Verrat verjährt nicht: Lebensgeschichten aus einem einst geteilten Land (usually translated as Betrayal Never Dies: Life Stories from a Once Divided Land) by Christhard Läpple (ISBN: 978-3-492-25467-0) retells the stories of East Germans from a few different standpoints. The author, after studying many accounts in the archives, chose a few that seemed extra compelling and reached out to people to see if they would be willing to tell their stories. A few were, and they are recorded in this book. There is a former Stasi spy; a regular guy who wasn’t part of any resistance movement, but still fought the regime; a woman who wrote fiction and hoped to have her views published in the West; and a brother and sister who ended up on opposite sides of the wall after she fled to the West and he stayed in the East. Each chapter in the book tells the story of one of these members of East German society from their standpoint. The spy told of his craft. He worked in academia and reported on his colleagues and students. He seemed to not feel much remorse for this. The man who made several attempts on his own to flee and the authoress whose efforts to see her work published in the West seemed the most sympathetic. They despised the system that suppressed the basic urges of all mankind to be free. The story of the brother and sister was another one where the reader hopes for the storybook, happy ending, but it never comes. The sister hated the East and got out when she could thanks to some human traffickers that it took her a while to extricate herself from once she got to the West. The brother was a true believer in the East and remained so for quite some time. The Stasi asked him to spy on her, which he did. The author did not lay blame on anyone but the Communists running the awful system and just let the subjects tell their stories. At the very end is a rather extensive timeline of events pertaining to East Germany, from its formation to its fall.
The book, available only in German (and I admit I spent a bit of time in the dictionary to get through it), was a very interesting read. It had a raw and truthful feel. Läpple let the subjects of his interviews do the speaking. Their desperation, indifference, disgust, and yearning were tangible. It was interesting to read about the pervasiveness of the security apparatus that spied so heavily on its own people. It was obvious while reading, just as it was to 1980s me, that a system that requires so much overhead just to keep its own people in check is not a system that respects people and has clearly taken away their God-given rights. I was surprised to learn that people weren’t always summarily shot for making attempts to get to the West. The bravery and courage required to stand up the evil of communism are always inspiring, and this book provides a clear contrast between those who yearned for freedom and those who actively chose to suppress the freedom and potential of others. I also found the timeline at the end of the book to be fascinating. As a non-expert in East German history, there were a lot of events that were new to me. It was also depressing to read about how few of the high-level Communists and security service officials were brought to any kind of justice in this world. Most ended up serving either light or no sentences, including some who fled to Russia or South America. The lack of culpability in high-level government officials seems to be an oft-repeated problem.
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Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended by Jack F. Matlock, Jr. (ISBN: 0-679-46323-2) is a very detailed, play-by-play recounting of most (all?) of the diplomatic events leading up to the end of the Cold War. Matlock was a career diplomat that served on the National Security Council. This position and his academic and diplomatic career as a specialist on Russia provided him with an insider’s perspective on the processes that led up to the end of the Cold War. The book chronicles, often in great detail, various meetings, negotiations, summits, and communications that involved leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union. The focus was, of course, on what the two countries’ leaders, Reagan and Gorbachev, did, including their preparations before their meetings, their political efforts in their home countries in order to secure the ability to push their preferred policies forward. Matlock talked about the papers prepared for Reagan and how Reagan studied them. He talked about the negotiation processes. He recounted meetings between secretaries of state and foreign ministers. Those meetings, though, and the preparations were made possible by the leaders’ efforts to put people in place that would assist them. The preparations were made because the leaders desired that, something that was not always the case with the leaders who came before them. While Matlock endeavored to explain that so-called summit meetings weren’t the most important things in the diplomatic arsenal, those are what got headlines and what, ultimately, required the most preparation and resulted in the headline deals that moved the West and the Soviets away from nuclear war and toward peace. He, therefore, spent most of the book talking about these meetings that took place in Moscow, Washington, Geneva, and Reykjavík.
