True Believer: Stalin’s Last American Spy

by Kati Marton

“Kati Marton’s True Believer is a true story of intrigue, treachery, murder, torture, fascism, and an unshakable faith in the ideals of Communism….A fresh take on espionage activities from a critical period of history” ( Washington Independent Review of Books ).

True Believer reveals the life of Noel Field, once a well-meaning and privileged American who spied for Stalin during the 1930s and forties. Later, a pawn in Stalin’s sinister master strategy, Field was kidnapped and tortured by the KGB and forced to testify against his own Communist comrades.

How does an Ivy League-educated, US State Department employee, deeply rooted in American culture and history, become a hardcore Stalinist? The 1930s, when Noel Field joined the secret underground of the International Communist Movement, were a time of national collapse. Communism promised the righting of social and political wrongs and many in Field’s generation were seduced by its siren song. Few, however, went as far as Noel Field in betraying their own country.

With a reporter’s eye for detail, and a historian’s grasp of the cataclysmic events of the twentieth century, Kati Marton, in a “relevant…fascinating…vividly reconstructed” ( The New York Times Book Review ) account, captures Field’s riveting quest for a life of meaning that went horribly wrong. True Believer is supported by unprecedented access to Field family correspondence, Soviet Secret Police records, and reporting on key players from Alger Hiss, CIA Director Allen Dulles, and World War II spy master, “Wild Bill” Donovan—to the most sinister of Josef Stalin. “Relevant today as a tale of fanaticism and the lengths it can take one to” ( Publishers Weekly ), True Believer is “riveting reading” ( USA TODAY ), an astonishing real-life spy thriller, filled with danger, misplaced loyalties, betrayal, treachery, and pure evil, with a plot twist worthy of John le Carré.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Espionage, Russia, Politics, War

304 pages, Hardcover

First published September 6, 2016

About the author

Kati Marton is an award-winning former correspondent for NPR and ABC News. She is the author of eight books, the most recent of which is the New York Times-bestselling memoir Paris: A Love Story. Enemies of the People: My Family's Journey to America was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Her other works include The Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World, Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our History, Wallenberg, A Death in Jerusalem, and a novel, An American Woman. Marton lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Noel was taken to battlefields as a young boy and this so seriously effected him that he idealistically came to believe that their could be a less cruel and more fair world. He became convinced that Communism was the answer, especially since so many were disillusioned with the United States government that time. Recruited he became a Soviet spy, though never a very good one, nor was the information he imparted ever very important. Eventually turned on by Stalin, he was treated horribly and cruelly, yet he still remained naïvely idealistic.

Rough read, sometimes this read like a text book, bogged down in boring details. Was originally interested because I was curious about those who become spies for other countries. Author also tried a little too hard trying to tie Noel's recruitment into how ISIS recruits today. Unfortunate this proved a disappointing read.

ARC from Netgalley.

[Esil · Rating 3 out of 5]

The True Believer tells what should be an interesting story, but it made for mostly quite a dull read. The book is about Noel Field, an American recruited as a spy for the Soviet Union -- who ended up living his later years in communist Hungary. Marton depicts Field as hapless and naive, and blindly dedicated to Stalin. The first two thirds of the book deal with Field's background and activities in the US and Western Europe. The last third focuses on his arrest in Eastern Europe, the horrendous torture he suffered at the hands of the Kremlin and his ultimate dedication to the regime that treated him so badly. For the most part, the book reads a bit too much as a judgmental recitation of events with little attempt to try to understand Field and what may have motivated him and other spies at that time. Field never came together as a three dimensional person. The last third dealing with Fields' arrest, incarceration and ultimate decision to stay in Hungary was interesting enough to bump this one up to 3 stars, but I must admit that I did a fair bit of skimming throughout. Others more familiar with some of the people and events described might enjoy this book more than I did, but I generally didn't really feel engaged. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

[Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dry book, recommend it only if you truly interested in the Cold War era and its ramifications all through out Easter Europe. The subject is a lower American bureaucrat who was enticed early on by the Utopia that was communism in the early 1930's , it was a faith that would prove to be his undoing both for him and his family and many other people whose only crime was to be part of the Stalinist purges that took place in the early 1950's . There are accounts of other spies related to the subject of the book but their mention is small and doesn't add much to the story . Interesting enough but not a fun one.

