Vols. 1-4 include material to June 1, 1929.

John Ferris is a major figure in the intelligence studies field, both through his pioneering work in British intelligence and in his studies of British strategic history. This superb volume selects his best essays of the past fifteen years.

The British have long boasted of their tradition of asylum for political refugees, but never with more justification than in the nineteenth century, when the legal toleration which was accorded them in Britain was nearly absolute. Not only were fugitives of all political complexions allowed into Britain, but there was for most of the century no possible way - no law on the statute book - by which they could be kept out. This, and the licence which was allowed them to agitate and conspire were greatly resented by the governments from which they had fled, and regretted only a little less by many British ministers, who sometimes found it necessary to take measures against them which were of dubious constitutional legality, and who wished, and once tried, to amend the law in order to enable them to do more. That effort, arising from Orsini's bomb plot in January 1858, resulted in the fall of the government which proposed it, and the loss by its successor of a famous state prosecution: a failure which, as this book argues, was crucial for the maintenance of the practice of toleration thereafter.

In this thoroughly researched account, Mansour Bonakdarian provides an in-depth exploration of the substantial British support for the Iranian constitutional and national struggle of 1906-1911, illuminating the opposition in Britain to Anglo-Russian imperialist intervention in Iran. In painstaking and compelling detail Bonakdarian analyzes, in particular, the role of the Persia Committee, a lobbying group founded in 1908 for the sole purpose of changing Britain's policy toward Iran. This book's strength lies in its coverage of how Sir Edward Grey's policy toward Iran was shaped and the extent to which this policy was affected by sustained criticism from a number of disparate groups including dissenters, radicals, socialists, liberal imperialists, and conservatives. The volume and breadth of primary archival materials used is extensive. Not only have all the standard collections been examined, such as the Foreign Office files and the Cabinet and Grey papers, but also numerous private archives in international libraries have been consulted. Bonakdarian's deep understanding of the Iranian issues yields a rich and balanced approach to the literature in the field. With clear and systematic arguments, he offers an account of diplomatic history that is accessible and persuasive. His scholarship is certain to reinvigorate dialogue on the subject of Anglo-Iranian relations.

First published in 1977 this book attempts a comprehensive and impartial account of British foreign policy from 1905 to 1916.