Between Two Flags; The Life of Baron Sir Rudolf von Slatin Pasha, GCVO, KCMG, CB

New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1973. First American Edition [stated]. Presumed first printing. Hardcover. Good/Fair. xvii, [1], 366 pages. Maps. Occasional footnotes. Illustrations. Notes. Index. Some soiling to fore-edge. DJ edges worn and small chips missing, DJ in plastic sleeve. Gordon Brook-Shepherd was a former Intelligence officer appointed The Daily Telegraph's correspondent in Austria after the Second World War. The job gave him time to write some significant books on Soviet espionage, for which he was promised unprecedented access to official files. The Storm Petrels dealt with pre-war defectors, and was based on extensive interviews. It was dedicated to "the Chrysanthemum Man", a reference to a CIA counterintelligence officer who cultivated exotic flowers. He published The Storm Birds, which looked at Soviet post-war defectors. Brook-Shepherd found that there was a ready market for his books. There was Between Two Flags (1973), an account of the Austrian adventurer Rudolph Slatin, who befriended both General Gordon and the "Mad" Mahdi; and November 1918, which contained such details as the Kaiser's delight in "a cup of real, good, hot, strong, English tea". He was appointed CBE in 1987 for services to history and journalism; part of his citation was classified. Major-General Rudolf Anton Carl Freiherr von Slatin, Geh. Rat, GCVO KCMG] (7 June 1857, - 4 October 1932, Vienna) was an Anglo-Austrian soldier and administrator in the Sudan. In 1900 he was appointed inspector-general of the Sudan, in which capacity his mastery of Arabic and his profound knowledge of the land and peoples proved invaluable in the work of reconstruction undertaken by the Anglo-Egyptian government in that country. He was a close friend of the governor general, F. R. Wingate, and was free to define his role as inspector-general without much interference from his colleagues and superiors. Never before or since did any official hold the title of inspector-general. He was a frequent guest of Queen Victoria. In 1906, he was ennobled by Franz Joseph I of Austria. He was since styled "Freiherr von Slatin". In 1907, he was made an honorary major-general in the British army and in 1909 he was created an honorary Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order by King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. His position as inspector-general of the Sudan terminated in 1914 due to the commencement of hostilities in World War I between Great Britain and Austria-Hungary.