Seven Miracles That Saved America: Why They Matter and Why We Should Have Hope (ISBN: 978-1-60641-144-5) by Chris and Ted Stewart explores singular events and unique people in American history that, had things unfolded even slightly differently, could have resulted in a vastly different America. All of these events and people hinge on such a fine line that it is easy to see that they were influenced by God. The miracles that the authors review in detail are the following: Columbus and Columbus’s discoveries, Jamestown, a summer fog during the Revolutionary War, the advent of the American Constitution, Abraham Lincoln and the battle of Gettysburg, the battle of Midway, and Ronald Reagan and how the assassination attempt against him failed by less than one inch (just a little bit more and the bullet kills him). Each one of the miracles is reviewed in detail by the authors and the scene is set through some historical fiction. At the end of each section, the authors ask some questions that invite the reader to think about what would have happened in each of these situations had things — and usually it’s quite an exhaustive list of things — turned out even slightly different. For example, with the foggy morning during the Revolutionary War that allowed American troops to withdraw and regroup without suffering losses, it really was a question of a few hours and things could have been vastly different. The same could be said about the battle of Midway. There, it really was more like minutes since one of the pilots flying and trying to locate Japanese fleet only had minutes before needing to return to base without running out of fuel. At the last possible minute, though, he spotted the Japanese ships, and that allowed the Americans to attack first, which proved critical in the battle, along with other decisions and rare direct hits during the bombing runs. The point being made is that there were just too many decisions at so many different points along the way that for those who recognize that God has a role in human existence, these events were miraculous and they resulted in an exceptional country that has long been a light on a hill.
Stasiland: Stories from behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder (ISBN: 978-1-84708-355-7) is a book written in a journalistic style that tells a variety of stories from East Germany: former Stasi, dissidents, people who tried to escape, and just regular people. The book, because of its style, also followed the author’s journey through East Germany and dealing with the psychological damage being so close to it dealt her. The people interviewed included a woman who was not political at all, but one day, found herself close to the border, saw a possibility, and went for it. She was caught, imprisoned, and forever scarred by the traumatic experience. She later married a guy who was punished for an escape attempt simply because he swam out toward a boat that was Swedish while at an East German beach. Endless trouble from the state eventually killed him. Another was a neighbor of the author, a rock musician who was famous throughout the country. Eventually, the authorities decided he and his group were just too much, though, and they were informed they no longer existed. The state disbanded the group. One of the most heart-rending stories came thanks to a woman who essentially traded her freedom for that of others. She and her husband had a very sick baby that was being treated in a West German hospital because the East Germans didn’t have the right medicines and abilities. The parents were only allowed a couple visits, and never together, in an effort to prevent defection. Later, the parents prepared to make an escape attempt via a tunnel. The Stasi, East Germany’s brutal secret police, found out about the tunnel, though, and the escape attempt was called off. That didn’t prevent the parents of the sick boy from being persecuted. Eventually, the mother was told she could go to the West and see her son, but there were conditions. One of the conditions would’ve sold out some of the others who had been involved in the escape attempt. In an amazing act of heroism, she didn’t give in. The boy grew up in the West under the care of nurses and doctors. The interviews with the former Stasi were less exciting. Most seemed to lament, in one way or another, the passing of the former East Germany and the power, authority, and privilege many of them had, usually at the expense of others. The reunification wasn’t kind to everyone, resulting, in some cases, in increased crime and poverty for those who struggled to adapt to the new order.
An American Life: The Autobiography by Ronald Reagan (ISBN: 0-671-69198-8) chronicles Reagan’s life from the time he was born to the end of his presidency. He spends significant time on his childhood, teenage years, and college years. These formative years provided a strong foundation that would serve as a basis for Reagan’s later success in life and in politics. He was open about the shortcomings that both he and his family members had (such as his alcoholic father). He chronicled his entry into the media business, first as a sportscaster and later as an actor, where he had some considerable success. The major portion of the book, though, is dedicated to Reagan’s political pursuits. He spends a little bit of time discussing his stint as governor of California. He talks about political friends and foes, the problems that faced the state, and what he was able to do about them, claiming victory in some instances and admitting defeat in others. Easily half of the book is dedicated to Regan’s time as president of the United States. The budget, the Cold War, and foreign policy are the major themes. In the discussion about budget, there is a major sub-current: liberal bias in the media and the inability of the Democratcs to compromise. Reagan clearly found the Cold War and his role in it to be extremely important because the book talked about that a lot and included more journal entries quoted on that topic than any other. He also quoted lengthy passages from correspondence between himself and Soviet leaders. Here, it seemed, details mattered. Iran-Contra was dealt with extensively. Reagan wanted the U.S. to play a major role in foreign policy in Europe and South America, but strove for balance that encouraged the countries in those regions to solve their own problems, much like his economic policy at home tried to encourage the American people to do their part to pull themselves out of their economic hardships.
