In the original dust jacket. Red cloth binding with gilt title on the spine.

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Although published over 60 years ago, like all true classics, the late KGB Major Peter Deriabin(1921-1991)’s autobiography “The Secret World” has stood the test of time, a publisher’s preface tells us that it is still used as a training guide in Western intelligence schools-and as such is a valuable insight into the mind set and workings of Soviet State Security!

Review: I made the assumption that this book would be the autobiography of a famous KGB defector, but that is not really the case. Very little of the author’s life is actually focused on in the book. Primarily, the author’s story is used as a springboard to discuss the incredible destructiveness of the Soviet system. Deriabin’s progression from job to job within Soviet state security and foreign intelligence provides only the general context for discussing in great detail various aspects of Soviet oppression.

The part of Deriabin’s life that is most thoroughly described relates to his early years. What is unique about the book’s description of his youth is that it gives a picture of what life was like in the rural Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s and describes the indoctrination of a young person into Communism and a world of illusion. This isn’t something I have seen in the other books I have read that were written by KGB defectors.

The book is very well written and apparently gives an accurate picture of the repressive society that existed before the Soviet Union dissolved under Mikhail Gorbachev. I have read quite a few books on Soviet intelligence, including a number of autobiographies of former Soviet spies, but none of them have focused on this subject with so much detail. The potential reader, however, should not assume it will be an autobiography of a former Soviet intelligence officer.