Unknown adventures of famous espionage aces, new names of the largest spies for us, original versions of secret operations - the reader will find all this in the book of the English publicist Phillip Knightley, published in the UK under the title "The Second Oldest Profession." The book instantly became a bestseller, translated in many countries. The author, perhaps, for the first time managed to voluminously show, as far as possible, the system and features of the activities of the leading special services - ICU, CIA, KGB. At the same time, Knightley's judgments are distinctive, far from always coincide with the views of other researchers, and in the manner of presentation they are completely original.