Rogue Agent: From Secret Plots to Psychological Warfare, The Untold Story of Robert Bruce Lockhart

(Hardback)

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Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart was an impressive figure in his time: a diplomat, intelligence agent, journalist, author and propagandist. A man who charmed his way into the confidences of everyone from Leon Trotsky to Anthony Eden, and who influential press baron Lord Beaverbook claimed could well have been prime minister. And yet he died mostly unremembered and near destitute, becoming little more than a footnote in the pages of history.
Rogue Agent puts Lockhart back in the spotlight, chronicling the life of this gifted yet habitually flawed upstart in its entirety, from his time as Britains Agent in Moscow, when he conspired with MI6s Ace of Spies Sidney Reilly to bring down the Communist regime, to leading the Political Warfare Executive (PWE), a secret body responsible for disinformation and propaganda in the Second World War. Along the way we see Lockhart, flaws and all, from his many affairs to crippling bouts of self-doubt and depression, and a hedonistic lifestyle that left him in a state of perpetual debt.
Exploring his contributions to the development of psychological warfare, his unorthodox mind and his penchant for long nights and dangerous women, Rogue Agent presents a full account of Lockharts life that restores him to the historical record and explains why he never fulfilled the potential others saw in him. This is the untold story of one the most unconventional heroes of the worlds darkest decades.

Reviews

Compelling and meticulously researched,the riveting life of a maverick Scottish spy. Charles Cumming

In this rigorously researched yet lively and highly readable account, James Crossland cuts through the myth and legend to tell a compelling story. Professor Rory Cormac, author of How to Stage a Coup

This riveting account of Lockharts adventures in revolutionary Russia, his penchant for exotic women and extravagant nightlife, reads like a thriller. Julia Boyd, author of A Village in the Third Reich

A mesmerising tale of espionage and journalism . . . when an elite Scot with no drop of English blood in my veins might believe he could almost single-handedly change world history. James Hawes, author of The Shortest History of Germany

Author Bio

James Crossland is a Reader in International History at Liverpool John Moores University and the author of three books: Britain and the International Committee of the Red Cross, 19391945 (Palgrave, 2014), War, Law and Humanity: The Campaign to Control Warfare, 18531914 (Bloomsbury, 2018) and The Rise of Devils: Fear and the Origins of Terrorism (Manchester University Press, 2023). Crossland has also written extensively on the history of warfare, intelligence, fake news, terrorism and propaganda for popular history magazines.