This book has been unfairly savaged by the establishment foreign policy academia - the usual suspect who take advantage of a foreign-policy circlefest whereby each of the "insiders" favorably reviews your book because they know you will reciprocate by a favorable view of theirs. The only problem is that if you are not part of their circle, they attack - not by presenting a thoughtful reponse, but by taking a small part here and there, distorting it, and savaging the author. Diana West is not part of that circlefest. What she is, rather, is an extremely thorough researcher and writer who looks at the source material and asks questions the others are unwilling to ask. She is willing to let the facts lead to upsetting conclusions and presents them clearly and convincingly. One need not agree with all of her "what if" speculations to see that she definitely has a point worth discussing.
Since she is not part of that cabal, she does not have to parrot the safe conformist conclusions of the insiders club, she brings a refreshingly honest look at Communist subversion in the United States and the West. Her analysis asks the questions the others fear to ask.
So what are those questions? Basically, we know and almost everyone acknowledges that Communist agents had deeply penetrated the United States government and their influence was immense in the highest levels of the government. There was Alger Hiss in the State Department and a main architect of the United Nations; Harry Dexter White in Treasury who ran the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference and established the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund; Laughlin Currie, executive assistant to President Roosevelt; John Stewart Service, who helped steer U.S. policy to a Communist victory in China; and dozens more in official positions both high and low. Everyone acknowledges this much. What has not been presented until now is an analysis of what the results of this Soviet penetration into the top levels of the U.S. government policy circles meant in the real world. Are we to believe that a subversive campaign this widespread and this successful had NO effect of U.S. policy and decision-making about WWII? Not likely!
It is one thing to say that Soviet espionage and subversion caused some government secrets to be leaked to the Soviet Union - but what were the probable results of this treason by high-level Americans on behalf of the USSR? This is where Diana West shines and why she has been vilified by the establishment (many of whom seem to be more concerned about continued access to Russia for research than with "speaking truth to power"). Diana West shows how decisions made against American interests at the highest levels of the U.S. government led to the death of tens of thousands of American servicemen - and to the death of hundreds of thousands of Eastern Europeans when the Soviets seized control of what became the Warsaw Pact nations. This subversion probably also extended WWII by over a year. These were some of the fruits of high level treason.
This book is essential to understanding how we got to where we are today and how a communist fifth-column stabbed the free world and the U.S. in the back. Did you know? That Harry Hopkins (FDR's closest advisor) shipped tons of nuclear material to the USSR - as well as essentially the entire contents of the U.S. Patent Office files? That top State Department officials ignored or rebuffed several attempts by top German generals to get rid of Hitler and start peace talks in 1943 and again in 1944? That the Allies sent over 2 million Russians who opposed both Nazism and Communism (and were willing to fight both) back to Russia and certain death after the war (known appropriately as "Operation Keelhaul")? That the United States sent combat aircraft to the USSR (FREE under lend-lease) while our own Pacific forces were screaming for more? Read this book!
One final comment: One of the reasons some have attacked Diana West was because of the very strong circumstantial case she presents that shows that President Roosevelt's alter ego and closest advisor, Harry Hopkins, was very likely a Soviet agent. This, of course, would taint the President even more and could lead to a much more thorough look at the questions she raises. Many consider the historical record on Harry Hopkins to be inconclusive as to whether he was a Soviet agent. I personally had come to the conclusion some time ago that he was a Soviet agent after reading scores of other sources. Make up your own mind - but read this book!
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