THE TERMINAL SPY: A True Story of Espionage, Betrayasl, and Murder
by Cowell, Alan S
- New
- first
- Condition
- New/No Jacket
- ISBN 10
- 0385523556
- ISBN 13
- 9780385523554
- Seller
-
Los Angeles, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Synopsis
In a page-turning narrative that reads like a thriller, an award-winning journalist exposes the troubling truth behind the world's first act of nuclear terrorism.On November 1, 2006, Alexander Litvinenko sipped tea in London's Millennium Hotel. Hours later the Russian emigre and former intelligence officer, who was sharply critical of Russian president Vladimir Putin, fell ill and within days was rushed to the hospital. Fatally poisoned by a rare radioactive isotope slipped into his drink, Litvinenko issued a dramatic deathbed statement accusing Putin himself of engineering his murder.Alan S. Cowell, then London Bureau Chief of the New York Times, who covered the story from its inception, has written the definitive story of this assassination and of the profound international implications of this first act of nuclear terrorism. Who was Alexander Litvinenko? What had happened in Russia since the end of the cold war to make his life there untenable and in severe jeopardy even in England, the country that had granted him asylum? And how did he really die? The life of Alexander Litvinenko provides a riveting narrative in its own right, culminating in an event that rang alarm bells among western governments at the ease with which radioactive materials were deployed in a major Western capital to commit a unique crime. But it also evokes a wide range of other issues: Russia's lurch to authoritarianism, the return of the KGB to the Kremlin, the perils of a new cold war driven by Russia's oil riches and Vladimir Putin's thirst for power. Cowell provides a remarkable and detailed reconstruction both of how Litvinenko died and of the issues surrounding his murder. Drawing on exclusive reporting from Britain, Russia, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the United States, he traces in unprecedented detail the polonium trail leading from Russia's closed nuclear cities through Moscow and Hamburg to the Millenium Hotel in central London. He provides the most detailed step-by-step explanation of how and where polonium was found; how the assassins tried on several occasions to kill Litvinenko; and how they bungled a conspiracy that may have had more targets than Litvinenko himself. With a colorful cast that includes the tycoons, spies, and killers who surrounded Litvinenko in the roller-coaster Russia of the 1990s, as well as the emigres who flocked to London in such numbers that the British capital earned the sobriquet "Londongrad," this book lays out the events that allowed an accused killer to escape prosecution in a delicate diplomatic minuet that helped save face for the authorities in London and Moscow. A masterful work of investigative reporting, The Terminal Spy offers unprecedented insight into one of the most chilling true stories of our time.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Joe Staats, Bookseller (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 11976
- Title
- THE TERMINAL SPY: A True Story of Espionage, Betrayasl, and Murder
- Author
- Cowell, Alan S
- Format/Binding
- ARC
- Book Condition
- New New
- Jacket Condition
- No Jacket
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition, First Printing 1st Printing
- Binding
- Hardback
- ISBN 10
- 0385523556
- ISBN 13
- 9780385523554
- Publisher
- Broadway Books
- Place of Publication
- New York, N. Y., U.S.A.
- Date Published
- 2008
- Size
- 8vo - over 7¾" - 9&f
- Bookseller catalogs
- TRUE;
- Product_type
- 2
Terms of Sale
Joe Staats, Bookseller
About the Seller
Joe Staats, Bookseller
About Joe Staats, Bookseller
We specialize in collectible, contemporary signed first editions. First edition means the first printing. (Later printings of the first edition are typically not printed on acid-free paper, and should be avoided by collectors.) Signatures are obtained by us in person. Inscribed books sold by us may contain a line, a phrase, or a sketch that the author has chosen to add. Our signed books are not dedicated to anybody in particular (not to your grandmother, your Aunt Gladys, your ex-lover or your former cellmate), except in the rare case of a presentation copy from an author to a noteworthy person. All our books are hardcover, unless the book is an Advance Reading Copy, Uncorrected Proof, or PBO. You can expect that the books we send you will be as described, and in a physical condition worthy of the author’s having signed them. We do not sell remainder-marked books, signed or otherwise
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- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Pictorial Wraps
- Pictorial wraps are color illustrated covers for paperback books. Preceding mass-market paperbacks, this format brought popular...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...