
In the thick of the First World War, ordinary Britons find themselves caught between patriotic fervor and a growing sense of distrust. The nation’s newspapers whisper of hidden threats while the government shields its strategies behind layers of secrecy. As the war’s demands tighten, citizens begin to question why vital information about food supplies, fuel depots and enemy agents is filtered differently across the United Kingdom.
The book explores the tangled web of press censorship, the specter of German spies masquerading as British officers, and the unsettling rise of profiteering that preys on the poor. It asks whether the state’s “shifty shuttlecock” policies are protecting the country or merely feeding apathy among the populace. Through a blend of hard‑won facts and urgent appeals, the narrative urges listeners to consider what truth looks like when a nation is under siege.
Language
en
Duration
~5 hours (312K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Tim Lindell, Graeme Mackreth, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org)
Release date
2019-12-28
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1864–1927
A master of prewar suspense, this prolific journalist-novelist helped popularize the invasion and spy thriller with fast-moving tales of danger, intrigue, and international anxiety. His fiction captured the nervous mood of early 20th-century Britain and influenced the shape of popular espionage writing that followed.
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by William Le Queux

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by William Le Queux