How Not to Become a Spy: A memoir of love at the end of the Cold War
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.79 (664 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0692259945 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 284 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-12-14 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
It often made me laugh.Often with spy books, everything is so serious. Justin has written a better history of the VPMF than OSIA did and it brought back a lot of happy memories.” – George Connell, Colonel USMC, former Site Commander in Votkinsk and Director for Portal Monitoring, OSIA. "Damn-well writtenI delighted in reading it. For everybody else, a better understanding of Russia as it was being born will help make more sense of the country today perhaps an exaggeration, but a great read and a pleasant change from the plethora of academic works and the "Russia is evil" genre clogging airport book stands." - Chris Weafer, Macro Advisory "Lifflander's excellent comic memoirshould resonate with history buffs interested in a first-hand account of how the greatest arms-control agreement was implemented, but it is more importantly one that holds universal appeal to any expat in Russia and anyone who wants to "scratch beneath the surfa
He sets off for provincial Russia to live outside the gate of a nuclear missile factory and work as an inspector-janitor-chef on the US monitoring team. There he discovers Russians are just as friendly--and suspicious--as their American counterparts. What sinister significance could the Americans' pink lawn flamingos have? The local KGB wants to know.The Americans are managed by young female "escorts" tasked by the KGB to watch for signs of espionage. Against the rules and reason, Justin and Sofia become emotionally involved.Both a romantic comedy of errors and a narrative glimpse into the golden age of US-USSR relations during perestroika, Lifflander's memoir is revealed through deeply personal experience, humor, and heartache. Following internships at the State Department and the FBI, he lands a job at the US Embassy in Moscow.But Lifflander's story turns out to be less The Spy Who Loved Me and more Ferris Bueller's Day Off. They begin to manipulate Lif
A year later, he moved to Votkinsk in the foothills of the Ural Mountains, where he inspected missiles at a production plant as part of the INF nuclear disarmament treaty between the US and the USSR.There he met a young woman assigned to keep an eye on him for the local KGB. He then served as the business editor for the Moscow Times daily newspaper from 2010 to 2014 and authored several articles about Russian-American relations, the trag
Steven said I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Unique and Interesting!This book captures a unique moment in history, when the gigantic and unprecedented military stand-off that was the Cold War ended. For the world it was a relief, but for a few it was accompanied by unexpected new friendships.I thoroughly enjoyed this book, written by a firsthand witness to the cooperation that took place when American and Soviet arms control inspectors visited each other’s countries t. "This book is lots of fun, appropriate for understanding aspects of the Cold War" according to Cyrus. This book is lots of fun, appropriate for understanding aspects of the Cold War that made the lives of Americans in Russia occasionally very silly, but also there's good portraits on "the Soviets" (some big shots, some small shots) and how their country eventually collapsed People who stuck around (like Lifflander) will see obvious parallels to current life in Russia, which has changed in some ways but barely in others. Justin Li. LBPSlava said A fun read, delightful surprises. OK, so I may be biased because I first read this book in manuscript. But if I liked it before it was polished, you'll love it as a finished work. You'll be ambushed and delighted at every turn. The narrator is this naive and charmingly serious guy, who is unstoppable in his quest for life. Sometimes he's saucy, and sometimes tense, but he solves his problems, gets his girl, and avoids most traps and pitfalls of life in that reall