What are the roles of reason and imagination in secret intelligence? How do apparently normal people get involved? What happens to them? While British, American and Soviet empires have produced plentiful supplies of heroes, villains and stirring tales, Australians have typically averted their gaze from this country's involvement in the 'second oldest profession'. And yet espionage has been a part of Australia's history since the earliest European imaginings of a southern land mass. Australian spies have produced their share of heroes and villains and this book shows how they influenced Australia's diplomatic and military policy, and the personal price some of them paid.