For fans of espionage, here's a detailed footnote to the oft-told story of a senior turncoat and his Cambridge colleagues....
This text on a fabled espionage case proves to be, like spying itself, occasionally hair- raising and frequently boring, with scant material about three decades of one man's treachery.
Kim Philby, highly placed in the British Secret Service, became the most famous undercover agent of the Cold War. He eventually defected to the Soviet Union, where he spent his last 25 years. Philby's Russian widow (his fourth wife), recounting life in their Moscow flat, presents quotidian details of his generally dull existence after a career of stunning duplicity. Depicted as honest, decent, and permanently devoted to communism, Kim remained an unreconstructed Brit. He completed the Times's crossword puzzles, nibbled matzos in lieu of English water biscuits, smoked too much, and drank to excess. His retirement on a KGB general's pension (though he never attained the rank) was not much different from many a bourgeois corporate executive's—except, of course, for the bugged apartment and the ubiquitous KGB escorts and case officers. Though Kim had much to offer, his spymasters, naturally suspicious, underutilized him. No more John Le Carré life for Philby. The major part of the book, Rufina's tale of a burned-out case and what he was like at home, is, frankly, a bit pedestrian. The spy's own memoirs (previously unpublished), including his recollection of recruitment by the Soviets, is more absorbing. His lecture to KGB freshmen reveals a true corporate mentality, and his admonition against confession bears no hint of own predefection admissions. Appended is a wonderfully sarcastic essay by former KGB operative Lyubimov. Former CIA officer Peake provides a detailed chronology and a critical bibliography.
For fans of espionage, here's a detailed footnote to the oft-told story of a senior turncoat and his Cambridge colleagues. To Western sensibilities, however, the presentation of this notorious mole as a man of integrity is a tough sell, indeed. (16 pages photos)Pub Date: May 14, 2000
ISBN: 0-88064-219-X
Page Count: 464
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2000
Thus the second most costly war in American history, whose “outcome seemed little short of a miracle.” A sterling account.
A master storyteller’s character-driven account of a storied year in the American Revolution.
Against world systems, economic determinist and other external-cause schools of historical thought, McCullough (John Adams, 2001, etc.) has an old-fashioned fondness for the great- (and not-so-great) man tradition, which may not have much explanatory power but almost always yields better-written books. McCullough opens with a courteous nod to the customary villain in the story of American independence, George III, who turns out to be a pleasant and artistically inclined fellow who relied on poor advice; his Westmoreland, for instance, was a British general named Grant who boasted that with 5,000 soldiers he “could march from one end of the American continent to the other.” Other British officers agitated for peace, even as George wondered why Americans would not understand that to be a British subject was to be free by definition. Against these men stood arrayed a rebel army that was, at the least, unimpressive; McCullough observes that New Englanders, for instance, considered washing clothes to be women’s work and so wore filthy clothes until they rotted, with the result that Burgoyne and company had a point in thinking the Continentals a bunch of ragamuffins. The Americans’ military fortunes were none too good for much of 1776, the year of the Declaration; at the slowly unfolding battle for control over New York, George Washington was moved to despair at the sight of sometimes drunk soldiers running from the enemy and of their officers “who, instead of attending to their duty, had stood gazing like bumpkins” at the spectacle. For a man such as Washington, to be a laughingstock was the supreme insult, but the British were driven by other motives than to irritate the general—not least of them reluctance to give up a rich, fertile and beautiful land that, McCullough notes, was providing the world’s highest standard of living in 1776.
Thus the second most costly war in American history, whose “outcome seemed little short of a miracle.” A sterling account.Pub Date: June 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-7432-2671-2
Page Count: 656
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2005
IN THE NEWS
PERSPECTIVES
A timely contribution to the discussion of a crucial issue.
A history of the right to vote in America.
Since the nation’s founding, many Americans have been uneasy about democracy. Law and policy expert Waldman (The Second Amendment: A Biography, 2014, etc.), president of New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, offers a compelling—and disheartening—history of voting in America, from provisions of the Constitution to current debates about voting rights and campaign financing. In the Colonies, only white male property holders could vote and did so in public, by voice. With bribery and intimidation rampant, few made the effort. After the Revolution, many states eliminated property requirements so that men over 21 who had served in the militia could vote. But leaving voting rules to the states disturbed some lawmakers, inciting a clash between those who wanted to restrict voting and those “who sought greater democracy.” That clash fueled future debates about allowing freed slaves, immigrants, and, eventually, women to vote. In 1878, one leading intellectual railed against universal suffrage, fearing rule by “an ignorant proletariat and a half-taught plutocracy.” Voting corruption persisted in the 19th century, when adoption of the secret ballot “made it easier to stuff the ballot box” by adding “as many new votes as proved necessary.” Southern states enacted disenfranchising measures, undermining the 15th Amendment. Waldman traces the campaign for women’s suffrage; the Supreme Court’s dismal record on voting issues (including Citizens United); and the contentious fight to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which “became a touchstone of consensus between Democrats and Republicans” and was reauthorized four times before the Supreme Court “eviscerated it in 2013.” Despite increased access to voting, over the years, turnout has fallen precipitously, and “entrenched groups, fearing change, have…tried to reduce the opportunity for political participation and power.” Waldman urges citizens to find a way to celebrate democracy and reinvigorate political engagement for all.
A timely contribution to the discussion of a crucial issue.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1648-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
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