AUDIO

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

11 CDs. Books on Tape. Sept. 2018. 13:30 hrs. ISBN 9780525643821. $40. digital download. HIST
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OrangeReviewStarMacintyre's (Agent Zigzag) latest work chronicles KGB double agent Oleg Gordievsky, whose betrayal of the Soviet Union helped the West win the Cold War. Despite harboring anti-Communist sentiments, a young Oleg followed his family's lead in becoming a KGB man. Assignments abroad would expose him to Western culture as well as Soviet horrors such as the building of the Berlin Wall and the crushing of the Prague Spring. MI6 expertly identified and recruited Gordievsky with a love for Western art and a disdain for Soviet oppression and brutality. His critical intelligence would directly advise Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan as they worked to avoid nuclear devastation. Macintyre's narrative nonfiction style is brilliantly executed and listeners will become wrapped in a story that seems too captivating to be true. John Lee's smooth narration makes it impossible to put this story down.
VERDICT An essential listen for spy genre fans and anyone interested in the Cold War. ["Fans of narrative nonfiction, the Cold War, spy stories...and Macintyre's previous works will greatly enjoy this incredible true account": LJ 9/1/18 starred review of the Crown hc.]
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