Spymaster: Startling Cold War Revelations of a Soviet KGB Chief

Spymaster: Startling Cold War Revelations of a Soviet KGB Chief
ISBN-10
1628735430
ISBN-13
9781628735437
Series
Spymaster
Category
Biography & Autobiography
Pages
321
Language
English
Published
2013-11-01
Publisher
Simon and Schuster
Author
Tennent H. Bagley

Description

A former KGB chief’s Cold War memoirs, as told by his friend, an ex–CIA officer. From the dark days of World War II through the Cold War, Sergey A. Kondrashev was a major player in Russia’s notorious KGB espionage apparatus. Rising through its ranks through hard work and keen understanding of how the spy and political games are played, he “handled” American and British defectors, recruited Western operatives as double agents, served as a ranking officer at the East Berlin and Vienna KGB bureaus, and tackled special assignments from the Kremlin. During a 1994 television program about former spymasters, Kondrashev met and began a close friendship with a former foe, ex–CIA officer Tennent H. “Pete” Bagley, whom the Russian asked to help write his memoirs. Because Bagley knew so about much of Kondrashev’s career (they had been on opposite sides in several operations), his penetrating questions and insights reveal slices of never-revealed espionage history that rival anything found in the pages of Ian Fleming, Len Deighton, or John le Carré: chilling tales of surviving Stalin’s purges while superiors and colleagues did not, of plotting to reveal the Berlin Tunnel, of quelling the Hungarian Revolution and “Prague Spring” independence movements, and of assisting in arranging the final disposition of the corpses of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun. Kondrashev also details equally fascinating KGB propaganda and disinformation efforts that shaped Western attitudes throughout the Cold War. Because publication of these memoirs was banned by Putin’s regime, Bagley promised Kondrashev to have them published in the West. They are now available to all who are fascinated by vivid tales of international intrigue. “Fans of spy nonfiction, prepare to get giddy with excitement. Not only does this book draw on the previously unpublished memoirs of a veteran Russian intelligence operative, Sergey Kondrashev, it’s written by a veteran CIA operative. . . . This stuff actually happened. A rare glimpse behind the closed doors of Russian intelligence.” —Booklist “A vivid mosaic of the Soviet intelligence apparatus in its heyday. . . . The details flesh out still-unfamiliar aspects of the espionage war while illuminating a man who made internal peace with the system he served so well.” —Publishers Weekly “Bagley grasps the unique opportunity to not only spill classified spy secrets and disinformation schemes, but also to posthumously venerate a world-class spymaster. A respectful, introspective exposé of a great emissary who became a friend.” —Kirkus Reviews

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