The Main Enemy

The Book in 1 Sentence

The authoritative bible of CIA vs. KGB espionage activity during the last decade of the Cold War.

Brief Review

I wish I had started with this book for my spy history series that I have stumbled into. It covers so much information with such clarity that there isn't a lot of speculation speaking that the information is from either interviews or memoirs from both sides.

Why I Read this book

I love spy stories. From my time in the Marines, the number of times I have heard stories about some of these in particular Aldrich Ames, I would like to know more about what lead to the fall of the KGB.

In-Depth Review

I. Loved. This. Book. The high level narrative story telling in chronological format makes you solely invested into what is going on. The fact that between a CIA agent and a journalist that were active in that time makes you understand and see where things are going. I wish I had read this and only this to start my spy book series. I think it still would have led me to The Spy and the Traitor, but I would have avoided A Spy Named Orphan.

The writing of the book is so well presented that you get to feel the headaches and frustrations as well as the triumphs of each team, both the CIA and KGB. The amount of back and forth that happened with spies and insiders giving information away to one side or the other is crazy.

What I found most interesting is that I feel like the Soviet Union failed more because their internal backstabbing than it did because of CIA involvement. The exception to that I believe is the first domino. The USSR losing in Afghanistan because of CIA provisioning Stinger Missiles to the Mujahideen. The USSR not having a plan on how to win in Afghanistan after the initial invasion is also a contributing factor into the civilian uprising around the Soviet Bloc.

How my life / behavior / thoughts / ideas have changed as a result of reading the book.

If you have been paying attention to the world for the last couple of years, you will recognize that the words I said just above are an exact match to what happen to the United States with its invasion of Afghanistan. We had the same issue. In the epilogue of the book, the authors talk about their concerns in a one-year post 9/11 world in Afghanistan stating “The CIA will have to rebuild relationships with the Pashtuns and undertake measures to convince the broader population to take a larger stake in the New Afghanistan, and it's reconstruction, but failure could allow the country to become a haven for terrorism.” Written two decades ago with the prophetic accuracy of the Fates from Greek mythology. The only difference between the US and the USSR for their time in Afghanistan is the amount of time the US took to realize they didn't have the plan to win.

Rating

This is outstanding. The Afghanistan portion of the book was dry and slow, much like the country in the summer, but was so pivotal it had to be told. I enjoyed and looked forward to listening to the stories presented in the book and thought that for the most part they were not dragged out. Just hits of facts. So for that and well crafted narrative, this is an easy 8. It's a little dry, but still worth the read.

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