More fascinating than fiction, Seduced by Secrets takes the reader inside the real world of one of the most effective and feared spy agencies in history. The book reveals the secret technical methods and sources of the Stasi (East German Ministry for State Security) as it stole secrets from abroad and developed gadgets at home. Seduced by Secrets draws on secret files from the Stasi archives to demonstrate that the Stasi overestimated the power of secrets to solve problems and created an insular spy culture more intent on securing its power than protecting national security. It recreates the Stasi's secret world of technology through biographies of agents, defectors, and officers and by visualizing James Bond-like techniques and gadgets. In this highly original book, Kristie Macrakis adds a new dimension to our understanding of the Stasi by bringing the topic into the realm of espionage history and exiting the political domain.

'Undergraduate students will delight in the writing style and the sensational revelations.' Journal of Cold War Studies
'… interesting … refreshing … most useful…' Central European History

Kristie Macrakis is Professor of the History of Science at Georgia Tech. She spent 2007–8 at Harvard University (where she received her Ph.D.) as a Visiting Scholar. Her previous books include Surviving the Swastika (1993) and Science under Socialism (1999).