Goodreads 2021 Reading Challenge is my fourth year of tracking the books that I am reading. I stuck to my goal of reading fifteen (15) books. And this time, I was able to read twenty-three (23) books!!! With the pandemic still on-going, I still stayed at home most of the time. No going out for me. I am not sure if I just read faster or if I read shorter books, but still, it feels good to break the challenge. I still stuck to my pattern of reading before bedtime, and as you know, I prefer nonfiction books which help me go to sleep faster. My favorite non-fiction books are about history, historical figures, politics, war and espionage.
My Goodreads 2021 Reading Challenge list (23 out of 15!)
Below are the books that I have read in 2021 in no particular order:
Contents
1. Open Secrets: WikiLeaks, War and American Diplomacy
This is a collection of articles derived from the Wikileaks dump of USA secrets. I did not fully engage in the wikileak secrets when they first came out. Reading through the book, now I understand the impact of USA foreign affairs and inter-country relations. This is quite a lengthy and boring book. You just can’t stop reading it hoping to find something that would pique your interest.
In 2010, the anti-secrecy organization known as WikiLeaks made headlines around the world when it released thousands of classified U.S. government diplomatic cables and battlefield reports. The New York Times played a crucial role in breaking the WikiLeaks story, and “Open Secrets” is the definitive chronicle of the documents’ release and the controversy that ensued. It includes detailed analyses of the documents by Times correspondents; opinion essays by Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd and others; and the full text of all the cables and war logs posted on The Times’s Web site, along with 27 new cables selected for this volume.
From Amazon
It also includes an essay in which the executive editor of The Times, Bill Keller, explains how the newspaper came to publish documents obtained by WikiLeaks, and why it did; expanded profiles of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks’s founder, and Bradley Manning, the Army private suspected of being his source; and original essays on what the fracas has revealed about American diplomacy and government secrecy.
A legal and technological thriller and a primer on world politics, “Open Secrets” is also a field guide to how information and power are wielded today, and why it matters.
2. Kim Philby: The Unknown Story of the KGB’s Master Spy
This was supposedly a book about Kim Philby as seen through the eyes of a friend (the author, Tim Milne). Howver, having read other books about Kim Philby, I learned nothing new from this book. A big chunk of the story is taken from what is well known about Kim Philby. I did not see much about the author’s relationship with the master spy.
Kim Philby, the so-called Third Man in the Cambridge spy ring, was one of the Cold War’s most infamous traitors. He was a Soviet spy at the heart of British intelligence, joining Britain’s secret service, MI6, during the war, rising to become head of the section tasked with rooting out Russian spies and then head of liaison with the CIA. Philby betrayed hundreds of British and US agents to the Russians and compromised numerous operations inside the Soviet Union.
From Amazon
Protected by friends within MI6 who could not believe the service’s rising star was a traitor, he was eventually dismissed in 1951, but continued to work for the service surreptitiously until his defection in 1963. His admission of guilt caused profound embarrassment to the British government of the day and its intelligence service, from which neither fully recovered.
Tim Milne, Philby’s close friend since childhood and recruited by him into MI6 to be his deputy, has left us a memoir that provides the final and most authoritative word on the enduring and fascinating story of Kim Philby the legendary Soviet master spy.
It is a riveting read, with new detail on Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, two other members of the Cambridge spy ring, and on Konstantin Volkov, the would-be KGB defector who was betrayed by Philby, one of several hundred people who died as a direct result of Philby’s treachery.
Tim Milne retired from SIS in October 1968 and never spoke publicly of his friendship with Kim Philby.
3. The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor
This book is the basis of the movie, The Outpost, starring Scott Eastwood and Orlando Bloom. It recounts one of the deadliest battle experiences of the USA in Afghanistan. It tells the story of 53 Americans who were in Combat Outpost Keating who had to fight back against more than 400 Taliban fighters. The outcome of this battle resulted into Clinton Romesha receiving the Medal Of Honor. If you are not inclined to read the book, the movie is enough to have a good understanding. The book though offers more details.
