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The Main Enemy  By  cover art

The Main Enemy

By: Milton Bearden,James Risen
Narrated by: Christopher Lane
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Publisher's summary

A landmark collaboration between a thirty-year veteran of the CIA and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, The Main Enemy is the dramatic inside story of the CIA-KGB spy wars, told through the actions of the men who fought them.

Based on hundreds of interviews with operatives from both sides, The Main Enemy puts us inside the heads of CIA officers as they dodge surveillance and walk into violent ambushes in Moscow. This is the story of the generation of spies who came of age in the shadow of the Cuban missile crisis and rose through the ranks to run the CIA and KGB in the last days of the Cold War. The clandestine operations they masterminded took them from the sewers of Moscow to the back streets of Baghdad, from Cairo and Havana to Prague and Berlin, but the action centers on Washington, starting in the infamous "Year of the Spy"--when, one by one, the CIA’s agents in Moscow began to be killed, up through to the very last man.

Behind the scenes with the CIA's covert operations in Afghanistan, Milt Bearden led America to victory in the secret war against the Soviets, and for the first time he reveals here what he did and whom America backed, and why. Bearden was called back to Washington after the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan and was made chief of the Soviet/East European Division—just in time to witness the fall of the Berlin Wall, the revolutions that swept across Eastern Europe, and the implosion of the Soviet Union.

Laced with startling revelations--about fail-safe top-secret back channels between the CIA and KGB, double and triple agents, covert operations in Berlin and Prague, and the fateful autumn of 1989--The Main Enemy is history at its action-packed best.

©2018 Milton Bearden and James Risen (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved

What listeners say about The Main Enemy

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A masterpiece of espionage history

This books is the most complete and superbly written book about the final showdown between the CIA and the KGB.

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15 people found this helpful

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A must.

If you are a Cold War espionage enthusiast, this book is a must. No question about it. Great narrator, great book.

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13 people found this helpful

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Couldn’t stop listening

Loved this book. Like watching a spy thriller except it’s all real. Tightly written and brilliantly narrated. I’ve listened to this narrator before, and he always brings a lot to the table. His performance is excellent, especially his accents and the portrayal of different characters. Highly recommend.

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7 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Lots of information

This book holds a lot of information and I found it all very fascinating, but I felt it gets a bit bogged down in the Soviet/Afghanistan intrigue. I had a hard time getting through that section, but was very glad I did - lots of good stuff to come after. Enjoyed it overall, it was a very long listen but did not disappoint - but didn't dazzle either. I liked it well enough I'd probably listen again - so much information and details that surely got missed the first time through. Very well spent credit.

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6 people found this helpful

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Compelling Story

This book provided great insight into the most important Soviet defector of the cold war. Even though I already had a general knowledge of Gordievsky and his role in the cold war I was still riveted and held in suspense.

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6 people found this helpful

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great history of cold war espionage and statecraft

Another riveting history of cold war espionage, personalities and momentous events that shaped the modern world. Comprehensive in scope of protagonists and perspectives of the pivotal players who oversaw and directly engaged in the spy games. I very much enjoyed the additional historical content such as the CIA engagement of the mujahedeen and important role of the Afghan proxy war in the context of critialcally weakening the USSR., histories I didn't understand in such detail. Fabulously fascinating!

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5 people found this helpful

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Superb book and excellent narration

This is a long, winding and truthful book. I wouldn’t have missed a minute. Christopher Lane just carries you along like good music!

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5 people found this helpful

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If you want to know

Excellent book that is well written and full of information. Historical and entertaining. Goes into great detail without being a text book.

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4 people found this helpful

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Clod War Classic

Excellent account of the spy games that played out between the US and USSR as the end of The Clod War approached. If you lived thru this period you will very likely enjoy this listen.

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4 people found this helpful

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Meh....good info along with healthy propaganda

Bearden does an ok job shedding light on the last years of the Cold War, though there is always something missing or misleading.
It’s essentially a narrative designed to excuse, cajole, and justify numerous failings of the CI Lucky enough, and unbeknownst to the CIA at the time, we were winning the Cold War all the same. In the end the human wreckage, wasted effort meant not much as the USSR was a broken country with a failing system.

Failed predicting the Invasion of Afghanistan
Failed to plug leaks leading to numerous assets destroyed
Failed saving the ambassador to Pakistan
Failed predicting the collapse of Soviet Union
Failed warning of 9/11 attacks
Failed capture if Bin Laden over a decade

Similar to the KGB or the ISI, CIA has became a state within a state, an inner circle of a perpetual beast that feeds itself through its own failures, justifying further existence.

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4 people found this helpful