This short book was an early history of Vlasov movement, which during the second world war aimed to create a Russian army of “liberation” that would fight side by side with the Germans against the…
Alexander Dallin, the son of the well-known Menshevik David Dallin, published this book in 1957. More than sixty years on, it is probably still the definitive text on the subject. The book is a master…
In some parts of Europe, the stunning victories enjoyed by Hitler’s armed forces resulted in docile, subservient populations that were keen to avoid any further trouble. Whole countries remained safe havens for German troops, who…
Codename Villanelle was one of the most fun books I read in 2017. I was disappointed by the hit BBC series “Killing Eve” which was based on it, and was reluctant to give this book…
Lieutenant General Andrey Andreyevich Vlasov rose steadily in the ranks of the Red Army until finally put in charge of one of Stalin’s “shock armies” and entrusted with the defence of Kiev during the German…
Timothy Phillips has written a gripping account of the secret war between the British intelligence services and the Bolsheviks during the 1920s. Based largely on documents he unearthed in the National Archives, this is a…
Was Michael Foot, leader of the British Labour Party, a Soviet agent? Was Jack Jones, head of the country’s largest trade union, one as well? According to KGB officer Oleg Gordievsky, they both were. (Foot’s…
I read this book during the same week that I saw a theatrical adaptation of Albert Camus’ novel, The Plague. Both works are concerned with epidemics, but there the similarity ends. While the Camus novel…
You know how you go to see a movie and all the best parts were already in the preview? That’s a bit like what happened to Bob Woodward’s 360 page book about the Trump White…
John Hersey’s account of the lives of six survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima was first published just a year after the events. Despite the passage of more than seventy years, the work endures,…