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  • The Spy in the Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB by Gordon Corera

    September 13, 2025 10:35 AM | Anonymous


    Book Review / Revue de livres 


    Disclaimer: Articles are chosen for relevance and circulated for information only. Views expressed are those of the respective journalists / authors. Republication does not infer endorsement.

    Book Review Editor: Ralph Mahar - Suggestions for Book Reviews will be gratefully received at thepillarsociety.bulletins@gmail.com

    Avertissement : Les articles sont choisis pour leur pertinence et sont diffusés à titre d'information seulement. Les opinions exprimées sont celles des journalistes/auteurs respectifs. La republication n'implique pas d'approbation. 

    Rédacteur en chef des critiques de livres : Ralph Mahar - Les suggestions de critiques de livres sont les bienvenues à l'adresse suivante : thepillarsociety.bulletins@gmail.com
    Vasili Mitrokhin  (Photo: Churchill Archives Centre)

    Book Review:
    The Spy in the Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB
    by Gordon Corera
    June 5, 2025
    Publisher: William Collins
    The Spy in the Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB
    by Gordon Corera

     
    The compulsively readable new book from The Rest is Classified host Gordon Corera. About how one man – Vasili Mitrokhin – turned first disaffected dissident and then traitor to the KGB, stealing the most secret Soviet archives and smuggling them to the West.

    How do you steal a library? Not just any library but the most secret, heavily guarded archive in the world. The answer is to be a librarian. To be so quiet, that no-one knows what you are up to as you toil undercover and deep amongst the files. The work goes on for decades but remains so low key, that even after your escape, aided by MI6, no-one even notices you are gone.

    The Spy in the Archive tells the remarkable story of how Vasili Mitrokhin – an introverted archivist who loved nothing more than dusty files – ended up changing the world. As the in-house archivist for the KGB, the secrets he was exposed to inside its walls turned him first into a dissident and then a spy, a traitor to his country but a man determined to expose the truth about the dark forces that had subverted Russia, forces still at work in the country today.

    Bestselling writer and historian Gordon Corera tells of the operation to extract this prized asset from Russia for the first time. It is an edge-of-the-seat thriller, with vivid flashbacks to Mitrokhin’s earlier time as a KGB idealist prepared to do what it took to serve the Soviet Union and his growing realisation that the communist state was imprisoning its own people. It is the story of what it was like to live in the Soviet Union, to raise a family and then of one man’s journey from the heart of the Soviet state to disillusion, betrayal and defection. At its heart is Mitrokhin’s determination to take on the most powerful institution in the world by revealing its darkest secrets. This is narrative non-fiction at its absolute best.

    Read less

    Indigo / Amazon 

    Reviews:

    “Gordon Corera has delivered something quite fascinating with The Spy in the Archive – a book that manages to be simultaneously a gripping page-turner akin to the best spy novels while being a meticulously researched work of historical scholarship.  ― Jennifer Bridge, Medium

    “Colonel Mitrokhin did more than nearly anyone else I can think of (although Oleg Gordiyevsky was, I suspect, equally suspicious of both Yel’tsin and Putin) to warn the West of the dangers ahead.” Martin Dewhirst, Sakharov Centre
    See also:

    The Spy in the Archive as reviewed by Jennifer Bridge for Medium -  June 16, 2025

    The Spy in the Archive - as reviewed by Martin Dewhirst for Rights in Russia -  July 27, 2025
    Gordon Corera, author of The Spy in the Archive, on "The Rest is Classified" podcast - May 26, 2025

    About the book: 
    The Spy in the Archive; How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB
    by Gordon Corera
    William Collins - 298 pages 24.99 (Kindle)
    Publication Date: June 5, 2025


    About the Author: Gordon Corera
     

    Gordon Corera is a journalist and author specializing in security and intelligence issues. He is the co-host with David McCloskey of the new Goalhanger Podcast 'The Rest is Classified'. He was educated at Oxford and Harvard University and joined the BBC in 1997. In 2004, he was appointed a Security Correspondent for BBC News covering terrorism, cyber security, the work of intelligence agencies and other national security issues for BBC TV, Radio and Online. He has reported from across the United States, Asia, Africa and the Middle East and presented programmes focusing on intelligence agencies including MI6, MI5, GCHQ, the CIA, NSA and Mossad as well as issues relating to technology and security and the 2003 Iraq war.

