The Secret History of the Five Eyes

The Untold Story of the International Spy Network

By: Richard Kerbaj

Narrated by: Richard Kerbaj

This is the definitive account of the Western world’s most powerful—but least known—intelligence alliance, which remains central to the defense of the free world in a dangerously uncertain time.

The Five Eyes—a spy network between the intelligence agencies of the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—has been steeped in secrecy since its official formation in 1956. Yet the Five Eyes’ very existence is not legally binding—it functions as a marriage of convenience riddled with distrust, competing intelligence agendas, and a massive imbalance of power that favors the US. Richard Kerbaj draws on interviews with intelligence officials, world leaders, and recently declassified archives to reveal the authoritative but unauthorized stories of the alliance. In bypassing the usual censorship channels, he tells this extraordinary account of the Five Eyes’ unlikely cast of characters who played a crucial role in its history and exposes the network’s hidden role in influencing global events that continue to shape our daily lives.

©2024 Richard Kerbaj (P)2024 Dreamscape Media

Good story, underwhelming narration

Honestly, I agree with one previous review. Kerbaj is not the best at narrating. A lot of odd pauses and sounds within the audio, but I can understand constraints on budget.

The story itself is interesting, and shows the history through stories from post 1945 to the present. And it does show that the Alliance is, often enough, an imbalance, with America seeing itself as more important. With intelligence, equal footing should be a priority, but that has not always been the case. Thus bringing about my critique of the other review. This book is not un-American for showing that America has not always been forthcoming to its allies, and it does showcase the ways Trump undermined the Intelligence Community in his first term, and by extension undermined the Five Eyes. An interesting book.

Anti-American

interesting facts but a biased presentation, Lefty and Anti American. with a less biased presentation, it would have been a good book.

The author should stick to writing

The written version of the book is packed with fascinating well-researched information about the history of allied intelligence. Some of the information is well reported elsewhere, but a lot of it was new to me. It’s a bit dry but worth the effort. But the audio version is almost un-listenable. It needs a professional reader. The author’s voice is monotone and flat he constantly pauses in weird spots. Sometimes his words string together so badly I had to listen 3 or 4 times to figure out what he said. Also it’s awkward when line after line is quotes and he says quote…unquote after dozens of lines on the same page.

Excellent book

A terrific book that covers the Five Eyes really well. The author reveals facts about this unique alliance I will say are certainly spot on. The author describes the challenges the five members face very well. As an American, I have seen firsthand what anti-American sentiment is. There certainly is non here. It wouldn’t make sense for the author to position the story as such anyway. However, the problem I have with the book probably can be fixed. The amount of times the narrator says “Quote - Close Quotes” made the book very difficult for me to listen to. If there is a possibility the author can re-record please do! I’d like to listen to it again without the far too many “Quote - Close Quotes” Otherwise, excellent book. Well done! I would highly recommend residents of the Five Eyes countries read this book. You’ll find it fascinating.