Overview

The thrilling story of two Cold War spies-CIA case officer Jack Platt and KGB agent Gennady Vasilenko-and their improbable friendship at a time when they should have been anything but. In 1978, CIA maverick Jack Platt and KGB agent Gennady Vasilenko were new arrivals on the Washington, DC intelligence scene, with Jack working out of the CIA's counterintelligence office and Gennady out of the Soviet Embassy. Both men, already notorious iconoclasts within their respective agencies, were assigned to seduce the other into betraying his country in the urgent final days of the Cold War, but instead the men ended up becoming the best of friends-blood brothers. Theirs is a friendship that never should have happened, and their story is chock full of treachery, darkly comic misunderstandings, bureaucratic inanity, the Russian Mafia, and landmark intelligence breakthroughs of the past half century. In Best of Enemies, two espionage cowboys reveal how they became key behind-the-scenes players in solving some of the most celebrated spy stories of the twentieth century, including the crucial discovery of the Soviet mole Robert Hanssen, the 2010 Spy Swap which freed Gennady from Soviet imprisonment, and how Robert De Niro played a real-life role in helping Gennady stay alive during his incarceration in Russia after being falsely accused of spying for the Americans. Through their eyes, we see the distinctions between the Russian and American methods of conducting espionage and the painful birth of the new Russia, whose leader, Vladimir Putin, dreams he can roll back to the ideals of the old USSR.

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9781549148033

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A compelling Cold War fable that illuminates the essence of a human recruitment operation: the unshakable friendship between two men that endured in the Wilderness of Mirrors. -- Jason Matthews, New York Times bestselling author The ultimate true-life spy tale. Gus Russo and Eric Dezenhall have written a rollicking Cold War thriller centered around the most crazily improbable of friendships...Russo and Dezenhall's deep reporting, including interviews with the spies themselves, proves again that fiction has nothing on truth...Important and entertaining. -- Philip Shenon, New York Times bestselling author Guns, girls, and gulags-and the iconic Robert De Niro in a real-life role-delivered by two of Washington's most savvy insiders-Eric Dezenhall and Gus Russo. -- Richard Ben-Veniste, Watergate special prosecutor, member of the 9/11 Commission

The ultimate true-life spy tale. Gus Russo and Eric Dezenhall have written a rollicking Cold War thriller centered around the most crazily improbable of friendships...Russo and Dezenhall's deep reporting, including interviews with the spies themselves, proves again that fiction has nothing on truth...Important and entertaining. -- Philip Shenon, New York Times bestselling author A compelling Cold War fable that illuminates the essence of a human recruitment operation: the unshakable friendship between two men that endured in the Wilderness of Mirrors. -- Jason Matthews, New York Times bestselling author Guns, girls, and gulags-and the iconic Robert De Niro in a real-life role-delivered by two of Washington's most savvy insiders-Eric Dezenhall and Gus Russo. -- Richard Ben-Veniste, Watergate special prosecutor, member of the 9/11 Commission

Author Information

Gus Russo is the author of nine books, including Supermob: How Sidney Korshak and His Criminal Associates Became America's Hidden Power Brokers and The Outfit: The Role of Chicago's Underworld in the Making of Modern America. He has written for the Baltimore Sun, Nation, Washington Post, Book Forum, Variety, and Huffington Post. Eric Dezenhall is the author of ten books, including Glass Jaw: A Manifesto for Defending Fragile Reputations in an Age of Instant Scandal, and Damage Control: Why Everything You Know about Crisis Management Is Wrong (with John Weber). He has written for publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, LA Times, New Republic, and Huffington Post. Robert Petkoff is an actor and audiobook narrator who has won a prestigious Audie Award and multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards. He has appeared on Chappelle's Show, Law & Order, and Quantum Leap. His Broadway credits include Sir Robin in Spamalot, Perchik in Fiddler on the Roof, and Tateh in Ragtime.

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