At 5:58 AM on October 3rd, 2009, Combat Outpost Keating, located in frighteningly vulnerable terrain in Afghanistan just 14 miles from the Pakistani border, was viciously attacked. Though the 53 Americans there prevailed against nearly 400 Taliban fighters, their casualties made it the deadliest fight of the war for the U.S. that year.
From Amazon
Four months after the battle, a Pentagon review revealed that there was no reason for the troops at Keating to have been there in the first place.
In The Outpost, Jake Tapper gives us the powerful saga of COP Keating, from its establishment to eventual destruction, introducing us to an unforgettable cast of soldiers and their families, and to a place and war that has remained profoundly distant to most Americans. A runaway bestseller, it makes a savage war real, and American courage manifest.
4. World Famous Spies & Spymasters
A compilation of spies and spymasters. The subject matter is good but I found the grammatical errors too distracting.
The most comprehensive work on the subject ever written, World Famous Spies & Spymasters endeavours to cover the entire history of espionage through many famous spies and spymasters across the world.
From Amazon
5. Assassinations: The Plots, Politics, and Powers behind History-Changing Murders
This book has interesting conspiracy theories about deaths (murders and assassinations) that altered world history.
From the cunning, calculating, government-trained warriors to the psychopathic, homegrown freelancers, you can find them all in Assassinations: The Plots, Politics, and Powers behind History-changing Murders. Exposed are the hidden agendas as well as the open warfare. The cynical preparations and devastating aftermaths are laid bare. You will quickly find yourself immersed in a world that is filled with killings made to seem like suicides, murders that were designed to look like heart attacks or overdoses, and accidents that, in reality, were carefully orchestrated deaths. This tome is richly illustrated. Its helpful bibliography and extensive index add to its usefulness. It’s a fascinating read that looks into how and why so many famous and influential figures just had to go!
From Amazon
6. Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland
The author is surely biased in favor of Michael Collins. You may beg to ask if he is a hero or a terrorist. The book dwells on Michael Collin’s life from birth to his death. There is more information here as compared to the movie Michael Collins.
Traces the life of the man who negotiated for Irish independence and describes the political background of the times.
From Amazon
7. Big Fellow, Long Fellow. A Joint Biography of Collins and De Valera: A Joint Biography of Irish politicians Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera
A great read. A contrast between two (2) leaders who fought for Irish independence. I learned a lot about Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins in this book.
Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera were the two most charismatic leaders of the Irish revolution. This joint biography looks first at their very different upbringings and early careers. Both fought in the 1916 Easter Rising , although it is almost certain they did not meet during that tumultuous week. Their first encounter came when Collins had been released from jail after the rising but de Valera was still inside.
From Amazon
Collins was one of those who wanted to run a Sinn Féin candidate in the Longford by-election of 1917. De Valera and other leaders opposed this initiative but the Collins group went ahead anyway and the candidate won narrowly. The incident typified the relationship between the two men: they were vastly different in temperament and style. But it was precisely in their differences and contradictions that their fascination lay.
De Valera, the political pragmatist, hoped to secure independence through political agitation, whereas the ambitious Collins, with his restless temperament and boundless energy, was an impassioned patriot who believed in terror and assassination.
T. Ryle Dwyer examines the years, 1917-22 through the twists and turns of their careers. In an epilogue, he considers the legacy of Collins on de Valera’s political life.
8. The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan
It is interesting to learn that there was an American in Afghanistan during those years. And that Rudyard Kipling’s book, The Man Who Would Be King, turned out to have an inspiration.
In the year 1838, a young adventurer, surrounded by his native troops and mounted on an elephant, raised the American flag on the summit of the Hindu Kush in the mountainous wilds of Afghanistan. He declared himself Prince of Ghor, Lord of the Hazarahs, spiritual and military heir to Alexander the Great.
From Amazon
The true story of Josiah Harlan, a Pennsylvania Quaker and the first American ever to enter Afghanistan, has never been told before, yet the life and writings of this extraordinary man echo down the centuries, as America finds itself embroiled once more in the land he first explored and described 180 years ago.
Soldier, spy, doctor, naturalist, traveler, and writer, Josiah Harlan wanted to be a king, with all the imperialist hubris of his times.