[Kisxela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this book to all those who want to know more about the functioning of dictatorships, fanatical faith, and the history of our recent past. Thanks to Kati Marton's thorough research, we can gain a lot of important knowledge while reading the book. Especially the last third became impossible for me to put down, when the writer presented the events after Noel Field's arrival in Hungary.
It's shocking how much tragedy naivety can cause when combined with blind faith.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was a great story hidden in a poorly written book. The saga of Noel Field is incredible --- among other things, it shows that people can convince themselves that night is day and day is night.

The quick story: While employed at the U.S. Department of State in the 1930s, Field acted as a Soviet spy. During World War II, he worked in France and Switzerland to support Jewish communist and anti-fascist refugees. During this time, he also had contacts with the U.S. intelligence service OSS. Arrested in Prague in 1949 and imprisoned in Hungary, he served as the pretext for show trials of communist functionaries in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Hungary, when it was claimed that he had served as their American spymaster. The purpose of the show trials was to replace local Communist Party members with others more aligned with Moscow. After his release in 1954, he stayed in Budapest and remained a convinced communist.

Why did he remain a true believer? It boggles the mind.

The more amazing story is about his adopted daughter, Erica Wallach, who ended up in Siberia....and then made it back to Warrenton, Virginia. Truth stranger than fiction!

[Emma Wong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Sticks to the point and moves the story along without unnecessary digressions. It's very well written, and reminds us of a fascinating bit of history that often gets ignored or forgotten - i.e., how many Americans who were in positions where they should have known better got swept up by the allure of Marxism. One should beware that the author is quite condemnatory of Noel Field's actions, and so if you are going to be put off by that, this book is not for you.

[Don LaFountaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book via a Goodreads giveaway.

This was an interesting book about Noel Field who was an American spy for Stalin and felt that the party could do no wrong.

As Noel Field was growing up, he was living in Zurich. His Harvard trained father had set up a research institute there. As a Quaker, Noel's family was decidedly pacifist. One of the most profound influences in Noel''s life was being taken to one of the battlefields of World War I to see destruction that mankind was capable of. This left him with a strong feeling that his life was destined to work towards peace for the world. Shortly there afterward, at the young age of 14, he met Allen W. Dulles. Dulles, who was covertly working behind the lines and used Noel's father as a means to get information. Dulles asked what he was planning to do with his life, he replied "to bring peace to the world".

Field's father passed away in 1921, leaving a gaping hole in the family as well as with Noel. No longer having his father's guidance, he tried to find his own was in the world. First stop, America, where he went to Harvard and graduated in 2 years. From there he worked at the the State Department, and converted to communism. Though outsiders, coworkers, and even "friends" thought he was ideal hardworking American, they were not at all aware that he was hardworking for the communist underground, passing along secrets and items of interest to others he was working for.

After 10 years in the State Department, Field left Washington for Geneva to the Disarmament Section of the Palace of Nations. Though not a lot happened there, he continued to pass information to his controller. He also became more involved in the communist party, willing to follow orders and plot the murder of a person that was a "traitor" because Moscow said to. Though he did not have to do anything before this person was killed, he showed his blind loyalty to Stalin and the Party, who could do no wrong.

From there he and his wife went to Spain, while the country was in the middle of a revolution, where Franco was working to take power. Here Field seemed to relish the experience because he was helping others. (He and his wife even ended up with an "adopted daughter" out of it, though it was certainly a strained relationship at the beginning.) This would be a prelude to what they would do during World War II with the USC. During World War II, they saved many refugees using the USC and American money, but only those people who were communist. With the Field's help, many communist people were saved, protected, and guided towards countries where after the war they would be able to bring about the communist utopia.

However by this time, the Red Scare was starting the United States, and though the words and documents of accused members, Noel Field was outed and he was unable to come back to America. Thinking he was safe in Prague, he was kidnapped. Later on, his wife, brother, and "adopted daughter" were kidnapped too. Years of torture followed, with the Noel and his wife not at all blaming Stalin or the Party. After Noel's brother and "adopted daughter" were freed, they found the United States to be unfriendly towards them, thinking that they were part of a great Communist threat. For the rest of their lives, Noel and Herta Field worked to be accepted as Communists from the Soviet Union.

This was an interesting book that describes the life of a committed American Communist that went to whatever depths it took to follow his belief. I felt the story comes across a little scattered, but overall it was not too difficult to follow. The author seems to write with a decidedly liberal slant, (especially in the beginning of the book) and to that end I don't think the book is as "objective" as the jacket cover implies. I think fans of American history, political science, and people who enjoy spy stories will like this book.

