A delicious compendium, this, with pieces written by the so-called traitors themselves, with succinct and to-the-point introductions by Mr West. All the authors were either guilty of treason or were the subject of an accusation of such. The various sections are divided up into countries of birth - The Britons, The Soviets, The Americans, etc - and while many of the pieces are dry as dust, others are nuggets of hilarity and ineptitude. Take the case of P.G. Wodehouse, who broadcast on German radio in l941. His "indiscretion", as he termed it, caused him to be banished from Britain, expelled from his London club, the Beefsteak, and to have his name removed from the roll of his beloved old school, Dulwich College. And all because he broadcast some talks on how to be an internee without previous practice. The closest Ireland comes to a mention is the piece by Roger Casement, extracts from The Black Diaries, but he is lumped in with the Britons. One criticism of a book that it is a pleasure to dip into: the print is so small one would need 20-20 vision and a magnifying glass to read it.
By Vincent Banville