Audiobook11 hours
The Angel: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel
Written by Uri Bar-Joseph
Narrated by Neil Shah
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
As the son-in-law of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and a close advisor to his successor, Anwar Sadat, Ashraf Marwan had access to the deepest secrets of the country's government. But he himself had a secret: he was a spy for the Mossad, Israel's intelligence service. Under the codename "The Angel," Marwan turned Egypt into an open book for the Israeli intelligence services and, by alerting the Mossad in advance of the joint Egyptian-Syrian attack on Yom Kippur, saved Israel from a devastating defeat.
Drawing on meticulous research and interviews, Uri Bar Joseph pieces together Marwan's story. In the process, he sheds new light on this volatile time in modern Egyptian and Middle Eastern history, culminating in 2011's Arab Spring. The Angel chronicles the discord within the Israeli government that brought down Prime Minister Golda Meir-but the story doesn't end there. Marwan eluded Egypt's ruthless secret services for many years until somebody talked. Five years later, his body was found in the garden of his London apartment building. Police suspected he had been thrown from his fifth-floor balcony, and thanks to explosive new evidence, Bar-Joseph can finally reveal who, how, and why.
Drawing on meticulous research and interviews, Uri Bar Joseph pieces together Marwan's story. In the process, he sheds new light on this volatile time in modern Egyptian and Middle Eastern history, culminating in 2011's Arab Spring. The Angel chronicles the discord within the Israeli government that brought down Prime Minister Golda Meir-but the story doesn't end there. Marwan eluded Egypt's ruthless secret services for many years until somebody talked. Five years later, his body was found in the garden of his London apartment building. Police suspected he had been thrown from his fifth-floor balcony, and thanks to explosive new evidence, Bar-Joseph can finally reveal who, how, and why.
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Reviews for The Angel
Rating: 4.409090909090909 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
11 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Well written and exciting, a good nonfiction spy book I thought.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Plenty of juicy spycraft anecdotes here that are so bonkers they must be true. Speculation about the reasons someone choose to become a spy is fascinating even as it remains mere speculation.
The real strength of the book is revealing the mundane way that individual reactions to military intelligence and its source can impact the way a country goes to war. There were serious failures in 1973 and the book lays them at the feet of specific personalities. Harsh, but somewhat convincing also.
The final chapters are more speculative, but it's fine to leave a little mystery behind.