[Jim Cullison · Rating 5 out of 5]

A chilling masterpiece. Utterly riveting, instructive, and occasionally inspiring, this book presents the amazing true story of a mild-mannered fanatic who sacrificed himself and his family on the altar of Stalinistic cultism. It is a very quick and gripping read that practically screams out to be made into a movie.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marton tells the story of Noel Field, a minor US State Department official who spied for the Soviets during the 1930s and went on to support Communist causes while working for NGOs in Europe in the 1940s. Marton provides Noel's back story and his ideological reasons for becoming a Communist, and speculates why, after his arrest in 1949 and torture for five years by the very side he was serving, he remained a staunch Stalinist defender pretty much until his death in 1970.

Marton also touches on other spies such as Alger Hiss, and relates the fates of Field's wife, brother, and foster daughter, all of whom also experienced arrest, imprisonment, and terrible hardships at the hands of Soviet / satellite jailers. Finally, there is Marton's own family story - her Hungarian parents were AP reporters during the 1956 Hungarian uprising, and her father ended up imprisoned in the same cell that previously held Noel Field.

I enjoyed this history. It's a tale of humanity - people with stellar intentions who justify murder and other horrible acts because, hey, it's their side. Still, most American communists couldn't stomach Stalin's purges and caught on that Communism wasn't the path to equality or prosperity, so they dropped out, only to be harassed by McCarthy and Nixon. But the light bulb never went on for Noel Field, and that is what is so fascinating about his story.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting look at a Stalinist fanatic

[Fran Severn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting insight into the motivation and operation of the people who betray their country, in this case for idealistic reasons.

[John Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps one of the finest books I've ever read. Much heralded author Ms. Marton draws upon her reporting career (with NPR and ABC) and intense multinational research, not to mention extraordinary access to personal familial information, to tell the story of Noel H. Field, a Cold War era Soviet spy. In the course of this story we discover an idealist who never left his obsessive belief in the cause of Soviet Russia. Despite years of evident Soviet betrayals, endless lies, and disinformation, Field continued to serve Stalin's empire. When this empire turned on Field himself, his bellief that this was but a passing phase is astonishing in its evidence of delusion. How his actions betrayed not only America but his family and friends is heart rending. The true beacon of truth in this story is his step daughter Erica, whose brusque valiance throughout it all is astonishing. She requires a book to tell her own story. Worth every minute spent reading, for through this story you discover how the Cold War unfolded throughout its changing course.

[Matt Shaqfan · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars "it was ok"

For a biography on Noel Fields, he sure seems to take a backseat to the stories presented here. The title implies that he was a sort of right-hand man to Stalin, but his "story" could just as easily be told in a short magazine article, as opposed to a 250 page book. There wasn't really a consistent narrative, and when Fields actually did get mentioned, it was almost in passing. It's clear he was an idealistic dreamer, which eventually got him in some jams, but he was hardly a "master spy," or even low-level spy. He was pretty much a no-name who would occasionally interact with people of actual power or conviction. TRUE BELIEVER wasn't poorly researched, but it wasn't I was expecting or hoping for.

[SeaShore · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about Noel Field. For those who wonder how or why a person decides to be a spy, this is a must read.

He wrote his mother, " If I don't make a success in the Foreign Service don't be too surprised or too pained. If I lose my job it would be because of my beliefs.-- Brilliant things often have no soul."
He recalls his father's admonition to not be deterred for doing what is right simply for fear of what those around you would think.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read. Follow the life of Noel Field an American whose strong belief in the Communist ideology is unwaverable. He isn't a clandestine spy but rather a government worker who thought he was helping everyone to understand Communism was a better way of government. The biography is well written with a lot of information regarding the time period from the 1930's to the 1970's but subject matter is a little boring to read. In fairness, this is because he was not an exciting spy.

