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Abel: The True Story of the Spy They Traded for Gary Powers
The true story behind the events depicted in Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster Bridge of Spies
On 10 February 1962, Gary Powers, the American pilot whose U2 spy plane was shot down in Soviet airspace, was released by his captors in exchange for one Colonel Rudolf Abel, aka Vilyam Fisher - one of the most extraordinary characters in the history of the Cold War. Born plain William Fisher at 140 Clara Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, this bona fide British grammar schoolboy was the child of revolutionary parents who had fled tsarist oppression in Russia. Retracing their steps, their son returned to his spiritual homeland, the newly formed Soviet Union, aged just eighteen. Willie became Vilyam and, narrowly escaping Stalin's purges, embarked on a mission to New York, where he ran the network that stole America's atomic secrets. In 1957, Willie's luck ran out and he was arrested and sentenced to thirty years in prison. Five years later, the USSR's regard for his talents was proven when they insisted on swapping him for the stricken Powers. Tracing Willie's tale from the most unlikely of beginnings in Newcastle, to Moscow, the streets of New York and back again, Abel is a singular and absorbing true story of Cold War espionage to rival anything in fiction.
On 10 February 1962, Gary Powers, the American pilot whose U2 spy plane was shot down in Soviet airspace, was released by his captors in exchange for one Colonel Rudolf Abel, aka Vilyam Fisher - one of the most extraordinary characters in the history of the Cold War. Born plain William Fisher at 140 Clara Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, this bona fide British grammar schoolboy was the child of revolutionary parents who had fled tsarist oppression in Russia. Retracing their steps, their son returned to his spiritual homeland, the newly formed Soviet Union, aged just eighteen. Willie became Vilyam and, narrowly escaping Stalin's purges, embarked on a mission to New York, where he ran the network that stole America's atomic secrets. In 1957, Willie's luck ran out and he was arrested and sentenced to thirty years in prison. Five years later, the USSR's regard for his talents was proven when they insisted on swapping him for the stricken Powers. Tracing Willie's tale from the most unlikely of beginnings in Newcastle, to Moscow, the streets of New York and back again, Abel is a singular and absorbing true story of Cold War espionage to rival anything in fiction.
388 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 4, 2018
Very detailed book in regard to the ancestral history of Rudolf Abel, whose actual name was Willie Fisher.
November 4, 2016
This is a spy story in the finest tradition, with the added advantage of being true.
There are plenty of surprises, not least the fact that the protagonist "Rudolf Abel" – whose name I knew from other histories – actually adopted this, the name of a colleague (dead, unknown to him) to muddy the waters of his interrogation. In fact, Willie Fisher was raised in Newcastle upon Tyne, left for Russia with his Leninist parents and only accidentally avoided being purged by Stalin as part of the Great Terror. His time as the main "illegal" on the US east coast was largely uneventful, and (it's possible to argue) a waste of his other talents that might have been more profitably exploited in research and training. It captures the romance and the dedication of spycraft – but also the tedium, the danger, and the fact that much of it is often pointless in even the medium term.
There remain some questions. Were the Rosenbergs really spies? – this story suggest so, whereas a lot of modern research denies it. It a story that will be revisited again as more archives are opened.
There are plenty of surprises, not least the fact that the protagonist "Rudolf Abel" – whose name I knew from other histories – actually adopted this, the name of a colleague (dead, unknown to him) to muddy the waters of his interrogation. In fact, Willie Fisher was raised in Newcastle upon Tyne, left for Russia with his Leninist parents and only accidentally avoided being purged by Stalin as part of the Great Terror. His time as the main "illegal" on the US east coast was largely uneventful, and (it's possible to argue) a waste of his other talents that might have been more profitably exploited in research and training. It captures the romance and the dedication of spycraft – but also the tedium, the danger, and the fact that much of it is often pointless in even the medium term.
There remain some questions. Were the Rosenbergs really spies? – this story suggest so, whereas a lot of modern research denies it. It a story that will be revisited again as more archives are opened.
May 31, 2017
probably 4.5--very interesting
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews