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Title details for A Brotherhood of Spies by Monte Reel - Available

A Brotherhood of Spies

The U-2 and the CIA's Secret War

by Monte Reel
Paul Michael
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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A thrilling dramatic narrative of the top-secret Cold War-era spy plane operation that transformed the CIA and brought the U.S. and the Soviet Union to the brink of disaster
On May 1, 1960, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union just weeks before a peace summit between the two nations. The CIA concocted a cover story for President Eisenhower to deliver, assuring him that no one could have survived a fall from that altitude. And even if pilot Francis Gary Powers had survived, he had been supplied with a poison pin with which to commit suicide.
     But against all odds, Powers emerged from the wreckage and was seized by the KGB. He confessed to espionage charges, revealing to the world that Eisenhower had just lied to the American people—and to the Soviet Premier. Infuriated, Nikita Khrushchev slammed the door on a rare opening in Cold War relations.
     In A Brotherhood of Spies, award-winning journalist Monte Reel reveals how the U-2 spy program, principally devised by four men working in secret, upended the Cold War and carved a new mission for the CIA. This secret fraternity, made up of Edwin Land, best known as the inventor of instant photography and the head of Polaroid Corporation; Kelly Johnson, a hard-charging taskmaster from Lockheed; Richard Bissell, the secretive and ambitious spymaster; and ace Air Force flyer Powers, set out to replace yesterday's fallible human spies with tomorrow's undetectable eye in the sky. Their clandestine successes and all-too-public failures make this brilliantly reported account a true-life thriller with the highest stakes and tragic repercussions.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 8, 2018

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780525531951
      • File size: 409407 KB
      • Duration: 14:12:55

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Unlike many audiobooks that chronicle an era of history and get mired in details, Monte Reel's superb behind-the-scenes chronicle of the history of the CIA, the U-2 spy plane, and the saga of Francis Gary Powers reads like a thriller. The book succeeds in audio because of narrator Paul Michael's use of varying deliveries--from a staccato newsreel style for the various historical moments to an intense tone with authentic-sounding Russian accents during the story of Powers, the U-2 pilot shot down over the Soviet Union who was tried and jailed for his actions. While the audiobook focuses on Powers, its most memorable character, and Michael's most defined voice, is Edwin Land, the founder of Polaroid, without whose efforts the CIA might not exist. D.J.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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