Publisher's Synopsis
The shadows of the Cold War still loom large in the 21st century psyche decades after the Berlin Wall crumbled. Those tense decades pitting global superpowers and their ideological frameworks against each other in an endless spy versus spy battle of wits and willpower left deep scars across generations. Both the West and the sprawling Communist bloc engaged in ceaseless history-shaping maneuvers behind the scenes aimed at advancing contrasting visions of political economy and international relations across the divided post World War II world. The wider populations remained largely oblivious to the immense clandestine campaigns and risky operations launched continuously by both security state factions against each other in every region either side held interests for advantage.
Yet Canada-based British historian and academic Peter Matthews stunningly unravels the deepest secret hidden behind the notorious Iron Curtain throughout the Cold War's most dangerous peak period in his new book. Meticulously authenticated revelations profile how a lone high-level KGB Russian insider named Oleg Gordievsky successfully spied for years directly against the totalitarian superstate not for money, but principle by providing the West unmatched windows into Soviet intentions, weaknesses and capabilities. This unprecedented degree of access running intelligence operations from the very heart of Soviet power later enabled Gordievsky to defect in the 1980s with explosive revelations that some experts suggest may have played pivotal yet obscured roles hastening the sudden and largely peaceful dissolution of the Soviet sphere by 1991 after decades of nuclear stalemate. However, grave personal costs estranging Gordievsky's family and likely foreclosing any chance to safely repatriate to his beloved homeland ever again accompanied such principled stands against oppression. Matthews' masterfully constructed narrative account focuses on exclusively obtained firsthand interviews with Gordievsky exploring what drove his extraordinary treason and its lasting but overlooked impact. Soul-stirring discoveries await any student of Cold War history and the epochal events behind the iconic Berlin Wall's rapid collapse through this brilliant fusion of living legacy oral testimony and meticulous supporting scholarship shedding light on shadowy titans clashing to shape modern civilization's very future.
