Book Review: British ‘Spy Fever’ in the First World War: Fearing the Enemy Within by Harry Richards RichardsHarry, British ‘Spy Fever’ in the First World War: Fearing the Enemy Within. Bloomsbury Academic, 2025. 304 pp. £85.00 hbk. ISBN 9781350523432

Public reaction to spies during the First World War has often been characterised as mania or hysteria.However, Harry Richards argues that the distinction between emotional responses and factual occurrences has been obscured by historians who have dismissed reported reactions as merely 'irrational'.Instead, he portrays the reaction to spy fever as a far more complex cultural mechanism, that formed a part of a society coping with the unprecedented anxieties that the war brought.Furthermore, he contends that the spy fever experienced at the outbreak of war was distinct from the later 'hidden hand' conspiracy theories that emerged as the conflict progressed.Richards acknowledges the complexities historians encounter when addressing emotions, particularly when multiple emotions are intertwined.To present his argument, he adopts a contextual approach, drawing on methodologies from the field of emotional history, particularly those of Peter and Carol Stearns.To further enrich the analysis, he employs both quantitative and qualitative methods, rather than merely relying on the word of contemporary accounts.The book is divided into three sections.The first, titled 'Origins of Spy Fever', examines the situation in Britain before the onset of war, linking the political discourse of the period with popular fears, such as the Invasion Scare.It then explores the reaction at the initial outbreak of war, highlighting the hyperbolic nature of the press and arguing that, rather than being overwhelmed by a fear of spies, the British public was encouraged to adopt feelings of distrust and anxiety through officially sanctioned spy hunts.Richards identifies a geographical distinction, noting that most spy scares occurred along the coast, particularly in areas with Royal Naval docks.More striking, however, is his comparison of the instigators behind the reports, which reveals that it was the police and Territorials, rather than the general public, who were the primary sources of most scare stories.These official alarms legitimised suspicion and acted as a behavioural model for the public to follow.The second section, 'Individual Fears', begins with an examination of mental illness styled as hysteria within the period, arguing that because of its prominence and frequency