A Spy Named Orphan: The Enigma of Donald Maclean

The secrets passed on to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin from 1942 to 1951 by British diplomat Donald Maclean, one of the Cambridge Five, helped the USSR stay one step ahead of the British and American allies during the closing days of World War II and the early critical years of the Cold War. Philipps, former publisher at Hodder & Stoughton, used newly opened files from the British Foreign Office and MI5 to write this book. It closely parallels Andrew Lownie's Stalin's Englishman and chronicles much of the same materials. Maclean, code named "Orphan," was so entrenched in the British Foreign Office that he had access to all secrets. Maclean's conflicted conscience led him to increasing alcoholism and abuse of his wife, Melinda. With the Venona project (decrypting coded messages) closing in on him, Maclean fell apart and had a breakdown while serving in his last post in Cairo, Egypt; he was transferred back to London to recuperate. Kim Philby warned Burgess and Maclean about their impending exposure, allowing them to make a successful escape to the USSR where they lived out their lives.