The Secret Road to World War II: Soviet Versus Western Intelligence, 1921-1939

384 pp. In this extraordinary book, Paul Blackstock, a former intelligence research specialist, reveals the story of a covert struggle between espionage agencies of Russia and the West in the years between the two world wars. Using original sources from diplomatic archives and personal papers, Mr. Blackstock traces the highlights of this secret war which culminated in the Great Purges, decimated the Soviet military command, and left Stalin in supreme control of a totalitarian state. These events, the author argues, paved the way for the Russian dictator's deal with Hitler and the unleashing of World War II.