[ÎSmàil Ël Fådîlí]

i want to read the book i find the title attractive and i want to have same information about america

[Shouty]

WHEN YOU GET OUT OF A SOVIET GULAG AND WEEP UPON HEARING THAT STALIN'S DEAD . . . DING, DING, DING, I WOULD SAY WE HAVE OURSELVES A TRUE BELIEVER

[Robert LoCicero · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fine work by this talented author. In this volume Ms Marton relates the story of a real, honest to goodness American who heart and soul became a Soviet spy and devotee of Soviet dictator Stalin. Noel Fields was among many Americans who during the turbulent 1930s (and late 1920s) became enraptured with Communism, Soviet style. As a bulwark against Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany many thought the fight was worth it and some, like Fields and fellow spy Alger Hiss, participated in or led spy groups for the Soviet Union within the government agencies of the United States. Fields was an operative within the State Department and later functioned with a non-profit aid agency with religious affiliations that aided refugees and displaced persons in Spain during the turmoil of the Spanish Civil War. Fields was such a firm Communist worker that he really only aided fellow Communists in need of help during that civil war. Eventually he and members of his family, some innocent like his stepdaughter Erica or brother Hermann, but others complicit like his spouse Herta, were caught up in the paranoia of the Stalinist era in which thousands were murdered or imprisoned. Fields allegiance to Communism did not prevent him from imprisonment and torture which damaged his physical body and but seemed to leave his mind devoid of reality testing.
This is a very interesting story filled with fantastic characters from that time. It also serves as a lesson for modern times in that the current crop of Communist agitators and their Liberal/Progressive apologists are being sold a bogus bill of goods which has a long history of murder, deceit and treason behind it. They must beware of the pernicious effects that that cursed Communist ideology will have on any right-thinking person.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Students of 20th century American history, and particularly the Cold War, are likely to be familiar with Alger Hiss, one of the highest ranking Soviet spies to betray his native United States, but few are likely to know as much of Noel Field.

Like Hiss, Field worked as a Soviet agent for decades, but where Hiss denied his guilt until his death, Field owned his allegiance to the Soviet Union, even after he was kidnapped on the streets of Budapest, held in solitary confinement - with his wife in another cell down the corridor - and tortured for several years as part of Stalin's post-war efforst to consolidate power. He remained a true believer, a tragic idealist who renounced his country, but who appeared confused that his extended family would disapprove of his actions. Field's blindness to the evils of Stalin resulted in the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands of people.

Author Kati Morton is of Hungarian descent, and her parents were tortured by the same man who held Field and his wife before defecting to the West. But where her parents were dissident journalists whose views were confirmed by their treatment in prison, Noel Field blamed himself rather than the perpetrators for the misery inflicted upon himself and his wife.

"True Believer: Stalin's Last American Spy" is an enlightening view into the early days of international communism and the influence it had on certain parts of American society. It is also a character study of a man who truly wanted to do good things in the world, but who convinced himself that he should overlook the evil of the men he served in order to do so.

[Ronald Koltnow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noel Field, a young American of great promise, became enthralled with the possibility of a worker's paradise, which he felt was the core of Communism. Devoted to social justice, Field became a communist sympathizer, then an agent, and finally an apologist. He clung to the system after its abuses had been disclosed and after its efficacy dimmed forever. Kati Marton, whose parents played a role in the Field story, traces the career of a man who could have accomplished much had he not been an ideologue. A brisk but comprehensive history, Marton's book takes the reader through the post WWI world, the change from Bolshevism to Stalinism, and through the McCarthy era. The excessive zeal of Soviet purges and the horrors of the gulag system form the core of the story. Yet Field remained unchanged by what he saw and experienced. Marton seems to lean toward Whittaker Chambers and paints a picture of Alger Hiss without ambiguity. Hiss is a spy and a dedicated one at that. Hiss and Field were friends and their lives ran parallel to each other: one the disgraced liberal lion, the other the true believer. Marton packs a number of pleasures and a whole lot of suffering into this biography (a great gag about Allen Dulles pops up). It, unfortunately, has some resonance with today's events.

[DH · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marton, whose parents were journalists that ran afoul of the Stalinist regime in Hungary, poses an unanswerable question: Why did Noel Field, a bright star at the State Department, give his undying allegiance to Stalin, the USSR, and Marxism-Leninism? "True Believer" provides some insight to Field's fealty to his imagined notion of Communism, but ultimately his culpability rests with his personal choices. To wit, after five years of imprisonment in Hungary in which he was tortured into being a show trial witness, he cried when he learned of Stalin's death. Field doubled-down every time he might have had change of heart.

Marton relies upon Field's show trial testimony to link him to Alger Hiss, a friend from the State Department, which adds to the evidence that Hiss was a Soviet spy.

"True Believer" is well written and will be of use to researchers trying to understand the minds of those caught in the Cold War.

[Mike Slawdog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received this book for free as part of a Goodreads Giveaway.

