{"product_id":"the-spy-and-the-traitor-the-greatest-espionage-story-of-the-cold-war","title":"The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe celebrated author of A Spy Among Friends and Rogue Heroes returns with his greatest spy story yet  a thrilling Cold War-era tale of Oleg Gordievsky  the Russian whose secret work helped hasten the collapse of the Soviet Union.  If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the infamous British double-agent Kim Philby  it was Oleg Gordievsky. The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions  the savvy  sophisticated Gordievsky grew to see his nations communism as both criminal and philistine. He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and eventually became the Soviet Unions top man in London  but from 1973 on he was secretly working for MI6. For nearly a decade  as the Cold War reached its twilight  Gordievsky helped the West turn the tables on the KGB  exposing Russian spies and helping to foil countless intelligence plots  as the Soviet leadership grew increasingly paranoid at the United Statess nuclear first-strike capabilities and brought the world closer to the brink of war. Desperate to keep the circle of trust close  MI6 never revealed Gordievskys name to its counterparts in the CIA  which in turn grew obsessed with figuring out the identity of Britains obviously top-level source. Their obsession ultimately doomed Gordievsky: the CIA officer assigned to identify him was none other than Aldrich Ames  the man who would become infamous for secretly spying for the Soviets. Unfolding the delicious three-way gamesmanship between America  Britain  and the Soviet Union  and culminating in the gripping cinematic beat-by-beat of Gordievskys nail-biting escape from Moscow in 1985  Ben Macintyres latest may be his best yet. Like the greatest novels of John le Carr  it brings readers deep into a world of treachery and betrayal  where the lines bleed between the personal and the professional  and one mans hatred of communism had the power to change the future of nations.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44953676480565,"sku":"ByrdShop_0771060335","price":27.34,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780771060335.jpg?v=1770651861","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-spy-and-the-traitor-the-greatest-espionage-story-of-the-cold-war","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}