    He is the author of a number of books including     Shopping for Bombs: Nuclear Proliferation; Global Insecurity and the Rise and Fall of the AQ Khan Network; Intercept - The Secret History of Computers and Spies; MI6 – Life and Death in the British Secret Service; Operation Columba - The Secret Pigeon Service; Russians Among Us and The Spy in the Archive.
    Biography Credit:  Georgina Capel Associates
    À propos du livre :
    L'espion dans les archives ; comment un homme a tenté de tuer le KGB
    par Gordon Corera
    William Collins - 298 pages 24,99 (Kindle)
    Date de publication : 5 juin 2025







  • Propaganda Girls: The Secret War of the Women in the OSS by Lisa Rogak

    September 13, 2025 10:33 AM | Anonymous

    Book Review / Revue de livres 


    Disclaimer: Articles are chosen for relevance and circulated for information only. Views expressed are those of the respective journalists / authors. Republication does not infer endorsement.

    Book Review Editor: Ralph Mahar - Suggestions for Book Reviews will be gratefully received at thepillarsociety.bulletins@gmail.com

    Avertissement : Les articles sont choisis pour leur pertinence et sont diffusés à titre d'information seulement. Les opinions exprimées sont celles des journalistes/auteurs respectifs. La republication n'implique pas d'approbation. 

    Rédacteur en chef des critiques de livres : Ralph Mahar - Les suggestions de critiques de livres sont les bienvenues à l'adresse suivante : thepillarsociety.bulletins@gmail.com
    Betty MacDonald (OSS) w/ colleagues in the doorway of the flooded MO print shop during the 1945 flood in Kumming. The fortified walls around the outpost made the OSS compound a lagoon.

    Book Review:
    Propaganda Girls: The Secret War of the Women in the OSS
    by Lisa Rogak
    March 4, 2025
    Publisher: St. Martin's Press
    Propaganda Girls: The Secret War of the Women in the OSS by Lisa Rogak
     
    The incredible untold story of four women who spun the web of deception that helped win World War II.

    Betty MacDonald was a 28-year-old reporter from Hawaii. Zuzka Lauwers grew up in a tiny Czechoslovakian village and knew five languages by the time she was 21. Jane Smith-Hutton was the wife of a naval attaché living in Tokyo. Marlene Dietrich, the German-American actress and singer, was of course one of the biggest stars of the 20th century. These four women, each fascinating in her own right, together contributed to one of the most covert and successful military campaigns in WWII.

    As members of the OSS, their task was to create a secret brand of propaganda produced with the sole aim to break the morale of Axis soldiers. Working in the European theater, across enemy lines in occupied China, and in Washington, D.C., Betty, Zuzka, Jane, and Marlene forged letters and “official” military orders, wrote and produced entire newspapers, scripted radio broadcasts and songs, and even developed rumors for undercover spies and double agents to spread to the enemy. And outside of a small group of spies, no one knew they existed. Until now.

    In Propaganda Girls, bestselling author Lisa Rogak brings to vivid life the incredible true story of four unsung heroes, whose spellbinding achievements would change the course of history.

