As ever, Macintyre delivers an improbable but impeccable tale of true espionage.
From the acclaimed author of Operation Mincemeat (2010), etc., a tangled tale of spy versus spy in which all parties involved suffer damage.
Vladimir Kuzichkin stood 6-foot-4, tall enough that he couldn’t easily avoid anyone tailing him through the streets of Tehran. A KGB officer of rank and reputation, writes Macintyre in this fast-moving account, Kuzichkin conjured a program to coordinate with Iran’s communist party, the Tudeh, to rise against the regime of the newly installed ayatollahs after the fall of the shah in 1979. Along the way, though, Kuzichkin changed (slow) horses, offering his services to an MI6 operative in the British Embassy. What caused him to defect? Well, having read a forbidden copy of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago, he realized, “I myself now belonged to the organization which was the direct perpetrator of all that terror.” He bemoaned the corruption and inefficiency of the Soviet system. But, more than anything else, it seems he wanted access to Western medicine to treat what would now be taken care of by a little blue pill: “Kuzichkin’s impotence was his overriding, overwhelming burden, the driving psychological impetus behind his decision to swap sides.” He spilled secrets, including a planned Soviet invasion of Iran and the identities of his Tudeh contacts. MI6 and the CIA in turn fed much of that information to the government of Ayatollah Khomeini, supposedly the West’s mortal enemy, for, among other aims, they “hoped to make friends with Iran by identifying the Reds under its beds.” Belatedly, after the slaughter and imprisonment of thousands of communists, they realized that they’d made a mistake: “Gradually it dawned on Western analysts that removing the last bastion of opposition in Iran had actually bolstered the regime’s strength.” In essence, while Kuzichkin lived out a rather wretched life in an English backwater, his quest for a miracle cure helped nurture the totalitarian state we know today.
As ever, Macintyre delivers an improbable but impeccable tale of true espionage.Pub Date: yesterday
ISBN: 9780593728123
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: yesterday
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2026
The Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist (1900–45) collected his work from WWII in two bestselling volumes, this second published in 1944, a year before Pyle was killed by a sniper’s bullet on Okinawa. In his fine introduction to this new edition, G. Kurt Piehler (History/Univ. of Tennessee at Knoxville) celebrates Pyle’s “dense, descriptive style” and his unusual feel for the quotidian GI experience—a personal and human side to war left out of reporting on generals and their strategies. Though Piehler’s reminder about wartime censorship seems beside the point, his biographical context—Pyle was escaping a troubled marriage—is valuable. Kirkus, at the time, noted the hoopla over Pyle (Pulitzer, hugely popular syndicated column, BOMC hype) and decided it was all worth it: “the book doesn’t let the reader down.” Pyle, of course, captures “the human qualities” of men in combat, but he also provides “an extraordinary sense of the scope of the European war fronts, the variety of services involved, the men and their officers.” Despite Piehler’s current argument that Pyle ignored much of the war (particularly the seamier stuff), Kirkus in 1944 marveled at how much he was able to cover. Back then, we thought, “here’s a book that needs no selling.” Nowadays, a firm push might be needed to renew interest in this classic of modern journalism.
Pub Date: April 26, 2001
ISBN: 0-8032-8768-2
Page Count: 513
Publisher: Univ. of Nebraska
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2001
A lucid, astute text that unpacks the myths of Russian history to help explain present-day motivations and actions.
An expert on Russia delivers a crucially relevant study of a country that has been continuously “subjected to the vicissitudes of ruling ideologies.”
Wolfson History Prize winner Figes, one of the world’s leading authorities on Russian history and culture, shows how, over centuries, Russian autocrats have manipulated intertwined layers of mythology and history to suit their political and imperial purposes. Regarding current affairs, the author argues convincingly that to understand Putin’s aggressive behavior toward Ukraine and other neighboring nations, it is essential to grasp how Russia has come to see itself within the global order, especially in Asia and Europe. Figes emphasizes the intensive push and pull between concepts of East and West since the dubious founding of Kievan Rus, “the first Russian state,” circa 980. Russia’s geography meant it had few natural boundaries and was vulnerable to invasion—e.g., by the Mongols—and its mere size often required strong, central military control. It was in Moscow’s interests to increase its territorial boundaries and keep its neighbors weak, a strategy still seen today. Figes explores the growth of the “patrimonial autocracy” and examines how much of the mechanics of the country’s autocracy, bureaucracy, military structure, oligarchy, and corruption were inherited from three centuries of Mongol rule. From Peter the Great to Catherine the Great to Alexander II (the reformer who freed the serfs) and through the Bolsheviks to Stalin: In most cases, everything belonged to the state, and there were few societal institutions to check that power. “This imbalance—between a dominating state and a weak society—has shaped the course of Russian history,” writes the author in a meaningful, definitive statement. Today, Putin repudiates any hint of Westernizing influences (Peter the Great) while elevating the Eastern (Kievan Rus, the Orthodox Church). In that, he is reminiscent of Stalin, who recognized the need for patriotic fervor and national myths and symbols to unite and ensure the oppression of the masses.
A lucid, astute text that unpacks the myths of Russian history to help explain present-day motivations and actions.Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-79689-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Metropolitan/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
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