In an extraordinary twenty-year journey around Central Asia, he was variously employed as surgeon to the Maharaja of Punjab, revolutionary agent for the exiled Afghan king, and then commander in chief of the Afghan armies. In 1838, he set off in the footsteps of Alexander the Great across the Hindu Kush and forged his own kingdom, only to be ejected from Afghanistan a few months later by the invading British.
Using a trove of newly discovered documents and Harlan’s own unpublished journals, Ben Macintyre’s The Man Who Would Be King tells the astonishing true story of the man who would be the first and last American king.
9. The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
I got interested in reading this book after I saw the TV miniseries The Looming Tower. This book has helped me understand the whys and the hows of Al Qaeda.
In gripping narrative that spans five decades, Lawrence Wright re-creates firsthand the transformation of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri from incompetent and idealistic soldiers in Afghanistan to leaders of the most successful terrorist group in history.
From Amazon
He follows FBI counterterrorism chief John O’Neill as he uncovers the emerging danger from al-Qaeda in the 1990s and struggles to track this new threat.
Packed with new information and a deep historical perspective, The Looming Tower is a sweeping, unprecedented history of the long road to September 11.
10. The Twelve Apostles: Michael Collins, the Squad and Ireland’s Fight for Freedom
Interesting read about how terrorism was used to gain independence. I have read somewhere that this was the same model employed by the Allies over Nazi occupied Europe during World War II.
Ireland, 1919: When Sinn Féin proclaims Dáil Éireann the parliament of the independent Irish republic, London declares the new assembly to be illegal, and a vicious guerrilla war breaks out between republican and crown forces.
From Amazon
Michael Collins, intelligence chief of the Irish Republican Army, creates an elite squad whose role is to assassinate British agents and undercover police. The so-called ‘Twelve Apostles’ will create violent mayhem, culminating in the events of ‘Bloody Sunday’ in November 1920.
11. Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire
A great read to remember the wonderful events of 1989 that ended the cold war.
Revolution 1989 is the first in-depth, authoritative account of a few months that changed the world. At the start of 1989, six European nations were Soviet vassal states. By year’s end, they had all declared national independence and embarked on the road to democracy.
From Amazon
How did it happen so quickly?
Victor Sebestyen, who was on the scene as a reporter, draws on his firsthand knowledge of the events, on scores of interviews with witnesses and participants, and on newly uncovered archival material. He tells the story through the eyes of ordinary men and women as well as through the strategic moves of world leaders. He shows how the KGB helped bring down former allies; how the United States tried to slow the process; and why the collapse of the Iron Curtain was the catalyst for the fall of the entire Soviet empire.
12. Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces
Now I know the difference between Special Forces, Navy Seals and Delta Force…
Special Forces soldiers are daring, seasoned troops from America’s heartland, selected in a tough competition and trained in an extraordinary range of skills. They know foreign languages and cultures and unconventional warfare better than any U.S. fighters, and while they prefer to stay out of the limelight, veteran war correspondent Linda Robinson gained access to their closed world. She traveled with them on the frontlines, interviewed them at length on their home bases, and studied their doctrine, methods and history.
From Amazon
In Masters of Chaos she tells their story through a select group of senior sergeants and field-grade officers, a band of unforgettable characters like Rawhide, Killer, Michael T, and Alan — led by the unflappable Lt. Col. Chris Conner and Col. Charlie Cleveland, a brilliant but self-effacing West Pointer who led the largest unconventional war campaign since Vietnam in northern Iraq.
Robinson follows the Special Forces from their first post-Vietnam combat in Panama, El Salvador, Desert Storm, Somalia, and the Balkans to their recent trials and triumphs in Afghanistan and Iraq.
She witnessed their secret sleuthing and unsung successes in southern Iraq, and recounts here for the first time the dramatic firefights of the western desert. Her blow-by-blow story of the attack on Ansar al-Islam’s international terrorist training camp has never been told before.
The most comprehensive account ever of the modern-day Special Forces in action, Masters of Chaos is filled with riveting, intimate detail in the words of a close-knit band of soldiers who have done it all.
13. The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals
I was shocked reading and learning that torture was legalized by American government lawyers by hiding in legal arguments.