    Indigo / Amazon 

    Reviews:

    “Journalist [Lisa] Rogak offers a riveting portrait of four women who worked as Allied propagandists during WWII. ... WWII buffs will be hooked.” ―Publishers Weekly

    “An astonishing slice of untold WWII history, Propaganda Girls is a stunning feat of storytelling. Rogak’s riveting narrative grants the often unknown but courageous women behind the OSS their much-deserved moment in the spotlight.” Ric Prado, bestselling author of Black Ops: The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior

    "Gripping." ―Wall Street Journal

    "An enjoyable and briskly told group biography." ―Kirkus Reviews

    “A well-researched, approachable, and captivating account … Lisa Rogak shines a light on the efforts of four long-overlooked women who were instrumental to the work of the OSS during World War II.” ―Shelf Awareness

    "A well-researched and meaty story, but written in such a way that feels accessible.... There is much to be learned from the Propaganda Girls." ―The Irish Independent

    "A page-turning account of the courageous women who manufactured the fog of war and armed the OSS with an arsenal of lies. Rogak writes a story to rival those of her protagonists―except this time it’s true." ―John Lisle, author of The Dirty Tricks Department

    "A riveting journey into the covert world of female OSS agents who played a pivotal role in securing victory during WWII through strategic cunning, masterful deception, and razor-sharp wit. Readers will be pulled into this gripping account of four women whose unwavering determination and willingness to risk everything helped triumph over the forces of fascism." ―Lorissa Rinehart, author of First to the Front

    "Lisa Rogak’s extraordinary book centers around a select group of women during World War II who worked for the American Office of Strategic Services... Through the eyes of Marlene, Betty, Zuzka, and Jane, the reader is transported across enemy lines into the thick of clandestine war operations. Rogak’s vivid and engaging narrative launches the reader on a captivating journey. Five star entertainment that both educates and enthralls." ―Heath Hardage Lee, author of The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon
    See also:

    Propaganda Girls as reviewed by Melanie Kirkpatrick for The Wall Street Journal -  March 2, 2025

    Propaganda Girls - as reviewed by Kirkus Review -  January 15, 2025

    Propaganda Girls as reviewed by Tammy Kupperman Thorp for The Cipher Brief -  June 17, 2025

    About the book: 
    Propaganda Girls: The Secret War of the Women in the OSS
    by Lisa Rogak
    Mariner Books - 225 pages 21.99 (Kindle)
    Publication Date: March 4, 2025


    About the Author: Lisa Rogak
     

    Lisa Rogak, the New York Times bestselling author of more than 40 books, which have been published in more than two dozen languages. Her books Barack Obama: In His Own Words, and Angry Optimist: The Life & Times of Jon Stewart, hit the New York Times bestseller lists. Haunted Heart: The Life & Times of Stephen King was nominated for both the Edgar and Anthony Awards.

    Her books have been reviewed and otherwise mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, and hundreds of other publications. She appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show as the featured guest in a show about small towns to promote her book, Moving to the Country Once and For All.

    She served as co-author with famed YouTube star Rich Benoit on his memoir Going Fast and Fixing Things: True Stories from the World’s Most Popular DIY Repair Expert and Car Aficionado, and helped the late librarian Jan Louch tell the story of the world’s most famous library cats in The True Tails of Baker and Taylor: The Library Cats Who Left Their Pawprints on a Small Town . . . and the World

    The Man Behind the DaVinci Code, her biography of famed author Dan Brown, was published in two dozen languages. In 2020, she published Rachel Maddow, the first biography of the acclaimed MSNBC anchor followed by Alex Trebek: A Biography.

    Her biography of famed cartoonist, A Boy Named Shel: The Life and Times of Shel Silverstein, is currently in development for release as a major motion picture.

    She lives in New Hampshire and is currently at work on a memoir.
    Biography Credit:  lisarogak.com
    Lisa Rogak reads / speaks of Propaganda Girls with Amanda Ohlke, International Spy Museum, Washington, D.C., on June 17, 2025
    À propos du livre :
    Filles de la propagande : La guerre secrète des femmes de l'OSS
    par Lisa Rogak
    Mariner Books - 225 pages 21,99 $ (Kindle)
    Date de publication : 4 mars 2025








  • Book Review: The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century by Tim Weiner

    September 13, 2025 10:28 AM | Anonymous


    Book Review / Revue de livres 


    Disclaimer: Articles are chosen for relevance and circulated for information only. Views expressed are those of the respective journalists / authors. Republication does not infer endorsement.

