THIS EVENT TOOK PLACE ON WEDNESDAY 16TH OCTOBER 2024 AT THE ATHENAEUM.
A SPECIAL BOOK LAUNCH FOR ROGUE AGENT BY JAMES CROSSLAND
IN LIVERPOOL’S ICONIC ATHENAEUM LIBRARY READING ROOM
ROGUE AGENT: THE THRILLING BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BRUCE LOCKHART, BRITAIN’S ‘AGENT’ IN MOSCOW
Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart (1887–1970) was an impressive figure: a diplomat, intelligence agent, conspirator, journalist and propagandist who played a key role in both world wars. He was a man who charmed his way into the confidences of everyone from Leon Trotsky to Anthony Eden. A man whom the influential press baron Lord Beaverbook claimed ‘could well have been prime minister’. And yet Lockhart died almost forgotten and near destitute, a Scottish footnote in the pages of history.
Rogue Agent is the first biography of this gifted yet habitually flawed maverick. It chronicles his many exploits, from his time as Britain’s ‘Agent’ in Moscow, and his role in a plot to bring down the communist regime, to leading the Political Warfare Executive, a secret body responsible for disinformation and propaganda in the Second World War.
Exploring Lockhart’s unorthodox thinking and contributions to the development of psychological warfare as well as his hedonistic lifestyle, late nights and many affairs that left him in a state of perpetual debt, Rogue Agent tells the thrilling story of this unconventional war hero.
Join James Crossland in conversation with Ian Skillicorn of the Liverpool Book Club for this special book launch event, which includes a live author interview and audience Q&A in the Athenaeum Library Reading Room, followed by a wine and canapés reception in the News Room.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Crossland is a Professor of International History at Liverpool John Moores University. He has worked in both the United Kingdom and Australia, combining his passion for writing with an interest in the history of conflict, terrorism, psychological warfare and intelligence.
He authored the first history of Britain’s humanitarian response to the Second World War, “Britain and the International Committee of the Red Cross, 1939-1945”, the story of the men and women who tried to bring rules to modern warfare, “War, Law and Humanity: the Campaign to Control Warfare, 1853-1914” and, most recently, the history of terrorism in the late nineteenth century, “The Rise of Devils: Fear and the Origins of Modern Terrorism”.
James’ latest book is a passion project over a decade in the making – “Rogue Agent: From Secret Operations to Psychological Warfare, the Untold Story of Robert Bruce Lockhart”. This is the first biography of the man who led a plot to destroy Bolshevism in Russia in 1918 and ran Britain’s secret psychological warfare campaign against the Nazis during the Second World War, all whilst becoming a best-selling author and one of the most-well connected political agents in Europe.