The Dark Side is a dramatic, riveting, and definitive narrative account of how the United States made self-destructive decisions in the pursuit of terrorists around the world—decisions that not only violated the Constitution, but also hampered the pursuit of Al Qaeda.
From Amazon
In spellbinding detail, Jane Mayer relates the impact of these decisions by which key players, namely Vice President Dick Cheney and his powerful, secretive adviser David Addington, exploited September 11 to further a long held agenda to enhance presidential powers to a degree never known in U.S. history, and obliterate Constitutional protections that define the very essence of the American experiment. With a new afterward.
14. 1916: The Easter Rising
An interesting account of the events that lead to the Irish War of Independence that started on Easter Sunday in 1916.
The Easter Rising began at 12 noon on 24 April, 1916 and lasted for six short but bloody days, resulting in the deaths of innocent civilians, the destruction of many parts of Dublin and the true beginning of Irish independence.
From Amazon
The 1916 Rising was born out of the Conservative and Unionist parties’ illegal defiance of the democratically expressed wish of the Irish electorate for Home Rule; and of confusion, mishap and disorganisation, compounded by a split within the Volunteer leadership.
Tim Pat Coogan introduces the major players, themes and outcomes of a drama that would profoundly affect twentieth-century Irish history. Not only is this the story of a turning point in Ireland’s struggle for freedom, but also a testament to the men and women of courage and conviction who were prepared to give their lives for what they believed was right.
15. Alexander The Great: A History From Beginning To End (One Hour History Military Generals #1)
Probably the shortest book that I have read. I would recommend this book for anyone looking for a brief starting point on Alexander The Great.
What does it mean to be great? There have been many that have come through the sands of time proclaiming their own greatness. We see it in the news every day; leaders, heroes, tyrants, and even reality star presidential candidates claim that they are great.
From Amazon
But what about Alexander the Great? The young man from Macedonia that took the world by storm creating one of the world’s first major empires? He singlehandedly changed the course of history within a decade. Read along with us to figure out just what made Alexander so great.
16. The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan
Very good story about General MacChrystal’s activities in Afghanistan. Also watch the movie War Machine to help you visualize the events in the book.
The inspiration for the Netflix original movie War Machine, starring Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, and Ben Kingsley.
From Amazon
From the author of The Last Magazine, a shocking behind-the-scenes portrait of our military commanders, their high-stake maneuvers, and the political firestorm that shook the United States.
In the shadow of the hunt for Bin Laden and the United States’ involvement in the Middle East, General Stanley McChrystal, the commanding general of international and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was living large. His loyal staff liked to call him a “rock star.” During a spring 2010 trip, journalist Michael Hastings looked on as McChrystal and his staff let off steam, partying and openly bashing the Obama administration. When Hastings’s article appeared in Rolling Stone, it set off a political firestorm: McChrystal was unceremoniously fired.
In The Operators, Hastings picks up where his Rolling Stone coup ended. From patrol missions in the Afghan hinterlands to senior military advisors’ late-night bull sessions to hotel bars where spies and expensive hookers participate in nation-building, Hastings presents a shocking behind-the-scenes portrait of what he fears is an unwinnable war. Written in prose that is at once eye-opening and other times uncannily conversational, readers of No Easy Day will take to Hastings’ unyielding first-hand account of the Afghan War and its cast of players.
17. Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror
This is an excellent discourse on the USA’s War on Terror. Is it really a war against terrorism or a war induced by the USA’s own actions all over the world?
Though U.S. leaders try to convince the world of their success in fighting al Qaeda, one member of the U.S. intelligence community would like to inform the public that we are, in fact, losing the war on terror. Further, until U.S. leaders recognize the errant path they have irresponsibly chosen, he says, our enemies will only grow stronger.
From Amazon
According to the author Michael Scheuer, the greatest danger for Americans confronting the Islamist threat is to believe—at the urging of U.S. leaders—that Muslims attack us for what we are and what we think rather than for what we do. Blustering political rhetoric “informs” the public that the Islamists are offended by the Western world’s democratic freedoms, civil liberties, inter-mingling of genders, and separation of church and state. However, although aspects of the modern world may offend conservative Muslims, no Islamist leader has fomented jihad to destroy participatory democracy, for example, the national association of credit unions, or coed universities. Instead, a growing segment of the Islamic world strenuously disapproves of specific U.S. policies and their attendant military, political, and economic implications.
