Details Books Concering The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal
| Original Title: | The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal ASIN B00OEXDLPU |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for History & Biography (2015) |
Relation In Pursuance Of Books The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal
From the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning history The Dead Hand comes the riveting story of a spy who cracked open the Soviet military research establishment and a penetrating portrait of the CIA’s Moscow station, an outpost of daring espionage in the last years of the Cold War
While driving out of the American embassy in Moscow on the evening of February 16, 1978, the chief of the CIA’s Moscow station heard a knock on his car window. A man on the curb handed him an envelope whose contents stunned U.S. intelligence: details of top-secret Soviet research and developments in military technology that were totally unknown to the United States. In the years that followed, the man, Adolf Tolkachev, an engineer in a Soviet military design bureau, used his high-level access to hand over tens of thousands of pages of technical secrets. His revelations allowed America to reshape its weapons systems to defeat Soviet radar on the ground and in the air, giving the United States near total superiority in the skies over Europe.
One of the most valuable spies to work for the United States in the four decades of global confrontation with the Soviet Union, Tolkachev took enormous personal risks—but so did the Americans. The CIA had long struggled to recruit and run agents in Moscow, and Tolkachev was a singular breakthrough. Using spy cameras and secret codes as well as face-to-face meetings in parks and on street corners, Tolkachev and his handlers succeeded for years in eluding the feared KGB in its own backyard, until the day came when a shocking betrayal put them all at risk.
Drawing on previously secret documents obtained from the CIA and on interviews with participants, David Hoffman has created an unprecedented and poignant portrait of Tolkachev, a man motivated by the depredations of the Soviet state to master the craft of spying against his own country. Stirring, unpredictable, and at times unbearably tense, The Billion Dollar Spy is a brilliant feat of reporting that unfolds like an espionage thriller.
Particularize Of Books The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal
| Title | : | The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal |
| Author | : | David E. Hoffman |
| Book Format | : | Kindle Edition |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 310 pages |
| Published | : | July 7th 2015 by Anchor |
| Categories | : | History. Nonfiction. Spy Thriller. Espionage. Cultural. Russia. Politics. Biography |
Rating Of Books The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal
Ratings: 4.21 From 8789 Users | 792 ReviewsColumn Of Books The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal
Growing up in the '70s and '80s, the Cold War and it's concomitant threat of nuclear extinction was constantly in our faces in the form of television specials and pop lyrics. Who remembers "The Day After" or the lyrics to "99 Luftballoons"?But I never really understood what was going on in Moscow. "The Billion Dollar Spy" is the fascinating true story of Adolf Tolkachev, a Soviet engineer who for personal reasons wanted to pass critical engineering secrets to the United States. We also learnI have a deep affinity for espionage tales, and I read and loved David Hoffman's Pulitzer Prize-winning 'The Dead Hand' a few years ago, so I was doubly excited when I saw this in my office two weeks ago. Unfortunately, the book didn't really deliver for me. A lot of the book is built off of the cable traffic between the CIA's Moscow station and Langley, and you can tell. There is a cold, impersonal tone to these messages that filters into the narrative of the book, and the drama and stakes of
If you think you have a strong sense of how espionage was conducted during the Cold War, youre probably wrong. Histories, and the crowded shelves of spy novels set during the era, offer a cursory and misleading view of the day-to-day reality as it was lived by the men and women who worked for the CIA and the KGB. David E. Hoffmans outstanding tale about one extraordinary Russian spy for the US and his CIA handlers is truly eye-opening. You wont be able to look at spycraft in what is called
A little too much rehashing of material. But otherwise a really deep look at cia spying in the late 70s - mid 80s.
This is a good story of how the CIA operated in Moscow during the Cold War years. The book puts you on the street in covert operations avoiding the KGB and analyses the impact worth billions of dollars, for the US. These type of activities need to continue especially with a former head of the KGB (Putin) in charge of Russia.
I finished this book several days ago and my mind keeps going back to it, turning over various events of the narrative. For me thats a rare but welcome event and David Hoffman has my gratitude.Hoffmans research and analysis are painstaking and his knowledge of Soviet Russia is deep. (I read the kindle edition and would recommend reviewing the footnotes as they appear. Most simply indicate his sources but several provide additional insights to supplement the story at hand. Going to the footnotes
During the early years of the Cold War, the Americans and Russians were intent on discovering information about military research and development, and any other technical information that would be useful in planning for defense and attack in the event of another conflict. Each country tried to infiltrate the others highly guarded secrets. Information could be obtained by wiretaps, satellite surveillance, and photographs, but the most valuable information was most often obtained from human
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