As advertised, Marton's book chronicles the life of Noel Fields, who was a Stalinist agent in the United States, though she also details his family and provides some of the story behind his fellow agents. Overall I thought this book was pretty solid, as it kept me entertained and interested. Without including a spoiler, I can see how Fields' story could be somewhat boring based off of his dogmatic ideology, but she keeps the story going with good storytelling in some of the larger affairs that he got involved with. If you're interested in historical backstories or Soviet-American relations from the 1930s-1970s this book is worth a read.

[Sue Roselle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Noah Field, brilliant, well-educated, cosmopolitan and insecure. Completes Harvard in 2 years in 1923 and immediately becomes employed by the US State Department. Not long afterwards he becomes enchanted by Communism. A Quaker, he becomes disillusioned with democracy during the Great Depression, and begins to take documents from the State Department and provide them to the representatives of the KGB. Book is about his increasing involvement with espionage and his ability to evade detection for many years. Sad because his commitment led to the destruction of his friends and family. Author was given access to files in Hungary and Moscow about this spy and his family. Plus, author's parents, international journalists in Budapest, conducted the sole interview with Field and his wife.

[Anne Vandenbrink · Rating 4 out of 5]

He loved Russia and Stalin and thought that people of all countries should share the wealth and be equal. He also worked for the U.S. State department as a spy for Russia along with Alger Hiss and many others. When suspicions arose, government officials dismissed it because their concern at the time was Hitler and Germany, not Russia. He also worked in camps giving aid and finding refugees places to go. But he concentrated on aiding fellow Communists because he wanted to spread this ideology. Even though he was imprisoned and tortured in Hungry for being a spy for the U.S., (rather than Russia) he never criticized Hungary's government, or those who tortured him because Hungary was also a communist country at the time.

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some reviewers complain this book isn't scintillating enough.

But, that's the whole point, Noel Fields was totally a paint-by-numbers type of person. The fact that someone so bland in such ways could become, indeed, such a True Believer, to become complicit in the death of at least one Stalin-deviating Communist dissident is exactly the point. That said, Ms. Merton never quite shows how there was one decisive point for him in accepting not just Communism in general but Stalinism in particular. On the other hand, maybe there was never one such point, and that itself is part of the story, like Churchill's bon mot about the USSR in general.

[Thomas Stevenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noel Field was devoted to Communism. It was a cause that consumed him and eventually deluded him. Communism was not always so magnanimous. Field, like Kim Philby, had to overlook the evils of the Stalin era. He also had to endure years in a Russian prison. Field's life is a fascinating if distressing tale. The author Kati Marton brings to this book a strong connection to the tale. Her journalist parents interviewed Field and were also imprisoned. Perhaps as a consequence of her personal connection she gives readers insight into what was going on in Field's mind. This is a compelling, well-told story.

[Timea Talaber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written, very readable and engaging narrative/biography about an American traitor I've never even heard of! The book included a lot of context of the time (socialism/communism, the Red Scare, WW2, Stalinism, other people and agents involved) and backed by well-cited evidence, as well as looks into the lives of the people (friends, family) who were effected by Noel Fields' betrayal. I'll admit I was captivated all the more because my family in Hungarian, and my grandfather was taken captive by the AVO as well. Reading the description of what Noel, Herta, Hermann, and Erica went through in Soviet prisons connected with my family past. I definitely will be reading more from this author.

[Steven Owad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Owad’s Micro-Review #8

A biography of “Stalin’s last American Spy.” Noel Field comes of age in the aftermath of World War I and embraces the shiny new ideals of Communism. Through decades of postings at the State Department and overseas, and through his own imprisonment behind the Iron Curtain by a paranoid Stalin, his political faith never wavers and his humanity rarely surfaces. His steadfastness comes across as insipid rather than brave and renders him—and his story—a little dull. August 6, 2020

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

About Noel Fields, an idealistic and almost unbelievably naive man, who came to believe that Communism would save the world. An American, he was a high flier in the State Department in the late 20s, and agreed to share information with Russians.

It's a long and complex story, dominated by his deep belief in Communism, even when confronted with the Stalin trials of the 30s, and the overrunning of Eastern Europe after WWII.

Fascinating.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look at the life of one of Stalin's American spies who dragged his wife, brother and adopted daughter into a world of betrayal, torture and imprisonment behind the Iron Curtain. despite his torture and imprisonment by the communists for whom he had betrayed his country, Field remained until his death in exile a fanatical devotee of Stalin. Field's personal journey from a Quaker pacifist to a cold killer is documented in detail.