Drawing on recently declassified intelligence files, Lauren Young details the pervasiveness of Nazi sympathies among the British aristocracy on the eve of World War II, as significant factions of the upper class methodically pursued an actively pro-German agenda. She reveals how these aristocrats formed a murky Fifth Column to Nazi Germany, which depended on the complacence and complicity of the English to topple its proud and long-standing democratic tradition--and very nearly succeeded. As she highlights the parallels to our time, Young exposes the involvement of secret organizations like the Right Club, which counted the Duke of Wellington among its influential members; the Cliveden Set, which ran a shadow foreign policy in support of Hitler; and the four-year affair between socialite Unity Mitford and Adolf Hitler.

German fascism crosses the English Channel -- More dangerous than the Blackshirts : secret right-wing movements in Britain -- A short history of the long history of British anti-semitism -- The debutante Nazi -- "Sweet Dr. Goebbels" : fascist friendships -- Whose side? The other story of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor -- The Wolkoff affair -- Hitler's girl -- Hitler's child?