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“A Different Loyalty” with Sharon Stone (2004) – When Sally Left Leo
“Advise and Consent” dir. Otto Preminger, 1962 – Still Relevant
“Being There” with Peter Sellers (1979) – Personal Recollection
“Memoirs of William Hickey” – A Narrative of Debauchery
“Taking Sides” – “Der Fall Furtwängler,” dir. István Szabó (2003)
“The Bystander Theory,” dir. Tony Zavaleta (2012) – Intelligent and Thoughtful
“The Offence” with Sean Connery (1973) – “Welcome Home”
“The Package” – Deep State Intrigue
About
Academy of the Overrated – Comedians
Academy of the Overrated, Film Section
Acts of the Apostles, by John F. X. Sundman, reviewed
Adam Thirlwell: “Delighted States” – Conversationally Oracular
Albert Seaton: “Battle for Moscow” – Undone by his Own Success
Alexander Solschenizyn: “Lenin in Zürich” – To the Zurich Library
Alfred Döblin: “A People Betrayed” – Germany After the First World War
Amor Towles: “A Gentleman in Moscow” – Sparks of Wisdom
Amy Bass: “Those About Him Remained Silent. The Battle over W. E. B. Du Bois.” – Hometown Ambivalence
Anne Applebaum: Between East and West – Among the Ruins of Failed Empires
Anonymous (Joe Klein): “Primary Colors” – Holds Up Well
Anthony Cave Brown: “C” The Secret Life of Sir Stewart Menzies – A Clandestine Career
Anthony Glees: “The Secrets of the Service” – Safeguarding Liberties
Antonio Mendez: “Master of Disguise” – Restrained Boosterism
Arthur Miller, Inge Morath: “In Russia” – Attempting to do Justice
Ben Macintyre: “A Spy Among Friends” – “Suppose he was laughing at fools like us all the time?”
Ben Yagoda: “The Sound on the Page” – Consult the Experts
Ben Yagoda: “When You Catch An Adjective, Kill It” – Worthy Companion to “Sound on the Page”
Betty Roland: “Caviar for Breakfast” – Russian Diary 1933-1934
Bill Bryson: “The Mother Tongue” – English Exceptionalism
Chris Morgan Jones: “The Silent Oligarch” – The Quiet Don
Daniel Gillis: “Furtwängler and America” – Solid Contribution
David Crystal: “The Stories of English” – Preoccupied with Prescriptivism
David E. Hoffman: “The Billion Dollar Spy” – Original Research
David E. Murphy, Sergei A. Kondrashev, George Bailey: “Battleground Berlin” – Bureaucracies in Conflict
David Prerau: “Seize the Daylight” – They Got Used to It
Desert Island Records
Dominic Lieven: “Russia Against Napoleon” – Redressing an Imbalance
Du Bois in Germany, 1892-1894
Edvard Radzinsky: “Alexander II.” – The First Gorbachev
Edward Judge: “Easter in Kishinev” – A Pogrom and its Legacy
Edward Lucas: “Deception” – Challenges Accepted Wisdom
Eleanor Philby: “Kim Philby, The Spy I Loved” – Married to the Third Man
Elena Bonner: “Mothers and Daughters” – Life Before the Purges
Elif Batuman: “The Possessed” – Great Start
Favorite Films 1940-2010 – Updated Regularly
Genrikh Borovik: “The Philby Files” – Read but Verify
Giles MacDonogh: “Frederick the Great” – An Engaging Biography
Herman Ermolaev: “Censorship in Soviet Literature” – Indoctrination through Sanitization
Hippel: Lebensläufe
James P. O’Donnell: “The Bunker” – Twilight of the Damned
Jasper Ridley: “The Freemasons” – Builders of Secrecy
John Cobbs: “Understanding John le Carré” – More Stimulating than Informative
John Costello and Oleg Tsarev: “Deadly Illusions” – The Accomplice Who Presented Himself as Victim
John Hadden: “Conversations with a Masked Man” – Garrulous but Evasive (also: Maura Conlon-McIvor: “FBI Girl”)
John le Carré: “Call for the Dead” – Freilich
John le Carré: “Our Game” – Double Dealing
John le Carré: “The Russia House” – High-stakes Mistrust
John Lukacs: “Confessions of an Original Sinner” – “I’m Not Home, But…”
John Miller: “All Them Cornfields and Ballet in the Evening” – From Kim Philby to Kim Novak
John Reed: “War in Eastern Europe” – Sketches From a Forgotten Front
Jonathan Brent: “Inside the Stalin Archives” – Sharp Observations
Kempton Jenkins: “Cold War Saga” – Lessons for the Present
Kim Philby: “My Silent War” – Clever Kim
Kingsley Amis: “The Russian Girl” – Vaisey’s Choice
Langston Hughes: “I Wonder As I Wander” – From Russian Hill to Russia Itself
Langston Hughes: “The Big Sea” – Understated Elegance
Lev Kopelev: “The Education of a True Believer” – Seeing Through a Glass Darkly
Lev Kopelev: “To Be Preserved Forever” – A Man of Integrity
Louise Hall Tharp: “The Baroness and the General” – The Baroness and the American Revolution
Malcolm Bradbury: “The History Man” – Scenes from a University Marriage.
