We specialize in hard to find items
All Categories
The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle over a Forbidden Book
Share Tweet
*Price and Stocks may change without prior notice
*Packaging of actual item may differ from photo shown
- Electrical items MAY be 110 volts.
- 7 Day Return Policy
- All products are genuine and original
About The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, The CIA, And The
Product Description In Soviet Russia in 1956, Boris Pasternak's novel Dr Zhivago was seen as an assault on the 1917 Revolution. The manuscript was taken out of the USSR and published first in Italy, then around the world. It was also published in Russian by the CIA and smuggled back into the Soviet Union. Pasternak became not only a Nobel Laureate, but the first of Russia's great writer-dissidents. Drawing on recently declassified files, this is the dramatic story of how Dr Zhivago became a secret weapon in an ideological war. Review "Beautifully crafted and scrupulously researched...Finn and Couvée have taken a complex and difficult history with many moving parts and turned it into a kind of intellectual thriller. They have to control a lot of information, yet they keep the book well-paced and often exciting. The Zhivago Affair is a prime example of hard work and fidelity to a good story."—Washington Post"A work of deep historical research that reads a little like Le Carré, this is the backstory of the foreign publication of Boris Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago, and it bears its multiple burdens lightly: a sideways biography of Pasternak; a psychological history of Soviet Russia; a powerful argument for the book as literature; an entry into the too-small canon on the CIA’s role in shaping culture. In new reporting on the Agency’s distribution of the book behind enemy lines, the authors show how both sides in the Cold War used literary prestige as a weapon without resorting to cheap moral equivalency."—New York"Fascinating...Told in its entirety, the story of how Doctor Zhivago helped disrupt the Soviet Union holds some intriguing implications for the present and future of cultural conflict."—The Atlantic"The Zhivago Affair does a masterful job of putting flesh on the bare bones of a story that has been hinted at in the press for decades."—NPR"A rich and unanticipated story...[Finn and Couvée] demonstrate a sophisticated appreciation for an artistic quest that was haunted by dread, persecution, and loss. They also share an avid eye for detail...Finn and Couvée’s poignant depiction of Pasternak is the book’s greatest strength."—The Daily Beast"[Finn and Couvée's] riveting, well-researched book reads like a literary thriller...a fascinating essay on mid-century politics...illuminating, humane."—New Republic“An informative, fascinating, and often moving account of personal courage, espionage and propaganda, and the role of literature in the political struggle for the hearts and minds of people.”—Huffington Post"Crushingly poignant."—Knoxville News Sentinel"Thrilling...Deftly combining biography, cultural history and literary tittle-tattle, [Finn and Couvée] have shone a light on a shadowy operation...Crushingly poignant.”—Newsday"Brisk and thrilling...The authors use rich archival research, including previously classified CIA files, to depict the oppressive political conditions that gave rise to Pasternak’s masterpiece, and the international firestorm that occurred when the novel was banned in the Soviet Union. The book offers nuanced depictions of the people in Pasternak’s life, including his lover, Olga Ivinskaya, who championed his work and shared his torment at the hands of the KGB. The torturous ideological policing by the Soviets is discussed to great effect; for indeed, the tale of Doctor Zhivago itself is very much about the long psychic scar left by Russian Revolution. It’s a story expertly told by Finn and Couvée, who unsparingly present the role played by the Kremlin in persecuting Pasternak and his loved ones, as well as the role of the CIA in using his masterpiece in a game of ideological warfare—overall, a triumphant reminder that truth is sometimes gloriously stranger than fiction."—Publishers Weekly, starred review"A detailed reconstruction of one of the most fascinating of the Cold War’s cultural skirmishes...The Zhivago Affair ought to bring a new generation of readers to it, curious to know what kind of a novel
