Sleeper Agent

By Ann Hagedorn,

Book cover of Sleeper Agent: The Atomic Spy in America Who Got Away

Book description

The dramatic and chilling story of an American-born Soviet spy in the atom bomb project in World War II, perfect for fans of The Americans.

George Koval was born in Iowa. In 1932, his parents, Russian Jews who had emigrated because of anti-Semitism, decided to return home to live out…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Sleeper Agent as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I operated as a KGB illegal agent in the US for ten years. This book is about George Koval, who served as a KGB illegal for 8 years. 

His background made him an ideal candidate for the KGB. He was born in the US to Russian parents. The family returned to the Soviet Union, where George studied economics and was recruited by the KGB. 

In 1940, he went back to the US and lived under his American birth name. He wound up working for the Manhattan Project, the huge team that developed the nuclear bomb.  He spent four years stealing…

This is a book about George Koval, the most successful KGB sleeper in the United States. 

George was born in the United States to Jewish parents who had immigrated from Russia in 1910. George and his family returned to the USSR where George became infatuated with communism. He was recruited by the GRU (military intelligence) and re-injected into the US. 

As a born US citizen, he got clearance for the Manhattan Project. The atomic secrets he sent to the USSR allowed that country to accelerate the development of the nuclear bomb and become a superpower.  Koval was able to flee…

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Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

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