Engineering Communism: How Two Americans Spied for Stalin and Founded the Soviet Silicon Valley [Hardcover]

Steven T. Usdin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0300108745 | ISBN-13: 978-0300108743 | Edition: First Edition

Engineering Communism is the fascinating story of Joel Barr and Alfred Sarant, dedicated Communists and members of the Rosenberg spy ring, who stole information from the United States during World War II that proved crucial to building the first advanced weapons systems in the USSR. On the brink of arrest, they escaped with KGB’s help and eluded American intelligence for decades.

Drawing on extensive interviews with Barr and new archival evidence, Steve Usdin explains why Barr and Sarant became spies, how they obtained military secrets, and how FBI blunders led to their escape. He chronicles their pioneering role in the Soviet computer industry, including their success in convincing Nikita Khrushchev to build a secret Silicon Valley.

The book is rich with details of Barr’s and Sarant’s intriguing andexciting personal lives, their families, as well as their integration into Russian society. Engineering Communism follows the two spies through Sarant’s death and Barr’s unbelievable return to the United States.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Engineering Communism provides a fascinating look at a virtually unknown facet of Cold War spy lore—the story of two Americans who worked with the Rosenbergs to transfer American military technology to Russia and went on to help found the Soviet computer industry. Highly recommended reading for anyone interested in an age we have quickly
forgotten, in which Americans could become committed Communists and risk everything for the sake of ideology."—Francis Fukuyama (Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy, The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University; Author of "State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century, and "The End of History and the Last Man")

(Francis Fukuyama )

“[An] outstanding book. . . . A valuable addition to the literature on the Soviet spy efforts in the U.S. . . . . Highly recommended."
 

(Choice )

Book Description

This book tells the almost unbelievable story of American engineers Joel Barr and Alfred Sarant, accomplices in the Rosenberg spy ring, who escaped with stolen military secrets and helped to develop the first advanced weapons systems in the USSR. Rich with astonishing detail, the book describes the spies’ success, integration into Russian society, and Barr’s ultimate return to the US and his family.
 
 

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; First Edition edition (October 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300108745
• ISBN-13: 978-0300108743
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,471,807 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great movie this book would make September 21, 2005

By Marina Tedeschi

Format:Hardcover

A wonderfully written, exciting, unbelievable but true story that keeps your attention with new developments on every page. Imagine a defector hunted by the FBI who creates a new life in the Soviet bloc, learns the language, marries, rises to the top in his professional field, and 40 years later returns to the US. What was his life like for the 40 years behind the Iron Curtain? Why did he spy and defect? Imagine a woman who abandons her husband and children for a lover and defects with him, not knowing that she will not be able to return to her kids for decades, and then she reunites with them. This books combines elements of a spy thriller, a historical documentary, and a romantic novel, covering a variety of topics, from the roots of communist ideology among Americans and the history of computer and weapons development, to a spy's personal life that involved a Russian mistress and a Czech wife. This book shows life in Russia during the Cold War from the perspective of American communists. Well-researched and thoroughly documented, I think this book would make a great movie.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An exceptional and important book, supremely well-written and well-reported January 5, 2007

By Peter Fuhrman

Format:Hardcover

This book may be one of the most important, if under-appreciated, contributions to Cold War literature. It deserves wide readership. The book breaks vital new ground, thanks to Usdin's talents as a reporter, and provides elemental clarity, thanks to his skill as a writer, to the larger drama of espionage and technological competition between the US and USSR.

Usdin's writing and reporting are both of the highest possible standard.

This compelling story is set first in the mephitic atmosphere of the Brooklyn shtetls of the 1930s, where the bacillus of communist ideology was able to grow, then moving on to the grievance-fueled hothouse of CCNY. When you think of Julius Rosenberg, Greenglass, Sobell, these were men of little talent, who perfectly fit Stalin's description of "useful idiots". But, Barr and Salant -- the two men profiled in Usdin's book -- were clearly of far higher caliber, and so able to do far greater damage to US security. Radars, fire-control mechanisms and proximity fuses aren't as sexy as atomic bombs, but they arguably did more to tilt the balance of terror towards the Soviets during the 1950s.

The two American-born Soviet spies were able, through treachery, to truly alter the course of Cold War history. And yet, as the book discloses, they escaped punishment - not just of the judicial sort, but from within, freed of any guilt for having helped sustain a system that mutilated the lives of so many millions of people.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Food for thought, and a good read December 4, 2005

By J. Ubois

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Nobel Prize recipient Elias Canetti defined the "concentration" of a secret as the ratio between the number of people who know it, and the number of people it might affect. Canetti noted that modern technical secrets were the most concentrated type of secret because they have the potential to affect everyone, but are known only to a few.

Engineering Communism is about concentrated secrets, and the ties shared secrets create between people who hold them. More particularly, the book is about one of the most successful espionage rings to operate in the U.S., and the U.S.S.R, during the 20th century; how Communism provided meaning, purpose, identity, power, and hope for a small group of people (some still living); and how they managed to continue to Believe once that utopian dream faded for almost everyone else.

One secret I shouldn't keep is that I've known the author for many years, and read early drafts of the book. I was relieved to see it come out so well, as having a secret opinion about the work of a friend can be uncomfortable. There's a video of a talk by the author about the book at

[...]

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A case against or for centrally planned tech clusters? July 2, 2009

By Andre Marquet

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really recommend this book. It tells a great story of how two Americans that gave up the American dream and ended up founding what was later known as the Soviet Silicon Valley, a cluster that played a crucial importance, developing the first computers and other electronic equipment for the military industrial aerospace complex of the Soviet establishment. All in all, I think these man were true social entrepreneurs with a clear vision of the future. This is a great book, for anyone trying to understand why going private is a better option than depending on someone else' will (in this case the Soviet government) to push things up. I wonder what would have been their lives, had they stayed in the US, and established an IT corporation back in the 40's instead of having gone to work to the USSR...