Allegra Frazier's top five list of books to remind you of warmer climes, Pico Iyer's list of four essential novels by Graham Greene and Alan Furst's five best list of spy books; it is one of Stella Rimington's six favorite secret agent novels.

--Marshal Zeringue