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5.0 out of 5 stars
A look inside Soviet espionage, sports, space race propaganda and aftermath, November 14, 2010
This review is from: Red Files (Hardcover)
A student of Russian life since 1959 when he was first posted there as a US tour guide, George Fifer endeavers in this volume to take readers inside the Soviet intelligence machine.
As one may expect from a person who'd been there so long, the book is filled with many personal anecdotes and stories that sometimes support and sometimes distract where a more disciplined historian may have more consistently concentrated on larger themes.
But for what it is -- a book that's supposed to accompany a filmed documentary -- it's actually pretty good. In this volume, Fifer discusses Soviet intelligence as it relates to espionage, sports, the space race, propganda and of course the aftermath of Communism itself.
As for espionage, the book reminds readers of a time when most of the western world was still unaware of just how autocratic the Soviet system was. Many unthinking but well intentioned people didn't realize just what they were doing when they (all too often) rendered unpaid assistance to Soviets in providing them with information regarding American technological developments like the Manhattan project.
As for sports, Fifer did a fairly respectable job of tellling the story of 20th century Olympics from the Soviet perspective where the country didn't make any serious efforts until 1952 and only then in an effort to show the rest of the world just how much better they were and their system was.
In terms of the space race, Fifer was particulary interesting in showing just how short sighted Soviet leadership was in recognizing the potential of space exploration for its own sake. Sadly for them but perhaps gladly for history Soviet leaders were largely unwilling to invest in space technology unless it was for the purpose of enhancing Soviet military strength.
In terms of propaganda, it would seem that Soviet media was largely for the Soviet Union was Madison Avenue advertising was here in the US: an attempt to sell people on something rather than telling them the actual truth.
Finally, the aftermath tells the sad story of a Russian people made to pay the ultimate price for having pursued an economic and political dead end.
Though I think even for these topics someone wishing to understand Soviet intelligence would be better advised to read the Hedrick Smith books The Russians and The New Russians, this is still a servicable entry particularly if one accompanies it with the companion video documentary.
One final note: Though cursory mention is made here that BOTH Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were actually guilty of the treason for which they were convicted, a fairer reading of the records cited more supports the idea that Julius and NOT Ethel was guilty. Students of that story are definately advised to seek more information from other sources.
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