The spy and the Traitor : : the Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War

Locations
Call Number: 327.127 MacI, Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / Europe / Russia
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Traverwood Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	327.127 MacI	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / Europe / Russia	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / Europe / Russia	4-week checkout	Due 05-13-2024

Introduction: 19 May 1985 -- The KGB -- Uncle Gormsson -- SUNBEAM -- Green ink and microfilm -- A plastic bag and a Mars bar -- Agent BOOT -- The safe house -- Operation RYAN -- Koba -- Mr. Collins and Mrs. Thatcher -- Russian roulette -- Cat and mouse -- The dry cleaner -- The runner -- Finlandia -- Epilogue: Passport for Pimlico -- Codenames and aliases.
"Oleg Gordievsky was a spy like no other. The product of a KGB family and the best Soviet institutions, the savvy, sophisticated Russian eventually saw the lies and terror of the regime for what they were, a realization that turned him irretrievably toward the West. His KGB career took flight in Copenhagen in 1966 and eventually brought him to the highest post in the KGB's London station--but throughout that time he was secretly working for MI6, the British intelligence service. Gordievsky was a spy of tremendous consequence. As the Cold War heated up in the era of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, he provided critical information that foiled Soviet plots, exposed spies in the West, and ultimately avoided catastrophic nuclear escalation between the great powers. When Thatcher declared in 1984 that Mikhail Gorbachev was "a man one could do business with," it was largely because of information provided by Gordievsky. No Western country had ever run a spy so high up in Russian intelligence, which is why M16 fiercely guarded Gordievsky's identity, even from the CIA. But the American spy agency was bent on discovering the British source, unaware that their head of counterintelligence--Aldrich Ames--was secretly spying for the Soviets. A riveting story of intrigue set in the Cold War's twilight, [this book] sounds frightening echoes of today, when Russian spies are once again front-page headlines and superpower conflict dominates the globe. Writing with deep access to all of the key players in a drama that has never before been fully revealed, Ben Macintyre has produced a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, a thrilling tale of impossibly high stakes and one man's brave gamble on his belief in democracy and freedom."--Jacket.
The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions, Oleg Gordievsky grew to see his nation's communism as both criminal and philistine. He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and became the Soviet Union's top man in London, but from 1973 on he was secretly working for MI6. Desperate to keep the circle of trust close, MI6 never revealed Gordievsky's name to its counterparts in the CIA, which in turn grew obsessed with figuring out the identity of Britain's obviously top-level source. The CIA officer assigned to identify him was Aldrich Ames, who would become infamous for secretly spying for the Soviets. -- adapted from jacket.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Library Journal Review
Booklist Review
Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Fiction Profile
Excerpt
Author Notes
Table of Contents

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Espionage in the later decades of the Cold War submitted by bec on August 2, 2021, 8:00am I really enjoyed this book, which gave me a better sense of the tensions and events of the 1970s and 80s in the Cold War from a mostly British perspective. Though the title sets up Gordievsky and Ames as going (sometimes unwittingly) head-to-head in their spying careers, the nuances of their similarities and differences aren't explored all that much.