KGB: The Secret Work of Soviet Secret Agents by John Barron tells some of the stories of the main Soviet agency of oppression and secrecy, the KGB. It provides an overview of all the Soviet intelligence agencies, but focuses on the KGB, which the author assessed to be the brains behind all of them. After the more academic portion of the book, it recounts a few fantastic stories. Most of the stories, a few which I had read elsewhere previously, had to do with the stuff of movies. The book contains the stories of Americans who betrayed their country and of Russians who betrayed theirs. They are fascinating accounts full of sneaking around big cities, breaking into vaults, offers of money, international intrigue, “seductresses” (as promised by the paperback version’s typically sensationalist cover art), and, of course, spies. It was interesting to read of a disgruntled U.S. Army soldier, his former prostitute wife, and his giving the Russians access to something they likely figured was impossible to access. I was also really intrigued by the stories of Russians and other eastern Europeans who risked it all to do what they figured was their part in the battle against authoritarianism and for liberty. One interesting story was that of a Czech who was sent to Canada by the Russians, but who ultimately decided that all he had been taught in years of intense training was not true now that he’d been in the West and seen how things really worked.
In When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan by Peggy Noonan (ISBN: 978-0-14-200168-4), the former Reagan staffer (speechwriter), journalist, and columnist gives her take on the fortieth president. The story starts when Reagan was a kid and ends as he succumbs to the Alzheimer's and the ailments of time. One learns where he got his worldview from and how his early life influenced where he got. Reagan's father, I learned, was an alcoholic, but he still imbued his son with principles that served him well in seeing the greatness in all people and in upholding America's tradition of equality. Reagan's mother was a strongly and actively Christian woman, which also became a major part of his character. He believed in God and believed God wanted to be part of people's lives. One reads about Reagan's involvement in Hollywood. He was arguably an up-and-coming star, but never went big time because he got involved in the actors' union and the more political side of things. His political career was dogged by accusations of being just an actor, and acting likely helped him as he campaigned, but his real talent was likely in speechmaking to begin with. The book recounts Reagan's entry into politics. He was not, it seems, overly ambitious, but saw his involvement as a chance to help people, and that's where character came in. Reagan had standards and stuck to them, providing for people a stable and strong standard behind which they could rally. He was unabashedly religious, had no tolerance for racism, and knew that there was a distinct difference between democratic forms of government with capitalistic and those of the "
Rise and Fall by Milovan Djilas (ISBN: 0-15-177572-9) provides one man’s (Djilas (Đilas) himself) view of the Communist rise to power in Yugoslavia. Since he was one of Tito’s closest aides and advisors, he provides an inside perspective that is largely unrivaled. He also chronicles what he considers the falling away of the Yugoslav Communists from their revolutionary ideals. As he comes to realize that Communism, as implemented in Yugoslavia, isn’t what was promised, he becomes disillusioned with it, enough so that he published material critical of Tito and the Communists, leading to nine years as a political prisoner. Djilas covers a lot of ground in a little over 400 pages. He gives a short account of the wartime Communists, but mostly focuses on life under Tito after the war. He talks about foreign relations, internal politics, bizarre Communist Party perks like special stores for the elite party members, the cult of personality surrounding Tito, and the oppressive nature of a totalitarian or dictatorial political system. Interestingly, Djilas’s falling out was not with Communism; it was with what Communism had developed into in Yugoslavia. The reader even gets a small glimpse into Djilas’s personal life as he discusses his marriages. Finally, the totalitarian oppression claims the once high-ranking government official and he spends almost a decade as a prisoner because of his ideas, not necessarily even that radical.
In Spy Dust: Two Masters of Disguise Reveal the Tools and Operations That Helped Win the Cold War (ISBN: 978-0-7434-2853-8) by Antonio and Jonna Mendez with Bruce Henderson, spy dust itself plays a rather minor role. The two authors and their craft, disguises, get the majority of the attention. The story follows both authors in their CIA careers a few years before they came to know about spy dust through an operation that saw them defeat the theretofore undefeated powder. Antonio was a master of disguise with years and years of experience; Jonna more of an extremely talented up-and-coming star in the CIA. The book focuses on their teamwork to exfiltrate someone they claim was a well-connected and high-placed Soviet spying for the U.S. The operation included a handful of Americans and the Russian and his family. They used all their disguise know-how, which includes a lot of things that aren’t so much about disguises, but simply about how one ports oneself and how people are not able to notice every little thing if what one is doing mostly follows the normal routine. The daring operation defeated the Russians’ spy dust and got everyone out of the country safely.