Customer Reviews

A Death in Washington: Walter G. Krivitsky and the Stalin Terror

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A Death in Washington is a genuine page turner: Gary Kern manages to not only give the relevent facts of Krivitsky`s perilous and dangerous journey from believer in the great experiment to defector (where he gave early warning to the west of Stalin`s agenda), but best of all, it is written with great stylistic aplomb. This is a rare book which in its critical detail can satisfy the professional but is also completely accessible to the general reader; you will recognize many of the players, and the connections between them are clearly sustained. It is the general reader who will be most astonished by the sheer criminality of Stalin and the terrible code of the spy`s world. One of the great pleasures in this book is the psychological and methodological analysis inherent in the character of Krivitsky which enabled his survival until the very end. I think the book a very important addition to the literature which is becoming more available on the Stalin period, and I think that a thoughtful consideration of Kern`s invaluable and dramatic presentation will help us better understand the Russia which is emerging today on the world stage. I highly recommend the book. I had read it as slowly as I could so as to prolong the pleasure and thrill it gave to me.

Kern has done a remarkable job with this very difficult subject. I have read many books about Soviet spies, but this is by far the best one, in terms of the depth of understanding of the political system in the Soviet Union at the time. The portrait of American leftists and bureaucrats is priceless. This author has brought rigorous logic and impeccable scholarship to this field. All this, and it reads like a mystery.

"A Death in Washington" by Gary Kern is a first rate in depth biographical research project that would easily be credited as a doctoral thesis from any university be it here in the United States or, in Moscow.

Author, Gary Kern takes the reader down the dark corridors of historical espionage through one of it's most talented and prized students, "Walter Krivitsky" former intelligence officer and spy for the infamous "NKDV" (KGB), under the ever watchfull eye of Joseph Stalin, himself.

It is also a story of an indiviudal who trades one set of masters and philosophies for another. Regardless of his motives to please and re-define his own personal mission, the ending is sadly the same...a dead body on a morgue slab.

"Walter Krivitsky apparently tutored the American Intelligence Services enough to bring them out of the "dark-ages" and into the main flow of the Counter-Espionage craft long enough to still be applicable in today's highly charged and technical world. His on-going information to our Government regarding the various workings of the KGB and the hidden Russian agendas locked behinds Stalin's Russia prior to WWII, were impressive to say the least.

Krivitsky's assistance must have at least equaled or, paralleled the information provided by others who came latter, such as General Oleg Penkovsky.

The question still remains..."did "Walter Krivitsky" commit suicide at the Bellevue Hotel in room 532 on February 11, 1941, or was Stalin able to reach across the Atlantic ocean and directly into the Capitol of the United States and extract his tenacious vengeance. Remember, Trotsky assumed he was safe from the cold winds of Russia as he basked in the hot sunny climate of Mexico.

This is, a very detailed read. At times the reader feels smothered with names, places, dates, and events. It is however, not the type of book your looking for if, you want a "light and quick read." This book proved to me just how little...I really know.

The book was well worth the price through Amazon.com and should be included into every library for those interested in Russian history and it's masterful development and use of human intelligence operatives and their techniques.

Author, Gary Kern has put his superb intellect to the task in this portrayal and basically....completed a masterpiece.

A very interesting story of an exciting yet sad era in World History. The author would be setter served by a professional system of footnoting, as well as a standard bibliography. Several of the "facts" did not fit with other sources, not in itself necessarily wrong, but demands documenting one's sources.

It is worthy reading but the story does not add too much to the today's levels of common understanding both of USSR and left "intellectuals" who served and are still serving it.