    Book Review Editor: Ralph Mahar - Suggestions for Book Reviews will be gratefully received at thepillarsociety.bulletins@gmail.com

    Avertissement : Les articles sont choisis pour leur pertinence et sont diffusés à titre d'information seulement. Les opinions exprimées sont celles des journalistes/auteurs respectifs. La republication n'implique pas d'approbation. 

    Rédacteur en chef des critiques de livres : Ralph Mahar - Les suggestions de critiques de livres sont les bienvenues à l'adresse suivante : thepillarsociety.bulletins@gmail.com
    John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, during his swearing-in ceremony last month. Mr. Ratcliffe has begun an effort to push long-tenured agency officers to retire early.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

    Book Review:
    The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century
    by Tim Weiner
    July 15, 2025
    Publisher: Mariner     Books
    The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century
    by Tim Weiner
     
    A masterpiece of reporting based on-the-record interviews with six former CIA directors and scores of spies, station chiefs, and top operations officers: The Mission is a gripping and revelatory history of the modern CIA, reaching from 9/11 through its covert operations in Afghanistan and Iraq to today’s secret battles with Russia and China, concluding with the Agency's own fight for survival under the current president of the United States

    Tim Weiner's epic successor to Legacy of Ashes, his National Book Award–winning classic about the CIA's first sixty years

    At the turn of the century, the Central Intelligence Agency was in crisis. The end of the Cold War had robbed the agency of its mission. More than thirty overseas stations and bases had been shuttered, and scores that remained had been severely cut back. Many countries where surveillance was once deemed crucial went uncovered. Essential intelligence wasn’t being collected. At the dawn of the information age, the CIA’s officers and analysts worked with outmoded technology, struggling to distinguish the clear signals of significant facts from the cacophony of background noise.

    Then came September 11th, 2001. After the attacks, the CIA transformed itself into a lethal paramilitary force, running secret prisons and brutal interrogations, mounting deadly drone attacks, and all but abandoning its core missions of espionage and counterespionage. The consequences were grave: the deaths of scores of its recruited foreign agents, the theft of its personnel files by Chinese spies, the penetration of its computer networks by Russian intelligence and American hackers, and the tragedies of Afghanistan and Iraq. A new generation of spies now must fight the hardest targets—Moscow, Beijing, Tehran—while confronting a president who has attacked the CIA as a subversive force.

    From Pulitzer Prize winner Tim Weiner, The Mission tells the gripping, high-stakes story of the CIA through the first quarter of the twenty-first century, revealing how the agency fought to rebuild the espionage powers it lost during the war on terror—and finally succeeded in penetrating the Kremlin. The struggle has life-and-death consequences for America and its allies. The CIA must reclaim its original mission: know thy enemies. The fate of the free world hangs in the balance.

    A masterpiece of reporting, The Mission includes exclusive on-the-record interviews with six former CIA directors, the top spymaster, thirteen station chiefs, and scores of top operations officers who served undercover for decades and have never spoken to a journalist before.

    Indigo / Amazon 

    Reviews:

    A singular triumph—an intimate chronicle of the CIA, its crises, and its opportunities since 9/11.― Kirkus Reviews

    As Tim Weiner demonstrates in “The Mission,” his latest account of misadventure at the C.I.A., this trend is likely only to accelerate with Trump in the White House. Both as a onetime reporter for The New York Times and as a book author, Weiner has made tracking the fluctuating fortunes of the American intelligence community his life’s work. His masterly “Legacy of Ashes,” detailing the C.I.A.’s first half-century, won a National Book Award in 2007. “The Mission” picks up where that book left off, narrating the agency’s history well beyond the fall of communism. It is exhaustive and prodigiously researched, but also curiously ungainly.―Scott Anderson - The New York Times 

    This is a journalist’s book, and bears the marks of it. But no one has opened up the CIA to us like Weiner has, and The Mission deserves to win Weiner a second Pulitzer. Given the intense unpopularity of Trump in the upper echelons of American journalism, he may well get it. - John Simpson - The Guardian
    See also:

    The Mission as reviewed by John Simpson for The Guardian -  July 10, 2025

    The Mission - as reviewed by Kirkus Review -  June 1, 2025

    The Mission as reviewed by Scott Anderson for New York Times -  July 15, 2025

    About the book: 
    The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century
    by Tim Weiner
    Mariner Books - 461 pages 21.99 (Kindle)
    Publication Date: July 15, 2025


    About the Author: Tim Weiner
     

    Tim Weiner graduated from Columbia University with a Bachelor of Arts in history and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He was a Washington correspondent for The Philadelphia Inquirer from 1982 to 1992, for The New York Times from 1993 to 2009 as a foreign correspondent in Mexico, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sudan and as a national security correspondent in Washington, DC.

    Weiner won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting as an investigative reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer, for his articles on the black budget spending at the Pentagon and the CIA. His book     Blank Check: The Pentagon's Black Budget is based on that newspaper series.

    He won the National Book Award in Nonfiction for his 2007 book     Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.

    In 2012, Weiner published     Enemies: A History of the FBI, which traces the history of the FBI's secret intelligence operations from the bureau's creation in the early 20th century through its ongoing role in the war on terrorism.

    His latest book,     The Folly and the Glory: America, Russia, and Political Warfare, 1945–2020, was published in 2020. Among other things it describes how the CIA helped Joseph Mobutu as a reliable anti-communist in Congo, or how Ronald Reagan's encounter with Pope John Paul II led to a covert program to support the Polish Solidarity movement. Timothy Naftali cautions that Weiner may be overstating Putin's influence on the 2016 Presidential elections: "The Trump phenomenon, which the Russians abetted but did not create, emerged from a broken nation." This is also the assessment of Rajan Menon who, in his review for The New York Times, furthermore contends that he found no evidence supporting Weiner's suggestion that NATO expansion toward the Russian border in the 1990s sprang from the mind of Anthony Lake.  

    He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Kate Doyle, an expert in human rights and freedom of information.

    Biography Credit:  Wikipedia
    Tim Weiner, author of "The Mission," talks to Christiane Amanpour about his investigation into the missteps at the CIA. - July 2025
    À propos du livre :
    La mission : la CIA au XXIe siècle
    par Tim Weiner
    Mariner Books - 461 pages 21,99 $ (Kindle)
    Date de publication : 15 juillet 2025







  • Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet by Edward Luce

    September 13, 2025 10:25 AM | Anonymous


    Book Review / Revue de livres 


    Disclaimer: Articles are chosen for relevance and circulated for information only. Views expressed are those of the respective journalists / authors. Republication does not infer endorsement.

    Book Review Editor: Ralph Mahar - Suggestions for Book Reviews will be gratefully received at thepillarsociety.bulletins@gmail.com

    Avertissement : Les articles sont choisis pour leur pertinence et sont diffusés à titre d'information seulement. Les opinions exprimées sont celles des journalistes/auteurs respectifs. La republication n'implique pas d'approbation. 

    Rédacteur en chef des critiques de livres : Ralph Mahar - Les suggestions de critiques de livres sont les bienvenues à l'adresse suivante : thepillarsociety.bulletins@gmail.com
    Zbigniew Brzezinski, counselor and trustee, Center For Strategic And International Studies, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015, before the Senate Armed Services Committee’s hearing to examine global challenges and US national security strategy. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

    Book Review: Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet
    by Edward Luce
    May 13, 2025
    Publisher: Simon and Schuster
    Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet
    by Edward Luce
     
    An intimate and masterful biography of Zbigniew Brzezinski—President Carter’s national security advisor and one of America’s leading geopolitical thinkers—from one of the finest columnists and political writers at work today.

