This book is about the top Nazi master spy (and British counter spy) of WW II. "James Bond" faced fictional dangers, Dusko Popov faced the real danger of the Nazi Gestapo. The book lacks an index and a table of contents, but is exceptionally well written. I think this book is British Security Coordination's posthumous revenge on J. Edgar Hoover. It first revealed the circumstances of his encounter with Hoover and the Nazi interest in Pearl Harbor.

Chapter 1 tells of his education in Freiburg University, and his arrest by the Gestapo. It was a lesson in terror: his friends pretended to barely know him, professors who previously praised him now slandered him. His father's influence saved him, but he was banned from Germany. DP was not bothered previously; he was a crack shot with the pistol. His method was to use his middle finger on the trigger and his index finger along the barrel as a pointer (p.9).

DP was met by an old friend who offered him a business deal, then recruited him into the Abwehr. DP then talked to a member of the British Embassy, and became a double agent. He had a photographic memory, but it faded away (p.87). Pages 90-91 tell of the code words used to arrange meetings. Nobody should claim that all the German people accepted Hitler willingly; there would have been no Gestapo (p.105).

Chapter 14 tells of his visit to New York. His audience with J. Edgar Hoover showed Hoover to be not up to standards. Pages 196-204 discuss the attack on Pearl Harbor, after DP notified the FBI of Nazi Germany's interest in this target. He believes "the sinister character" of Hoover was responsible for the failure to transmit the warning in the German Questionnaire (between pages 148-149). ("The Day of Deceit" provides another answer.) The result of all this was to wreck his mission (p.216). When he could not get sanitized information, DP lifted material from newspapers!

Chapter 19 tells of the network developed in Yugoslavia by the Abwehr in order to intermix an occasional Nazi spy with smuggled refugees from Yugoslavia. These spies were captured as soon as they reached Britain. Pages 274-5 tell of an incident when a double agent was indiscreet. Immediate plans were made to eliminate the listener. At the last minute they realized the listener was another British agent! The most critical time was the spring of 1944. Would the elaborate deception continue to fool the Germans until the invasion of France? It did, and the diversion helped victory. (...)

Spans the life of one Dusko Popov from 1936-1945. When his best friend joins the Abwehr, he invites Dusko in as well. Hesitant at first, for he is definitely anti-Nazi (and not even German, he's Yugoslavian) he joins the military intelligence service...then crosses town and joins MI6 at the same time. The book is a glimpse in the true story of a double agent during the war, and the trials and tribulations he faces. I think my favorite part is when he goes to see J. Edgar Hoover, to tell him about the approaching attack on Pearl Harbor. Hoover doesn't trust him and shelves the information. Popov theorizes that the reason why the sneak attack was so successful was because Hoover buried all incoming information on it. Another good part is his few meetings with Ian Fleming, especially at a Baccarat table...

My only real complaints are that I was wondering just what happened to some of the people afterwards; Von Karsthoff the Abwehr spymaster in Lisbon, some of Popov's British friends, even Popov himself since he mentions that he did quit but not when or why. But all in all, it is a good quick read for anyone interested in real life spy stories. It is definitely worth picking up if you can find it.

What is holy? What is not? Kochan explores the Jewish view of what constitutes idolatry, and the idea that most sanctity is temporary. Hearing is esteemed over seeing in traditional Judaism; the making of an image of a human, who shares the image of the Divine, is strictly controlled by Jewish law. The non-sanctity of matter, the implications of conferring sanctity upon images, and the importance to Judaism of iconoclasm are all discussed in a concise, readable volume.

Kochan and Keep have written an adequate overview of Russian history have made the all too easy mistake of trying to cover too much. The organization is roughly chronological, but as we get closer and closer the present time the narrative thread becomes more and more jumbled, jumping from topic to topic and decade to decade. Tighter chapter contol, like Riasonovsky did in his History of Russia, would have helped; i.e., this is the chapter about Peter the Great's politics, this is one is about culture during Peter's reign, and this is about the economy. Completely missing are tables or charts - there is not even a list of tsars! A great deal of text about industrial and agricultural production could have been replaced with pie charts or other graphics. It is also somewhat astonishing that a general history book would have no pictures.

For those already well-versed in Russian history, The Making of Modern Russia will provide few new insights and is rather dry at times. Russia's history is rich, provocative, and fires the imagination - from Olga in the tenth century, to Alexander Nevsky, Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, and even doddering old Brezhnev - to say nothing of the drama and tragedy of the Bolsheviks. I fear that one not already familiar with Russia's history will read The Making of Modern Russia and wonder what the big deal is.