The Sword and the Shield (Abridged): The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB Audiobook

" First of all, I'm filled with respect for the dedication it took for Vasili Mitrokhin to painstakingly copy thousands upon thousands of documents, as a KGB archivist, and secretly store them under his home. The trove most assuredly has been of incalculable value to historians and western intelligence agencies. Because I've always been a fan of the espionage genre - both historical and fictional - I expected to binge-read this book, growing drunk on previously unavailable levels of detail and accuracy in real-life spy drama. Well, I don't "binge-read" anything, considering how methodically I read and how quickly I fall asleep when I finally make my way to bed, but getting through this book was an arduous slog. More than its daunting 600 page length, it was the awkward pacing that continually tripped me up. Because of the organization (traversing the period of history detailed in Mitrokhin's archive not chronologically, but rather by adversary country or espionage method) I was constantly bouncing from decade to decade, and had difficulty in applying a timeline to what I was reading. You'll find this criticism shallow, I suspect, but I was particularly off-put by the rendering (in brackets) of the multiple code names assigned to every character described in the book. Undoubtedly this was done to underscore the credibility of the information, and to position the book as a reference source, but it quickly started to aggravate me, and made the sentences clumsy to read and digest. By the time I had gotten halfway through the book, I was really sick of it, and found myself wishing, on every page, that I had a digest version of the thing, half the length, and arranged more chronologically. Still, I doggedly slogged on, more at the prospect of picking up fascinating little espionage stories (which I frequently did) than out of some stubborn insistence on finishing what I'd started. I really believe that the way this book is edited and arranged, combined with its vast length, would cause perhaps a fourth of well-intentioned readers to abandon it before they complete it. I now despair of what to do with the sequel, "The World Was Going Our Way," which now mocks me from my to-be-read shelf. I suspect that I'll do little more than flip through a chapter or two, unless the structure and style turn out to be very different. "

" While I cannot claim to be an expert in Russian/Soviet era espionage this was a thoroughly interesting and informative book. Fascinating reading - "

" Lengthy not the easiest read. great deal of information some not that that interesting. "

" Lots of good info in here but so heavily filtered by the British and American Intelligence Services that what's left is mostly stuff we already knew. A shame. "

" Interesting but could have been cut down to about 350-400 pgs. There were too many acronyms and names to keep up with. It was hard keeping up. I think this book should be rewritten. "

" Not an easy read, but lots of very interesting stuff if you are interested in the cold war. "

" The author's point about the potential influence of intelligence work on international policy is a reasonable one, but the book itself reads more like a catalogue than a history. "

" I don't think we fully appreciate yet the revelations that are in this book. "

" Great and fascinating book about KGB and its actions in Europe. A book for global conspiracy lovers. Planning reading second part. "

" If you want to follow spycraft from the KGB point of view from the revolution to the 70s, this is *the* book. Long, detailed, dry, but by no means uninteresting. "

" Dense material. Tried a couple of times but kept losing interest. Finally listened to book on tape. Probably better as a resource than as something to read all the way through. A bit too encyclopedic. "

" This was a very interesting book. A definate must read if you are interested in the KGB. "

" A fascinating insight into the world of the KGB. Unfortunately the second volume doesn't show on here but I would definitely recommend both of these. "

" Well written. Great true tales of the Cold War. "

" This really is a tome. Intersting to browse if there are certain episodes of the Cold War in which you're interested, but not something you'd want to read cover to cover. "

" if you want to win a game you must know your enemy "

" Long but fascinating. Well worth the time it took to read. "

" Fascinating. It gave me a fresh prospective on American history--a rare glimpse into the secrets that have affected nations. "