The Meaning of Treason

Dame Rebecca West's analysis of World War II treachery and an exploration of the impulse to betray. Beginning with the trials of William Joyce - 'Lord Haw Haw' - and John Amery for treason after World War II, the renowned thinker and historian takes the reader from a London devastated by war on an exploration into the inner world of treachery describing 'the sufferings which overtake people who live unnaturally and cut the bonds which bind them to their own country'.Rebecca West describes the changing relationship between loyalty and treachery and suggests that a necessary part of our cherished freedom is that 'all men should have a drop or two of treason in their veins...'. As topical and relevant today as it was fifty years ago.