Capitalizing on growing anti-U.S. animosity, Osama bin Laden’s genius lies not simply in calling for jihad, but in articulating a consistent and convincing case that Islam is under attack by America. Al Qaeda’s public statements condemn America’s protection of corrupt Muslim regimes, unqualified support for Israel, the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and a further litany of real-world grievances. Bin Laden’s supporters thus identify their problem and believe their solution lies in war. Scheuer contends they will go to any length, not to destroy our secular, democratic way of life, but to deter what they view as specific attacks on their lands, their communities, and their religion. Unless U.S. leaders recognize this fact and adjust their policies abroad accordingly, even moderate Muslims will join the bin Laden camp.
18. Through Our Enemies’ Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America
Generally a boring book to read. But it gives very good insights on Bin Laden’s ideological reasons why he declared war on the USA. Changed my perspective from a terrorist to an insurgent.
All Americans must read this book in order to truly understand the reasons why radical Muslims like Osama bin Laden and his followers have declared war on America and the West. Furthermore, only this book accurately describes the severity of the threat they will continue to pose, with or without bin Laden’s leadership, to our national security.
From Amazon
To win the war against terrorism, the author argues that we must first stop dismissing militant Muslims as “extremists” or “religious fanatics.” Formulating a successful military strategy requires that we must see the enemy as they perceive themselves—highly trained and motivated soldiers who fervently believe their cause is righteous. The author describes how militants throughout the Islamic world are enraged by what they believe is Western aggression against their people, religion, and culture. Though bin Laden declared war on America years ago—not once but twice—the author argues that American complacence in the face of such violent threats stems from the increasing secularization and moral relativism of American society and culture. Even if bin Laden is brought to justice, the author warns, the dangers posed by radical Islamic militants will not disappear, and we must be prepared for a protracted war against terrorism. This important book will make a major impact on how America thinks about its enemy and itself.
19. Fire in the Valley: The Birth and Death of the Personal Computer
This is an update to an earlier book that I read, Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer. I only read the updated parts that is why it was a quick read.
In the 1970s, while their contemporaries were protesting the computer as a tool of dehumanization and oppression, a motley collection of college dropouts, hippies, and electronics fanatics were engaged in something much more subversive. Obsessed with the idea of getting computer power into their own hands, they launched from their garages a hobbyist movement that grew into an industry, and ultimately a social and technological revolution. What they did was invent the personal computer: not just a new device, but a watershed in the relationship between man and machine. This is their story.
From Amazon
Fire in the Valley is the definitive history of the personal computer, drawn from interviews with the people who made it happen, written by two veteran computer writers who were there from the start. Working at InfoWorld in the early 1980s, Swaine and Freiberger daily rubbed elbows with people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates when they were creating the personal computer revolution.
A rich story of colorful individuals, Fire in the Valley profiles these unlikely revolutionaries and entrepreneurs, such as Ed Roberts of MITS, Lee Felsenstein at Processor Technology, and Jack Tramiel of Commodore, as well as Jobs and Gates in all the innocence of their formative years.
This completely revised and expanded third edition brings the story to its completion, chronicling the end of the personal computer revolution and the beginning of the post-PC era. It covers the departure from the stage of major players with the deaths of Steve Jobs and Douglas Engelbart and the retirements of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer; the shift away from the PC to the cloud and portable devices; and what the end of the PC era means for issues such as personal freedom and power, and open source vs. proprietary software.
20. Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer
I love how this book was written. Brought me back in time.
“A book not to be missed, just plain good reading about the drama of the Kids next door turning their dreams into millions.” —The New York Times “
From Amazon
“Swaine and Freiberger capture the communal spirit of the early computer clubs, the brilliance and blundering of some of the first start-up companies, the assortment of naiveté, noble purpose and greed that characterized various pioneers, and the inevitable transformation of all this into a major industry. Must reading.” —Philip Lemmons, editor-in-chief, BYTE Magazine
21. Greed & Betrayal: The Sequel to the 1986 EDSA Revolution
Brought me back to 1986 and the EDSA revolution. Also reminded me on how Cory Aquino failed the Filipino people.
