The Main Enemy

[CT III]

Good book on the CIA/KGB shenanigans that went on during the last decade of the Cold War.  The book was written by journalist James Risen and 30 year CIA vet Milt Bearden, and is broken into 3 parts.  First during the early to mid-1980's when the KGB began a major roll up of American spies in their ranks (thanks primarily to tips from Aldridge Ames and a few others).  The second part deals with Bearden being sent to Islamabad to run covert operations against the Soviets in Afghanistan (his arrival coincides with that of the Stinger anti-air missile which played a major roll in turning things against the USSR).  In the final 3rd of the book Bearden is sent back to Langley following the Red Army's withdrawal from Afghanistan and placed in charge of the CIA Stations in Moscow and the other Communist bloc countries, just in time for the Iron Curtain to come down and the Soviet Union's dissolution.

Definitely recommend it for anyone interested in the Cold War.

[Slaky]

Perfect - adding to my list.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

http://motherjones.com/politics/2007/12/hollywood-and-cia-spook-stays-picture

Eric Roth, who wrote Shepherd (as well as Forrest Gump and Munich) and is now at work on an adaptation of Bearden's Cold War memoir, The Main Enemy, makes no apologies for dramatic license in spy movies. "Milt is very intelligent and he knows where all the bodies are buried," says Roth. "But what is best for the sense of the piece may not always be factually accurate. We're not making a documentary."

Roth is also the screenwriter behind such gems as The Postman and Benjamin Button.

[Tinker to Evers to Chance]

Tank reading Mother Jones is the least surprising thing I've seen all month.

On the strength of CT's recommendation, I'll pick this up.