Family of Spies
Inside the John Walker Spy Ring
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4.5 • 22 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
For two decades John Walker, Jr. fed secrets absolutely crucial to America's national security to the KGB. Incredibly, for two decades, his treason remained undetected.
Pete Earley's gripping tale of master spy John Walker, Jr. and his ring - his son, Michael; his brother, Arthur; and his best friend, Jerry Whitworth - is dazzling in its detail and shocking in its revelations.
"The greatest case in KGB history. We deciphered millions of your messages. If there had been a war, we would have won it." - Russian KGB officer Vitaly Yurchenko
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Based on family papers, wiretapped conversations, trial transcripts and interviews with the principals, this is the most comprehensive look we are likely to get at the inception and operation of what has been called the most damaging spy ring in America's history. The book is riveting on several levels: John Walker's uncanny ability to talk three people into betraying their country (his brother Arthur, son Michael and best friend Jerry Whitworth, all of whom, along with ringleader Walker, are now serving life sentences); the appalling ease with which top-secret documents were copied and passed along to the Soviets over a period of 17 years; Whitworth's withdrawal from the organization, his abortive attempt to blow the whistle and his subsequent effort to rejoin it; Barbara Walker's struggle to convince the FBI to believe her charges against her ex-husband; and John Walker's grotesque rationalizations and self-justification in his interviews with Earley. The Washington Post Magazine reporter has constructed a masterful psychological portrait of a man seemingly without a soul. A Family of Spies is a classic of the genre. Photos. First serial to the Washington Post; CBS-TV miniseries.
Customer Reviews
Compelling look inside the warped mind of a spy
Entertaining, eye-opening, and full of intense personalities who clash into sometimes explosive episodes of rage. If you read this book for the espionage, you won't be disappointed and you'll discover neat tricks that the KGB used during the Cold War to deceive American intelligence.
Great read.