    Zbigniew Brzezinski was a key architect of the Soviet Union’s demise, which ended the Cold War. A child of Warsaw—the heart of central Europe’s bloodlands—Brzezinski turned his fierce resentment at his homeland’s razing by Nazi Germany and the Red Army into a lifelong quest for liberty. Born the year that Joseph Stalin consolidated power, and dying a few months into Donald Trump’s first presidency, Brzezinski was shaped by and in turn shaped the global power struggles of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. As counsel to US presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, and chief foreign policy figure of the late 1970s under Jimmy Carter, Brzezinski converted his acclaim as a Sovietologist into Washington power. With Henry Kissinger, his lifelong rival with whom he had a fraught on-off relationship, he personified the new breed of foreign-born scholar who thrived in America’s “Cold War University”—and who ousted Washington’s gentlemanly class of WASPs who had run US foreign policy for so long.

    Brzezinski’s impact, aided by his unusual friendship with the Polish-born John Paul II, sprang from his knowledge of Moscow’s “Achilles heel”—the fact that its nationalities, such as the Ukrainians, and satellite states, including Poland, yearned to shake off Moscow’s grip. Neither a hawk nor a dove, Brzezinski was a biting critic of George W. Bush’s Iraq War and an early endorser of Obama. Because he went against the DC grain of joining factions, and was on occasion willing to drop Democrats for Republicans, Brzezinski is something of history’s orphan. His historic role has been greatly underweighted. In the almost cinematic arc of his life can be found the grand narrative of the American century and great power struggle that followed.

    Indigo / Amazon 

    Reviews:

    "A brilliant architect of the American Century, Zbigniew Brzezinski deserves a brilliant biography, and Ed Luce has given us just that: a sensitive, deeply researched, and fair-minded portrait of a man who had a remarkable journey and has left America, and the world, the most significant of legacies."
    -- "Jon Meacham, New York Times bestselling author 

    A solid work of political and diplomatic history, with much insight into modern geopolitics. - Kirkus Reviews
    See also:

    Zbig as reviewed by Jean-Thomas Nicole for The Cipher Brief -  June 27, 2025
    Note:      Jean-Thomas Nicole is a Policy Advisor with Public Safety Canada. The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official policies or positions of Public Safety Canada or the Canadian government.

    Zbig - as reviewed by Kirkus Review -  May 28, 2025
    Edward Luce on the Life and Legacy of Zbigniew Brzezinski - Chicago Council on Global Affairs. A discussion moderated by Jane Harman; a former President, Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, and U.S.congressional representative (D - California) ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee (2002–2006), before she chaired the Homeland Security Committee's Intelligence Subcommittee (2007–2011).

    About the book: 
    Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet
    by Edward Luce
    Simon and Schuster - 560 pages 34.99 (Kindle)
    Publication Date: May 13, 2025


    About the Author: Edward Luce


    Edward Luce is US national editor and columnist for the Financial Times (FT). Before that he was the FT's Washington bureau chief, South Asia bureau chief, capital markets editor and Philippines correspondent. He is highly regarded by policymakers and leaders and his articles are regularly the ‘most read’ on the FT website. In his work, Luce brings global insights to bear into the future of work and the major challenges facing the West, including the rise of populism and the decline of the middle class. 

    He is the author of three highly acclaimed books, The Retreat of Western Liberalism (2017), Time to Start Thinking: America in the Age of Descent (2012) and In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India (2007), praised by the Economist as “likely to be the definitive book on India for some time to come”. He appears regularly on CNN, NPR, MSNBC’s Morning Joe and the BBC. Luce is also the author, along with colleague Rana Foroohar, of the FT Swamp Notes newsletter, a twice weekly read which covers the intersection of money, power and politics in America. 

    Between 1999 and 2001 he was the speechwriter for treasury secretary in the Clinton Administration, Lawrence Summers. Luce earned a degree in politics, philosophy and economics at the University of Oxford; he earned a postgraduate degree in newspaper journalism at City University in London.
    Biography Credit:  Centre for Development and Enterprise
    À propos du livre :
    Zbig : La vie de Zbigniew Brzezinski, le grand prophète de la puissance américaine
    par Edward Luce
    Simon and Schuster - 560 pages 34,99 $ (Kindle)
    Date de publication : 13 mai 2025








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