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Billion Dollar Spy : A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal by David E. Hoffman (2015, Hardcover)
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherKnopf Doubleday Publishing Group
ISBN-100385537603
ISBN-139780385537605
eBay Product ID (ePID)205594756
Product Key Features
Book TitleBillion Dollar Spy : a True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal
Number of Pages336 Pages
LanguageEnglish
Publication Year2015
TopicWorld / Russian & Former Soviet Union, United States / 20th Century, Espionage, Intelligence & Espionage, International Relations / General, Historical, Aeronautics & Astronautics, Science & Technology
IllustratorYes
GenrePolitical Science, True Crime, Technology & Engineering, Biography & Autobiography, History
AuthorDavid E. Hoffman
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height1.2 in
Item Length9.6 in
Item Width6.5 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
LCCN2015-003370
Dewey Edition23
TitleLeadingThe
Reviews"David Hoffman has written one of the best real-life spy stories ever told. This is a breakthrough book in intelligence writing, drawing on CIA operational cables--the holy grail of the spy world--to narrate each astonishing move. Hoffman reveals CIA tradecraft tricks that are more delicious than anything in a spy novel, and his command of the Soviet landscape is masterful. Full of twists so amazing you couldn't make them up, this is spy fact that really is better than fiction." --David Ignatius, Washington Post columnist and author of The Director "A fabulous read that also provides chilling insights into the Cold War spy game between Washington and Moscow that has erupted anew under Vladimir Putin. The Billion Dollar Spy is an espionage thriller worthy of John Le Carré but much more than that. It is also an evocative portrait of everyday life in the crumbling Soviet Union and a meticulously researched guide to CIA sources and methods. I devoured every word, including the footnotes." --Michael Dobbs, author of One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War "A scrupulously researched work of history that is also a gripping thriller, The Billion Dollar Spy by David E. Hoffman is an unforgettable journey into Cold War espionage. This spellbinding story pulses with the dramatic tension of running an agent in Soviet-era Moscow--where the KGB is ubiquitous and CIA officers and Russian assets are prey. I was enthralled from the first instance of a CIA officer 'going dark' all the way to the terrible, tragic climax." --Peter Finn, co-author of The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book " The Billion Dollar Spy reads like the very best spy fiction yet is meticulously drawn from real life. It is a gripping story of courage, professionalism, and betrayal in the secret world." --Rodric Braithwaite, British Ambassador in Moscow, 1988-1992 "Hoffman [proves] that nonfiction can read like a John le Carré thriller ... This real-life tale of espionage will hook readers from the get-go." -- Publishers Weekly , starred review, "The fine first sentence of The Billion Dollar Spy could almost have been written with an icicle. A work of painstaking historical research that's paced like a thriller." -- Departures "Hoffman [proves] that nonfiction can read like a John le Carré thriller ... This real-life tale of espionage will hook readers from the get-go." -- Publishers Weekly , starred review "Gripping and informative ... Focusing on Adolf Tolkachev, who served as a spy inside the Soviet Union for more than 20 years before being betrayed, the author sets out to write the story of a spy and in so doing, chronicles Cold War espionage and an overall compelling tale that draws on secret documents from the CIA as well as interviews with surviving participants. Hoffman succeeds on both accounts." -- Library Journal "This painstakingly researched tale reads like le Carré" -- Details "David Hoffman has written one of the best real-life spy stories ever told. This is a breakthrough book in intelligence writing, drawing on CIA operational cables--the holy grail of the spy world--to narrate each astonishing move. Hoffman reveals CIA tradecraft tricks that are more delicious than anything in a spy novel, and his command of the Soviet landscape is masterful. Full of twists so amazing you couldn't make them up, this is spy fact that really is better than fiction." --David Ignatius, Washington Post columnist and author of The Director "A fabulous read that also provides chilling insights into the Cold War spy game between Washington and Moscow that has erupted anew under Vladimir Putin. The Billion Dollar Spy is an espionage thriller worthy of John Le Carré but much more than that. It is also an evocative portrait of everyday life in the crumbling Soviet Union and a meticulously researched guide to CIA sources and methods. I devoured every word, including the footnotes." --Michael Dobbs, author of One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War "A scrupulously researched work of history that is also a gripping thriller, The Billion Dollar Spy by David E. Hoffman is an unforgettable journey into Cold War espionage. This spellbinding story pulses with the dramatic tension of running an agent in Soviet-era Moscow--where the KGB is ubiquitous and CIA officers and Russian assets are prey. I was enthralled from the first instance of a CIA officer 'going dark' all the way to the terrible, tragic climax." --Peter Finn, co-author of The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book " The Billion Dollar Spy reads like the very best spy fiction yet is meticulously drawn from real life. It is a gripping story of courage, professionalism, and betrayal in the secret world." --Rodric Braithwaite, British Ambassador in Moscow, 1988-1992
Dewey Decimal327.12092 B
SynopsisFrom 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., 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.
LC Classification NumberE840.8.T65H63 2015
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Ratings and reviews
Most relevant reviews
- 02 Oct, 2015
real life spys
You know the story and how it ends, but it is still a very good and easy book to read.Verified purchase: YesCondition: New
- 28 Jun, 2023
Unforgettable. Move over James bond. This beats you
A cannot be put down reference as to spying. UniqueVerified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 20 Jul, 2021
Good book!
No comment.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 24 Nov, 2020
perfect yarn
great storyVerified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 23 Feb, 2021
Impelling
Interesting story of espionage and betrayal.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
- 01 Jan, 2020
good
good bookVerified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
