Bridge of Spies: A True Story of the Cold War Hardcover – November 9, 2010

This is a very good book and well worth reading even if you saw and enjoyed the Tom Hank's movie. It is different from the movie in many ways because I am pretty sure that the movie is based partially on this book, partially on Jim Donovan's book, and partially on Hollywood's penchant for historical dramatic license. This book is very well researched, very easy to follow and read, and with a surprising amount of humor in it. It is a book that clearly had to wait for the end of the Cold War, reunification of Germany, and half a century to pass before most of the secrets surrounding the Rudolf Abel and the U-2 incidents could be told. I say "most of the secrets" because even a half century on Mr. Whittell could not convince some of the surviving players to open up about the subject at hand. One of the best aspects of the book is that the author vividly gives you the inside story of all of the sides, players, and communities involved in the story without being overly judgmental about any of the protagonists' motivations and yet he does a great job of elucidating those motivations. You get the CIA's story, the East German's story, the KGB's story, and the Soviet military's story, the stories of all three national governments involved and the stories of their respective leaders, all told from their own point of view without prejudice or bias. The reader also gets a nice portrait of post-war American and Soviet societies. If, like me, you lived through the aforementioned post-war period, the entirety of the Cold War, and remember the U-2 Incident, Francis Gary Powers, Rudolf Abel, and the spy swap it is a poignant and chilling book that will probably shake loose some of the most frightening memories of your childhood and adolescence. And it is those frightening and chilling aspects of the tale which makes Mr. Whittell's talent for finding the humor in the stories all the more amazing. Whittell does a wonderful job of weaving so many diverse and seemingly unassociated story lines into a cogent, logical, and well connected whole that goes from a million miles wide to eventually narrowing down down to a pinpoint meeting on a bridge in Berlin. I was transported back to those scary days where they made us watch the "Bert the Turtle" film at school, hide under our desks at school to prepare for a nuclear attack, and warned us little kids to watch for the bright flash of an exploding bomb. I never thought there were "commies hiding under my bed" but we all knew they were out there "...trying to destroy our free country and our way of life." If you are younger than we Boomers then you ought to read the book as a way to gain some insight as to the way your parents and grandparents can be so crazy paranoid at times because "Bridge of Spies" will transport you back to the world in which we Boomers were little kids.

The movie BRIDGE OF SPIES starring Tom Hanks is very different than the book BRIDGE OF SPIES by Giles Whittell. In the movie, the storyline centers around James Donovan (Tom Hanks). In the book, James Donovan is barely mentioned. The movie represents only a very small portion of the book. If you’re looking for a book that follows the movie, you will be disappointed.If you remembered or are interested in what happened during this time period (the dawn of the Cold War); BRIDGE OF SPIES is an eye-opener. The espionage, the paranoia, the arms race, the military-industrial complex, the external and internal politics of US-USSR relationship, etc. are all covered in this well-researched book.I found the first 25% of the book to be a little slow, but the last 75% was fascinating. Overall, I enjoyed reading BRIDGE OF SPIES. It was different than what I was expecting, but I learned much more since the book was more complex and detailed than the movie.

I’ve always found espionage interesting and this book spells out a part of that spy craft. It was almost worth reading the whole book to learn about the hollow nickel. :-)I loved hearing all the details of the U2 program and the aborted attempt at disarmament.I was 12 when Francis Gary Powers (which is how we all knew him) was shot down in his U2. This was an oddly pivotal moment for me personally. I believed Ike was wonderful, kind and honest. When it turned out he had lied to the Nation - that the U2 was in fact a spy plane and Powers was thereby a spy - I permanently lost some of my trust in the goodness and honesty of the President and of the US government. It genuinely shook my world view and I never forgot it.

Interesting and grabs a hold on you. I was 12, when Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union. It was one of the first news story's that I followed closely. I also remembered when he was exchanged for Abel. I saw the movie, but only read about a third of the book, when I saw it.. The movie left out about 90 per cent of the book. It only focused on James Donovan's Abel's lawyer, working on the release. It did even mention the cancelled summit between Eisenhower and Khrushchev, after Powers was shot down. I think the movie was based on the book Mr. Donovan wrote more than this book.This book was the complete story. It starts with William Fisher aka Rudolf Abel, and tells how the failed spy was caught. It goes into about him and who he was associated with. How messages were sent to the Soviet Union. Then it tells Powers and Frederic Pryor complete stories. There is more to know than what was in the movie.

Tom Hanks nails it, as he does so often. One caveat: Tom wrinkles his forehead too much and too often.This film is story-telling at its best, clean and clear even though it's a complicated story. Its being a true story adds something to its power, but is not really part of the story itself. Add to those issues the pleasure of watching one of the finest actors of our time at work.There is quite a lot of junk out there these days, by way of new films. It's worthwhile to find a good one, and this film is excellent.

