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Red Spy Queen: A Biography of Elizabeth Bentley
When Elizabeth Bentley slunk into an FBI field office in 1945, she was thinking only of saving herself from NKGB assassins who were hot on her trail. She had no idea that she was about to start the greatest Red Scare in U.S. history.
Bentley (1908-1963) was a Connecticut Yankee and Vassar graduate who spied for the Soviet Union for seven years. She met with dozens of highly placed American agents who worked for the Soviets, gathering their secrets and stuffing sensitive documents into her knitting bag. But her Soviet spymasters suspected her of disloyalty--and even began plotting to silence her forever. To save her own life, Bentley decided to betray her friends and comrades to the FBI. Her defection effectively shut down Soviet espionage in the United States for years.
Despite her crucial role in the cultural and political history of the early Cold War, Bentley has long been overlooked or underestimated by historians. Now, new documents from Russian and American archives make it possible to assess the veracity of her allegations. This long overdue biography rescues Elizabeth Bentley from obscurity and tells her dramatic life story.
Bentley (1908-1963) was a Connecticut Yankee and Vassar graduate who spied for the Soviet Union for seven years. She met with dozens of highly placed American agents who worked for the Soviets, gathering their secrets and stuffing sensitive documents into her knitting bag. But her Soviet spymasters suspected her of disloyalty--and even began plotting to silence her forever. To save her own life, Bentley decided to betray her friends and comrades to the FBI. Her defection effectively shut down Soviet espionage in the United States for years.
Despite her crucial role in the cultural and political history of the early Cold War, Bentley has long been overlooked or underestimated by historians. Now, new documents from Russian and American archives make it possible to assess the veracity of her allegations. This long overdue biography rescues Elizabeth Bentley from obscurity and tells her dramatic life story.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published October 7, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 11, 2011
I really enjoyed the book. I read it because she was my 5th cousin and I enjoy tracing my family tree. As well Clever Girl is another book about her, which is another one I liked. Elizabeth wrote a book about her life, which I haven't read yet. All in all she had an intresting life and someone i'd like to have meet and talked with.
One of Elizabeth's 5th cousins
Richard Lee Bentley Jr.
One of Elizabeth's 5th cousins
Richard Lee Bentley Jr.
November 18, 2024
Was she as important as she thinks she was? Was the spy world in need to her? Apparently not glamorous, sexy or alluring but maybe all the “nots” she was made her good for spying though, did she see herself as a Mata Hari type or was that the insinuations of others.
September 22, 2023
Liked the history.
July 1, 2024
Book is wrong on many accounts. Amazing to see so many errors in a historical work.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews