I’m reading a phenomenal book that I cannot pass up an opportunity to sing its praises. It’s called Agent Sonya: The Spy Next Door by Ben Macintyre (no affiliate link, I promise). It’s about the secret life of Soviet spy Ursula Kuczynski, one of the people responsible for transferring English and American atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union during World War II. It’s been speculated that this involuntary sharing of technology allowed the USSR to test a fully functional atomic weapon up to four years earlier than western intelligence predicted. (Though it should be mentioned that academically at least, that might have been a good thing, as there are some who might argue that the balanced threat of adversaries possessing more or less equal military potential prevents a potentially destabilizing imbalance. I mostly disagree with this.)
Ideological discussions aside, this book is not only fascinating if you enjoy a good spy novel, but it’s also interesting from a historical perspective to witness how long some of the long-simmering tensions between the “share the wealth” crowd vs the “I’ve got mine; you’re on your own” crowd have been ongoing, and to see how those clashes remain even today.
Skulduggery, lies, deceit, passion, betrayal- if any of those are your cup-of-tea, then this book is for you. I can’t say enough good things about it.