Mark Hollingsworth and Stewart Lansley: “Londongrad” – High Order Journalism
Markus Wolf: “Man Without a Face” – The Good Stasi
Martin Amis: “The Information” – Zingers Yes, Suspense No
Max Hastings: “Armageddon” – Sound and Sensible
Michael Frayn: “The Russian Interpreter” – Delectable
Michael Gregorio: “Critique of Criminal Reason” – A Golem is Loose in Königsberg
Michael Hughes: “Inside the Enigma” – Great Material, but…
Michael Jones: “The Retreat” – In Napoleon’s Shadow
Michael Lewis: “Moneyball” – What Are the Lessons?
Milt Bearden and James Risen: “The Main Enemy” – Legends in Their Own Minds
Peter Wright: “Spycatcher” – The Device Maker
Prit Buttar: “Battleground Prussia” – Otherwise, Impressive
Rachel Polonsky: “Molotov’s Magic Lantern” – The House on Romanov Lane
Raisa Orlova: “Memoirs” – An Idealist Loses Her Faith
Reiner Kunze: “Die wunderbaren Jahre” – A Reading by the Author in 1980
Reiner Kunze: “Zimmerlautstärke” – A Reading by the Author in 1980
Richard Evans: “The Third Reich in Power” – Preparing the People’s Minds for War
Ring Lardner, Jr.: “I’d Hate Myself in the Morning” – For a Better World
Robert Coughlan: “Elizabeth and Catherine” – They Remade Russia
Robert Darnton: “Censors at Work” – Navigating the System
Robert F. Ober, Jr.: “Tchaikovsky 19” – Insider Account
Robert Littell: “Young Philby” – Imaginative History
Rodric Braithwaite: “Across the Moscow River” – A Soul of Discretion
Rodric Braithwaite: “Moscow 1941” – A City Under Attack
Rufina Philby: “The Private Life of Kim Philby” – Philby on the Shelf
Sam Shirakawa: “The Devil’s Music Master” – Perceptive and Detailed
Scott Jordan Harris: “World Film Locations New York” – Is That the Woolworth Building? (With list of NY movies)
Sean McMeekin: “The Red Millionaire” – Grinding the Ax
Sheila Fitzpatrick: “Everyday Stalinism” – Life After the Great Upheaval
Sidney Lumet: “Making Movies” – Excellent Introduction
Sophie Gee: “The Scandal of the Season” – Disappointing
Stefan Heym: “5 Days in June” – Taking Responsibility
Stefan Heym: “Collin” – Lying is Bad for Your Health
Stella Tillyard: “A Royal Affair” – Wayward Siblings
Stephen King: “On Writing” – No Magic Pills
Stephen Koch: “Double Lives” – Lying For the Truth
Ted Anton: “Eros, Magic, and the Murder of Professor Culianu” – Dangerous Research
The Final Archives of the Führerbunker – Use With Caution
The Hitler Book, ed. Henrik Eberle, Matthias Uhl – What the Valets Saw
Thomas Weber: “Hitler’s First War” – Pivotal Experience
Timothy Garton Ash: “The File” – Omnipresent but not Omniscient
Timothy Garton Ash: “The Magic Lantern” – John Reed of 1989
Timothy Snyder: “Bloodlands” – Broadening the Focus
Timothy W. Ryback: “Hitler’s Private Library” – The Collection of a Gifted Dilettante
Tom Coughlin: “Earn the Right to Win” – How to Succeed Through Preparation
Tony Sharp: “Stalin’s American Spy” – A Virtuous Man
Vasily Grossman: A Writer at War – Patriotism Without Propaganda
Verne Newton: “The Cambridge Spies” – Subversion in Washington
Virginia Cowles: “The Romanovs” – Clear Overview
Will Hays, Jr.: “Come Home with Me Now” – Sick of Fighting Cleavage
William Hood: “Mole” – Spies Cannot Be Taken For Granted
William J. Chase: “Enemies Within the Gates?” – Repression of the Functionaries
William Urban: “The Teutonic Knights” – “God Wills It!”
Monthly Archives:
September 2021
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