A country of “yellow fever” victims.
From Amazon
As the elitist image of the Aquino regime permeated society as a whole, its propaganda experts began to shape the political landscape as well, and transformed most of the unsuspecting citizens into consumers of its own brand of illiberal democracy symbolized by the yellow banner, the yellow ribbon, and the yellow confetti.
22. The CIA Insider’s Guide to the Iran Crisis: From CIA Coup to the Brink of War
Gave me an idea on the USA’s views about Iran.
Why did the CIA overthrow Iran’s democratically elected government? And why has the United States treated Iran as one of its biggest enemies for four decades? Is the Trump administration’s “Maximum Pressure” campaign working, or will it precipitate a war with Iran?
From Amazon
In The CIA Insider’s Guide to Iran: from CIA Coup to the Brink of War, former CIA Officer John C. Kiriakou and investigative journalist and historian Gareth Porter explain how and why the United States and Iran have been either at war or threatening such a war for most of the forty years since Islamic Republic of Iran was established. The authors delve below the surface explanations for the forty-year history of extreme U.S. hostility toward Iran to blow up one official U.S. narrative after another about Iran and U.S. policy.
Against the background of Iran’s encounters with heavy-handed British and Russian imperialist control over its resources, this book shows how the U.S. began its encounter with Iran by clearly siding with British imperialism against Iranian aspirations for control over its oil in its 1953 overthrow of the Mossadegh government, then proceeded to actively support the Saddam Hussein regime’s horrific chemical war against Iran.
The book shows how a parade of politically-motivated false narratives have taken U.S. Iran policy progressively farther from reality for three decades and have now brought the United States to the brink of war with Iran. It explains how Donald Trump’s trashing of the nuclear deal with Iran and seeking to cut off Iran’s oil exports creates a very high risk of such a war, demanding major public debate about changing course.
The CIA Insider’s Guide to the Iran Crisis also includes appendices with key official documents on U.S. policy toward Iran, with particular emphasis on the major official statements of the Trump administration’s “Maximum Pressure” strategy.
23. Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations
Just as the title says, it is an encyclopedia…
Everybody spied on everybody else during the Cold War. France had agents in the U.S., China had agents in East Germany, Poland had agents in Great Britain, and the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. had agents everywhere―in governments, in industry, in the military, and within each other’s, and their own, intelligence agencies. A-Z entries provide a fascinating glimpse into the subterranean world, events, people and operations of the Cold War.
From Amazon
Cold War espionage was a nightmare of errors, seen darkly in a wilderness of mirrors, raining desperate deceptions in a climate of treason, with assassins trading in treachery using hidden hands running invisible governments. As fascinating as it was lethal, this labyrinthian world is still masked in mystery. A good amount is known and knowable, however, and this encyclopedia offers up the latest and most up to date information available, drawn from scholarship, memoirs, and journalism. Everybody spied on everybody else during the Cold War. France had agents in the U.S., China had agents in East Germany, Poland had agents in Great Britain, and the United States and the U.S.S.R. had agents everywhere: in governments, in industry, in the military, and within each other’s, and their own, intelligence agencies. A-Z entries provide a fascinating glimpse into the subterranean world, events, people and operations of the Cold War.
Close to 300 hundred entries provide vivid summaries of hazardous careers, both long and tragically brief, of betrayal and double-cross, and of diplomatic maneuvering so freighted with deception and cunning it sometimes seems unreal. Every entry concludes with suggested readings, and is thoroughly cross-referenced. A thematic guide quickly directs users to Affairs, Crises, Disasters, Hoaxes and Scandals; Agents of Influence, Spies, Spymasters, and Informants by nationality; Assassins and Assassinations; Covert Operations; Defectors to the East and West; Double Agents, Fictional Agents and Operations; Honeytraps; Spy Exchanges; Victims of Covert Operations; and Women Spies and Agents. It contains an extensive annotated chronology, and is thoroughly indexed. This encyclopedia will be immensely helpful to students and researchers of the seamier side of 20th century world history, Cold War history, and world politics.
That’s my Goodreads 2021 Reading Challenge list. What is yours?
