What is going on History fans! Today I wanted to talk about a book recommendation called, The Billion Dollar Spy by David E. Hoffman.
I am a child of the Cold War, at least the end of the Cold War. I have a lot of memories as a child in school dealing with nuclear bomb drills, especially since I grew up 20 miles from one of the largest military bases in the United States.
Here in Central Texas we are living in the realm of Fort Hood. The base here is typically the 3rd largest military installation in the world behind Fort Bragg and Fort Campbell. With usually just under 50,000 soldiers at any given time, the base was an important target during the Cold War. So, between the drills of hiding under desks, which let’s be honest would not do much good in a nuclear attack we were told by our teachers that it wouldn’t matter in the end because we would all die.
Now think about being a 2nd or 3rd grader and your teacher is telling you the drill you are about to do won’t matter because you live so close to a high-profile target that you’ll be dead anyway. That’s one of the biggest things I remember of the cold war as a kid. Of course, it was the 80s so every movie we had the bad guy was a Soviet. Ahh the 80s, to me still one of the greatest decades. I realize that is just nostalgia. But nonetheless, let’s get back to the book.
The Billion Dollar Spy is one of the best Cold War books I’ve ever read, and simply one of the best stories I’ve heard. When I start to think about it all, I wonder if it will ever be made into a movie. Of course, the ending might not be very Hollywood, but they are used to taking liberties with stories, right?
The story itself is about the CIA station in Moscow and the processes they went through to work with spies. Hoffman does an amazing job of talking about other spies as well. He lays the groundwork for it by sharing stories of early spies from the Soviet Union and the difficulties of maintaining those under the nose of the KGB.
The main story is about Adolf Tolkachev, a Soviet engineer in Moscow with top secret clearance. He is an engineer at a radar research lab where new technologies are created and tested. His access to documents is incredible and the lengths he goes to gathering those documents is quite the story.
I will not get into too many specifics on the ways the CIA handled Tolkachev because that is part of the brilliance of the book. But I will say this. It immediately made me want to be a CIA agent in the 80s in Moscow.
The work both the CIA and Tolkachev do is insane. The amount of documents he is able to get to the CIA is the reason he is called the billion dollar spy. The information was worth billions to the United States. Most of it was for radar systems being developed in the Soviet Union, which may not seem like much. But with that information the United States was able to learn how to evade certain radar or learn the gaps in its ability thus taking advantage of the systems the Soviets had in place.
Luckily Hoffman does not get too technical when it comes to the radar systems. He provides just enough information so you understand the importance of it, but he does not bore you with technical data that only an engineer might understand.
Instead, Hoffman focuses on the interactions between Tolkachev and the CIA. This is the fascinating part of the story. The cloak and dagger perspective of running a spy in what had to be the most watched city in the world at the time. Learning about how the KGB worked and the ways the CIA would find loopholes in the system was fascinating. But it wasn’t just the KGB they had to worry about when meeting with a spy. There were also militiamen and roaming soldiers and just nosey neighbors at times.
The danger, suspense, and intrigue of it all is what brings the story together. This is a real-life spy novel with real implications, not just a fictional story. Although at times it seems like it is fiction because of all the tools, technology, and just simple signals used.
It also made me wonder about the effectiveness of the CIA in the last 70s, early 80s. At times it seems like the men at the top will not quite listen to the men on the streets. Then again, they were big picture men and saw things other than what was happening with just a single spy, so perhaps they had their reasons for doing some of the things they did. But as you read you will second guess the decisions of the CIA from time to time.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in the Cold War, spying, or the Soviet Union. It was definitely an interesting look into an actual op with a spy in the heart of the Soviet Union. And I don’t want to give it away, but Hoffman does include why Tolkachev is spying against his home country. That story will floor you as well. And after hearing it, I don’t blame Tolkachev one bit.
I found the book on Audible, but you will find it on Amazon or anywhere books are sold. You can also click on the link below and purchase it and I will get a small portion as a referral which helps me pay to keep the site up and going.
Readers on Amazon rate the book at 4.7 out of 5 stars. That is high praise, and that is from just over 2,000 ratings. Goodbooks has it at 4.22 out of 5 stars. Again very high praise and that is from over 11,000 ratings.
If you are on Goodbooks, follow me and I’ll return follow. Goodbooks (use this link to find my profile) You can also see what I’m reading or read in the past there.
About the Author (courtesy Amazon profile)
David E. Hoffman is a contributing editor at The Washington Post and a correspondent for PBS’s flagship investigative series, Frontline. He is the author of The Oligarchs and of The Dead Hand, about the end of the Cold War arms race, and winner of a Pulitzer Prize. He lives with his wife in Maryland.