I saw the movie of the same name in 2015, and as good as that movie was, it left me wanting to know more about the participants. The book provides that, and much more. We learn in rich detail not only about the Russian and American spies, but the history and historical context of the U2 program, the Cold War, and political pressures felt by both Khruschev and Eisenhower, and exactly who the third person traded, Fred Pryor, was. This is a "must read" for anyone who enjoyed the movie, is a Cold War history buff, or has enjoyed the espionage thrillers of John LeCarre. It's that good.

One has to keep reminding oneself that this book is based significantly events that actually happened. It's written as if a work of fiction with a golden plot and a perfectly pitched narrative arc, but it is the detail that astounds. I was particularly impressed with how much concern was poured into secondary characters, this really brought to life the whole plot for me, and then to top and tail the story with the frustrated Von Brooke scooping the world's press is just genius.Anyone who's read the fiction about the Cold War and spying will get a huge amount from this authoritative account of the period and the true nature of spying and the frailty of the characters involved.Masterful research in a beautifully written book.

This factual book is both informative and an excellent read, albeit requiring continuous attention to the plot.The events depicted took place at a time when, in my pre-teen years the prospect of nuclear war loomed large. The Cold War is history for many readers but the sense of foreboding at the time is a vivid memory in my mind.This book provides both an analysis of the backgrounds of the three individuals involved in the Bridge and Checkpoint Charlie exchanges in Berlin in 1962 as well as the political and military context in the US and USSR in the years leading up to the event.There are also fleeting references to the business interests that benefited from the lost opportunities from a detente that might have been possible in the absence of the U2 incident. The author chooses not to promote any conspiracy theory on the part of the military business lobby, rather to conclude on bungled management of the operation for the shooting down of the spy plane over Soviet territory.The author, Giles Whittell, demonstrates that the U2 programme provided clear evidence of the lack of effective nuclear capability in Russia at the time and, consequently, the lack of any real gap in US capability in the late fifties and early sixties. Yet there were parties interested in promoting the fiction of a missile gap in the US at the time, including John F Kennedy. His analysis supports a case that this misperception was a factor in the missile build-up in both countries over the following 30 years.Whittell also provides an insight into the individuals involved in the largely ineffectual Russian spying programmes in the US and the successful reconnaissance missions undertaken by the U2 pilots in the limited time that had immunity from the ranges of Russian fighters and missiles. There is also detailed insight into the personalities behind, and the process by which, an exchange of the U2 pilot, Gary Powers, and William Fisher ("Rudolf Abel"), the Russian spy, was engineered.I haven't seen the film of the same name but will now be interested to see how much it corresponds with the book.

I really enjoyed this book very much. The story was of a Soviet spy, a young student and a spy plane pilot. The story started with the three individuals following their separate courses and eventually becoming intertwined in a major international incident.Having been born in 1954 I was too young at the time to appreciate the significance of the events unfolding in the early sixties but having developed an interest in military and espionage history I did become aware of the story but not the full facts. Until I read this book I was familiar only with Gary Powers' part of the story. Since then I have seen the Hollywood version and I found it very atmospheric and true to the book. Obviously there was some dramatic license to be expected but it wasn't intrusive.I would be happy to read this book again as I enjoyed it so much.Highly recommended

An excellent book. Although, at its heart, is the dramatic spy-swap involving Francis Gary Powers on the Glienicke Bridge - Giles Whittell provides an illuminating and revealing picture of the dynamics of early Cold War politics. However this is achieved without losing sight of the personal stories of those involved and those of their families. In amongst this tale of espionage and international maneuvering are remarkable individuals. The impressive determination of the families of the american 'swapees' (Power and Fred Pryor) that their sons were coming home. The strange combination of bloody mindedness, clear-sightedness and metropolitan sophistication that made James B Donovan an ideal negotiator. Not to mention Powers, Pryor and Rudolf Able. Over everything is the story of how Eisenhower and Khrushchev's desire to avoid an arms race was derailed by the simple fact that neither party understood how much the other wanted the race not to happen. Public posturing, political rivals and press sensationalism all obscured the reality that it was in both sides interests to avoid a nuclear build up. That Powers flight was ordered to dispel the myth of the 'missile gap' and relive the pressure Eisenhower was under from political and media hawks and from a fearful public.

I was in Berlin, as a young soldier, when the exchange took place. In fact, this was exactly 2 weeks before my 21st birthday. Cold War stories have always interested me and I found this book extremely well researched and well written. I have also seen the film, which was not based on this book, but on Donovan's diary, with a lot of detail missing. This book filled in lots of gaps in my knowledge, particularly on the other characters who played a part in the whole saga. Thoroughly recommended.