• Russia
• Eastern Europe
• Middle East
• Espionage
• Holocaust
• Occultism

Dr. Richard “Rick” Spence received his PhD in History from the University of California Santa Barbara in 1981.   He has taught at the University of Idaho since 1986 where currently he is a tenured full Professor of History.  He specializes in Russian, intelligence and military history, and his course offerings include Modern Espionage, Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, History of Secret Societies and the Occult in History.

Dr. Spence’s published works include Boris Savinkov: Renegade on the Left (East European Monographs/Columbia Univ. Press, 1991), Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly (Feral House, 2002) and Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult (Feral House, 2008).  He is also the author of numerous articles in Revolutionary Russia, Intelligence and National Security, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, The Historian, New Dawn and other publications.  He has served as a commentator/consultant for the History Channel and the International Spy Museum and was a key consultant-interviewee for the Russian Cultural Foundation’s 2007 documentary film, “Leon Trotsky: The Secret of World Revolution,”  and its subsequent “Trap for the Tsar.”

Books  

• Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult (Los Angeles: Feral House, 2008).
• Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly (Los Angeles: Feral House, 2002).
• Boris Savinkov: Renegade on the Left (Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, 1991), Distributed by Columbia University Press.

Articles

• “The Mysteries of Trebitsch Lincoln: Con-Man, Spy, Counter-Initiate?,” New Dawn, #116 (2009).
• “Green Dragon: The Myth and Reality of an Asian Secret Society,” New Dawn, #112 (2009).
• “Hidden Agendas: Spies, Lies and Intrigue Surrounding Trotsky’s American Visit, January-April, 1917,” Revolutionary Russia, Vol. 21, #1 (2008). 
• “Red Star over Shambhala:  Soviet, British and American Intelligence and the Search for Lost Civilization in Central Asia,” New Dawn, #109 (2008).
• “Iskusstvo zadavat’ voprosy,” Pravye mysli, Pravaya.ru (6 Feb. 2008).
• “The ‘Bloody Baron’ von Ungern-Sternberg: Madman or Mystic,” New Dawn, #108 (2008)
• “The Magus Was a Spy: Aleister Crowley and the Curious Connections between Intelligence and the Occult,” New Dawn, #105 (2007).
• “Senator William E. Borah: Target of Soviet and Anti-Soviet Intrigue, 1922-29, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, Vol. 19,#1 (Spring 2006).
• “Englishmen in New York: The SIS American Station, 1915-21,”Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 19, #3 (Autumn 2004).

• Presenter, “Aleister Crowley, Sidney Reilly, Basil Zaharoff:  Their Influence on the Creation of James Bond and His World,” 30^th Annual Meeting of the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Association, February 2009, Albuquerque, NM.
• “On the Trail of the Beast: Uncovering Aleister Crowley’s Intelligence Connections,” University of Idaho Interdisciplinary Colloquium presentation, September 2008.
• Panelist, public forum on Middle East, University of Idaho, April 2008.
• Commentator, Phi Alpha Theta Northwest Regional Conference, Gonzaga University,  Spokane, WA, April 2008.
• Public reading from Secret Agent 666, University of Idaho Library, April 2008.
• Address, discussion (with Gen. Oleg Kalugin). “Tea with Reilly”, International Spy Museum, Washington, DC, February 2007.
• Panelist, public forum on Iraq, September 2006.

• University of Idaho Alumni Award for Faculty Excellence, 2009
• Nominated for University of Idaho Award for Advising Excellence, 2006
• University of Idaho, ASUI Outstanding Faculty Award, 2003
• University of Idaho Alumni Award for Faculty Excellence, 2002
• Nominated for University of Idaho, ASUI Outstanding Faculty Award, 2002