BETRAYAL IN BERLIN: The True Story of the Cold War's Most Audacious Espionage Operation

New York, New York, U.S.A. : Custom House, 2019. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. As New/As New. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. The astonishing true story of the Berlin Tunnel, one of the West's greatest espionage operations of the Cold War-and the dangerous Soviet mole who betrayed it. Its code name was "Operation Gold," a wildly audacious CIA plan to construct a clandestine tunnel into East Berlin to tap into critical KGB and Soviet military telecommunication lines. The tunnel, crossing the border between the American and Soviet sectors, would have to be 1,500 feet (the length of the Empire State Building) with state-of-the-art equipment, built and operated literally under the feet of their Cold War adversaries. Success would provide the CIA and the British Secret Intelligence Service access to a vast treasure of intelligence. Exposure might spark a dangerous confrontation with the Soviets. Yet as the Allies were burrowing into the German soil, a traitor, code-named Agent Diamond by his Soviet handlers, was burrowing into the operation itself. . .BETRAYAL IN BERLIN is Steve Vogel's heart pounding account of the operation. He vividly recreates post-war Berlin, a scarred, shadowy snake pit with thousands of spies and innumerable cover stories. It is also the most vivid account of George Blake, perhaps the most damaging mole of the Cold War. Drawing upon years of archival research, secret documents, and rare interviews with Blake himself, Vogel has crafted a true-life spy story as thrilling as the novels of John le Carré and Len Deighton. Map endpapers. Ilustrated with black-and-white photographs, 530 pp, with Index. As new, unread, first edition, first printing, in as new. mylar-protected dust jacket. [Not remainder-marked or price-clipped] NF69